Contested World Orders

If you have asked yourself how the liberal, Western order has worked, and why it seems to be on the path of being replaced by other world orders, this is the course for you. By comparing different theories of order, the course introduces key concepts that scholars have developed over decades. It also examines how global order is challenged and transformed, both from the top down and from the bottom up.

The course:

• analyses the functions that make or break international orders, give them permanence or fail to maintain orderly politics;
• uses many practical examples to question notions of institutionalized steadiness, bringing in contemporary processes of contestation by actors in the global South or within strong geopolitical competition;
• enables a well-structured understanding of contemporary world politics, and allows you to contribute to societal debates and the search for new political arrangement to support peaceful politics internationally.

If you are interested in understanding what makes the world ‘tick’, this course provides you with solid tools to analyse how the shift from the Liberal International Order (LIO, also known as the rules-based order), which emerged after the end of the Cold War, to a more power-driven, Thucidides-inspired world has unfolded. Which players are relevant here? Is it only states that subvert the rules, and who is creating new orders? To be able to play your role in shaping a future order in which equitable social relations as well as democratic norms still have a role to play, it is imperative to know how orders emerge and wane. Are you deeply invested in theoretical and structured approaches to international questions? Do you want to know which drivers dynamize international processes of changing and transforming orders? Who are the actors who actually do that?

Teaching

This course uses some lecture input while mostly focusing on seminar discussions with high student interaction.