GRA 5914 Global Politics: International Political Economy and World Trade
GRA 5914 Global Politics: International Political Economy and World Trade
This course focuses on global politics and the processes of globalisation that drive change in international regimes for trade, security, sovereignty, sustainability and economic develoment.
The course addresses international developments since the end of the Cold War, and more specifically trends and patterns related to democratisation, economic growth and trade as well as stability or change in international relations. It covers theories of international relations (IR), and addresses the great questions of international political economy, including the end of history thesis, the relationship between democracy and economic growth/stability, developments in world trade and efforts to build sustainable international institutions to regulate this.
This is an introductory international political economy course and requires no previous knowledge of the subject.
The course provides students with tools and frameworks for analysing current debates and controversies related to central global issues, including the sustainability challenge and global trade, as well as current debates on the design and operation of international organisations. This includes the main institutions that have been established to liberalise (GATT) and manage (WTO) world trade, as well as issues such as climate change (Paris accord and the sustainable development goals). Other international organisations related to democracy, security and human rights are also addressed.
Students will be able to engage critically with the research-based literature in international relations and international political economy.
Students will be able to analyze international and global political, economic and social institutions and organizations, the relationship between them, and the dynamics of stability and change.
Students will be applying analytical tools and empirical knowledge to practical problems in new settings related to global politics.
Students will gain experience in identifying and assessing policy problems, choosing appropriate analytical tools and applying them to current issues in global politics, IR, IPP and IPE.
Students will be able to assess and evaluate international public policy options and actual policies in terms of both efficiency and justice.
Students will be in a position to assess the economic, ethical, social and political dimensions of international and global public policy, and to evaluate it in term of norms such as the rule of law, transparency, accountability and legitimacy.
Students will be able to adopt a multi-level (national, regional and global) perspective on political economy and public policy and understand the parameters within which global and international policies are developed and implemented at the national level.
- Stability and change in international relations since the end of the Cold War, and International Relations theory
- Globalisation and new patterns of international politics
- International Political Economy and International Public Policy
- International trade, free trade and development; international regimes and regulation
- The sustainability challenge; energy policy and innovation
- Global and regional governance; The EU, security policy and international trade
- Norway's changing links with the EU, and her participation in international institutions.
The 12 three-hour lectures consist of lectures, student presentations, and class discussions based around scenario analyses with which students are encouraged to engage. Students' varied experiences are used to give depth to class discussions.
Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class.
This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 0-100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades when the course starts.
At resit, all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.
All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have spesific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.
| Assessments |
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Exam category: Activity Form of assessment: Presentation Weight: 15 Grouping: Group (2 - 3) Comment: Presentation Exam code: GRA59141 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 15 Grouping: Individual Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: Assignment Exam code: GRA59141 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 70 Grouping: Group/Individual (1 - 3) Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: Term paper Exam code: GRA59141 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.