Admission requirements
None.
Description
This course introduces the ever-changing global order and the contested meanings of (global) justice in international affairs. It begins with the Westphalian system of sovereign states, which has structured international life for centuries. In this model, global order meant a balance of power among states, and justice was primarily understood through state sovereignty, formal equality, and non-intervention. After World War II, the liberal global order—or liberal internationalism—emerged as an extension of this system. Sovereign equality remained foundational, but states were increasingly collaborating, or encouraged to collaborate, through international rules and institutions in the name of global stability. This era is also defined by decolonization. The sheer number of sovereign states increased massively after WWII, fundamentally challenging norms and centers of power in international affairs.
Today, globalization, rising inequalities, climate change, and new technologies are still generating demands for more inclusive and equitable global governance. At the same time, non-state actors—from international organizations and corporations to activist networks and insurgent groups—have gained influence, complicating the traditional state-centric vision of world order; and competing frameworks, especially those grounded in human rights and decolonial visions for an equitable world order, have challenged sovereignty as the ultimate organizing principle of global politics and international law.
This course examines these shifts through key concepts and debates in international relations, international law, and political theory. Its underlying core questions include: Can the global order be reformed to reflect changing power dynamics and address historical inequalities? How should we understand justice in a world marked by persistent inequality, interdependence, competing values, and rising great power competition? Should global justice be pursued through existing institutions, or does it require imagining new ones? What visions for global justice can we imagine also beyond the institutional framework? And how can order and justice reinforce each other?
Course Objectives
Knowledge:
To identify the most important ways in which global order and justice have been conceptualized in modern international affairs.
To identify and understand key challenges to conventional understandings and systems of global order and justice.
To understand the features of theoretical approaches to global order and justice.
To understand the nature and role of international law in global order and justice, and how this is evolving.
To demonstrate knowledge of the key actors in global order and justice, including non-state actors.
Skills:
To critically evaluate central theoretical approaches for understanding global order and justice using relevant case-studies.
To research and analyse real-world cases related to key controversies in global order and justice.
To evaluate, compare, and synthesise evidence to support an argument using real-world cases related to key challenges in global order and justice.
To communicate and apply conceptual and theoretical tools to analyse key events in contemporary world politics.
To communicate and convey information in a clear, focused, and persuasive manner in a group.
Timetable
Timetables for courses offered at Leiden University College in 2025-2026 will be published on this page of the e-Prospectus.
Mode of instruction
This course consists of seminars to discuss the readings, have in-depth discussions about key challenges in global order and justice, and introduce the topics of each week. The seminars will be highly interactive, consisting of small-group discussions and plenary discussions among students. As the course advances, we move on to in-depth analysis of the case studies in Weeks 2-6. These case studies have been selected to illustrate the themes and problems introduced in the seminars.
We will also have two shared lectures which students in all seminar groups will attend. These lectures will remain highly interactive, and students are expected to engage in these sessions.
Assessment Method
Participation, 10% (Ongoing, Weeks 1-7)
Discussion-Lead Group Presentation, 20% (Weeks 2-6)
Academic Blog Post, 35% (13 March 2025)
Final Exam, 35% (Week 8)
Reading list
A course syllabus with a list of compulsory and recommend readings will be made available on Brightspace prior to the beginning of the course.
Registration
Courses offered at Leiden University College (LUC) are usually only open to LUC students and LUC exchange students. Leiden University students who participate in one of the university’s Honours tracks or programmes may register for one LUC course, if availability permits. Registration is coordinated by the Education Coordinator, course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.
Contact
Emelie Andersin, e.m.a.andersin@luc.leidenuniv.nl
Amira Fretz, a.k.fretz@luc.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
-