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International Institutions
Study Course Description
Course Description Statuss:Approved
Course Description Version:1.00
Study Course Accepted:19.03.2024 11:43:03
| Study Course Information | |||||||||
| Course Code: | SZF_025 | LQF level: | Level 6 | ||||||
| Credit Points: | 2.67 | ECTS: | 4.00 | ||||||
| Branch of Science: | Politics | Target Audience: | Political Science | ||||||
| Study Course Supervisor | |||||||||
| Course Supervisor: | Elīna Vrobļevska | ||||||||
| Study Course Implementer | |||||||||
| Structural Unit: | Faculty of Social Sciences | ||||||||
| The Head of Structural Unit: | |||||||||
| Contacts: | Dzirciema street 16, Rīga, szf rsu[pnkts]lv | ||||||||
| Study Course Planning | |||||||||
| Full-Time - Semester No.1 | |||||||||
| Lectures (count) | 10 | Lecture Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Lectures | 20 | ||||
| Classes (count) | 10 | Class Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Classes | 20 | ||||
| Total Contact Hours | 40 | ||||||||
| Study course description | |||||||||
| Preliminary Knowledge: | Background knowledge in international political processes in the scope of three semesters of Bachelor studies. | ||||||||
| Objective: | To provide basic knowledge regarding the role of international institutions in world politics, principles of their structure and activities in promoting international security, economic and social welfare, protecting human rights, ensuring environmental sustainability. | ||||||||
| Topic Layout (Full-Time) | |||||||||
| No. | Topic | Type of Implementation | Number | Venue | |||||
| 1 | Course requirements. Historical development of international institutions – from the League of Nations to the UN. | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 2 | Role of international institutions in global politics. Typology and classification of international institutions. Decision-making process, performance, decision-implementing mechanisms. Representation and activities of various actors in IO. | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 3 | UN system. Principles and problems of operation of UN institutions: General Assembly, ECOSOC and Security Council. | Classes | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 4 | Role of international institutions in promoting prosperity and economic development. ECOSOC. Bretton Woods Institutions. Great powers in global governance. North/South divide. OECD. | Lectures | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 5 | Activities of non-governmental actors in international organisations. | Lectures | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 6 | Regional international organisations and specificity of their activities. | Lectures | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 7 | Limitations, challenges and problems of international institutions. Case study. | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 8 | International organisations, international security and peacekeeping. Problems of disarmament in UN actions and international arms control regimes. | Classes | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 9 | Development of environmental and human rights policies within international organisations. | Lectures | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 10 | Activities of international institutions – summary. | Classes | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 11 | Simulation | Classes | 3.00 | auditorium | |||||
| Assessment | |||||||||
| Unaided Work: | Student’s independent work includes: • reading required readings for each lecture and class; • preparations for each seminar class; • preparations for 3 knowledge tests; • writing individual work (report), its presentation at seminar classes. To assess the overall quality of the study course, the student must complete the course evaluation questionnaire on the Student Portal. | ||||||||
| Assessment Criteria: | Student’s work is assessed using a 10-point grading system in accordance with the following criteria: • Attendance of lectures and seminars (incl. quality of answers) – 30%; • Tests – 20%; • Individual project/report (incl. presentation of project of report) – 30%; • Exam grade – 20%. | ||||||||
| Final Examination (Full-Time): | Exam (Written) | ||||||||
| Final Examination (Part-Time): | |||||||||
| Learning Outcomes | |||||||||
| Knowledge: | Students should learn in the study course: • basic knowledge of the principles, forms and problems of international institutions; • understanding of the various existing approaches to the problems of international institutions; • ability to describe and compare the activities of international institutions in solving specific problems; • understanding of the principles of classification of international institutions according to their structure, principles and directions of operation. | ||||||||
| Skills: | The course will provide skills: • to find one’s way in literature and to distinguish between different approaches to the problems of international institutions; • to analyse the functioning, achievements and weaknesses of international institutions; • to present the results of own work. | ||||||||
| Competencies: | Students learn in the study course: • ability to discuss in a reasoned and logical manner the role of international institutions in global politics and their operational problems; • to use academic knowledge to evaluate the activities of certain international institutions; • to use the general principles of operation of institutions for the analysis of the activities of individual institutions; • to write essays and a report as analytical works. | ||||||||
| Bibliography | |||||||||
| No. | Reference | ||||||||
| Required Reading | |||||||||
| 1 | Visa literatūra ir angļu valodā un piemērota gan latviešu, gan angļu plūsmas studentiem | ||||||||
| 2 | Margaret P. Karns, Karen A. Mingst. International Organizations: The Politics and Processes of Global Governance. Boulder, London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2015 | ||||||||
| 3 | Ian Hurd. International organization: Politics, Law, Practise. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021 | ||||||||
| 4 | Archer, Clive. International Organisations. 3rd edition. Taylor and Francis Group, 2014 | ||||||||
| 5 | Mingst, Karen A., and Karns, Margaret P. The United Nations in the 21st Century. 4th edition. Westview Press, 2012 | ||||||||
| 6 | Mingst, Karen A., and Arreguin-Toft, Ivan M. Essentials of International Relations. 7th edition. W.W. Norton & Company, 2017 | ||||||||
| 7 | Carlsnaes Walter, Risse Thomas, et.al. The Handbook of International Relations. 2nd edition. Sage Publications, 2013 | ||||||||
| 8 | Hurd, Ian and Hogan C. Jacob. The Oxford Handbook of International Organizations. Oxford University Press, 2018 | ||||||||
| 9 | Pal, Leslie A., Tok, Evren M. Global Governance and Muslim Organizations. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019 | ||||||||
| 10 | African Foreign Policies in International Institutions. Ed.by Warner, J., Shaw, Timothy W. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018 | ||||||||
| 11 | The United Nations Disarmament Yearbook. Volume 43: 2018. New York, 2019 | ||||||||
| 12 | Fiti Sinclair, Guy. To Reform the World: International Organizations and the Making of Modern States. Oxford University Press, 2017 | ||||||||
| 13 | Bruckmeier, Karl. Global Environmental Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019 | ||||||||
| 14 | Oberleitner, Gerd. International Human Rights: Institutions, Tribunals and Courts. Springer, 2018 | ||||||||
| Other Information Sources | |||||||||
| 1 | http://www.un.org | ||||||||
| 2 | http://www.globalpolicy.org | ||||||||
| 3 | http://www.iaea.org | ||||||||
| 4 | http://www.icj-cij.org | ||||||||
| 5 | http://www.amnesty.org | ||||||||
