Admission requirements
This course is designed for the minor Global Affairs. It is not possible to follow single courses of this minor. You need to be enrolled in Usis for the minor to be accepted to this course. There are 180 places open for registration, on a first come first serve basis, where LDE students are given priority.
This course is also open for inbound exchange students if they wish to take the entire minor Global Affairs; it is not possible to take single courses from this minor. Exchange students must be admitted by the FGGA International Office prior to the start of the minor; priority will be given to direct exchange partners of FGGA. For more information about the application procedure for exchange students, please contact the FGGA International Office at international@fgga.leidenuniv.nl.
Description
This course addresses the main features and limitations of instruments of power at the international level. It investigates in detail the recourse to military power and/or economic sanctions in the cases of, for instance, Libya, Kosovo, or Syria, together with the resulting political backlashes and legitimacy questions. It also investigates the impact of the new policies of the presidents Trump, Putin and Xi and puts those policies in a broader geopolitical framework.
The course also examines shortcomings arising from soft power usage, especially against the background of regionally diverging norms and values, and discusses new concepts such as hybrid warfare and strategic deterrence. The dilemmas and implications arising from the employment of specific power instruments will also be addressed from a practical perspective of decision-making.
Course objectives
The course objectives are:
To provide students with a theoretical knowledge of instruments of power and the practical challenges arising from their usage
To ensure students have a substantial knowledge of the pillars of power so as to be able to participate constructively in debates on global affairs
To enable students to conduct independent research and to critically assess and apply the literature
To enhance students’ analytical abilities in combination with their skills in writing, presenting and debating
Timetable
The timetable will be displayed with a link on the website, blackboard and on the front page of this minor programma.
The schedule 2019 will be published asap.
Mode of instruction
The class will consist mainly of lectures and class debates in which current affairs pertaining to the course content will be discussed and analyzed.
The course will conclude with a simulation game.
Attendance during the lectures and simulation game is compulsory.
Course Load
The total study load for this course is 140 hours, consisting of:
21 hours attending lectures and seminars
119 hours studying the compulsory literature and working on assignments
Participation in lectures, discussions and exercises is required in order to obtain a grade. One lecture may be missed. Being absent more than once may likely lead to expulsion from the course.
Assessment method
Research Policy paper (25%)
Exam (75%)
Late hand in penalty: 0,5 minus per day, and after seven days we do not accept papers any longer.
Compensation rule: Only assessments with the weight of 30% and lower are compensable. This means that one does not have to pass an assessment if it weighs 30% or less in order to pass the course, if the average of all assessments combined is at least a 5.5. In addition, assignments weighing up to and including 30% are not re-sitable, meaning that if one failed an assessment of 30% or less one is not allowed to redo it.
Resit of the exam will take the same form.
The Course and Examination Regulation Security Studies and the Rules and Regulation of the Board of Examiners of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs apply.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used.
Reading list
TBA on Blackboard.
Registration
Registration in uSis is possible from four weeks before the start of the course.
Also register for every course in Blackboard. Important information about the course is posted here.
Contact
globalaffairs@fgga.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
All sessions will be in English.
Essays need to be written in English.