Admission requirements
To participate in this course, students should have successfully passed the first year courses Introduction to International Relations, Introduction to International Organizations and Politics of the European Union, as well as the second year course Analysing International Relations. If the number of interested students exceeds the limit, preference will be given to students who have successfully completed most of their courses of year 1 and 2 in the IRO program.
Description
This course investigates the dilemmas and prospects of accountability in global governance. Global governance has become increasingly complex: numerous international organizations, civil society and state actors cooperate to address global issues such as peace and security, health crises and economic problems. With transnational authority growing over time, the question of how these actors can be held accountable has become especially pertinent when global decisions directly affect individual human rights.
In this course, we study the concept of accountability and how it can be applied to the context of global governance. We then analyze how accountability works in different empirical fields, such as peacekeeping, vaccine development and economic policies. In the last part, we discuss what accountability (or the lack thereof) means for the legitimacy of global governance institutions.
Course objectives
Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to:
Demonstrate substantial knowledge of the conceptual, theoretical, and empirical debates on accountability in global governance.
Critically reflect on core academic arguments about accountability in International Relations and related disciplines, such as International Law.
Apply the concept of accountability to specific empirical cases through discussion, presentations, and individual assignments.
Develop and demonstrate advanced critical and analytical thinking skills in preparation for their Bachelor’s thesis.
Present and substantiate rigorous, coherent, and well-developed academic arguments.
Compare different empirical cases within a clearly defined theoretical framework.
Schedule
The timetables are available through MyTimetable (see the button in the upper right corner).
Teaching method
Seminar
Assessment method
Individual assignment(s) (25%)
Group work assignment (35%)
Written final assignments (40%)
The overall mark for the course is a cumulative grade established by determining the weighted average.
Resit, review & feedback
If the final grade is insufficient, a retake option for the whole course will be provided in the form of an oral exam.
Reading list
The reading list and the course syllabus will be posted on Brightspace before the start of the course. All reading material will be available through Leiden University Library.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap (button in upper right corner) is mandatory. General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website (https://www.student.universiteitleiden.nl/en/your-study-programme/courses-and-exams/enrolment/social-and-behavioural-sciences/international-relations-and-organisations-bsc?cd=international-relations-and-organisations-bsc&cf=social-and-behavioural-sciences#tab-1).
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer(s) (listed in the right information bar). For questions about enrolment, contact the Student Services Centre: ssc@leiden.edu.