Global Political Thought

The course is given as core in-depth course at the second year level of the Degree Programme in International Relations. It can also be studied as a single subject course.

Entry to the course requires 30 credits completed core courses and 30 credits completed in-depth courses of which 45 credits passed, in international relations.

The overall aim of the course is to equip students with a broad knowledge of political thinking as it has emerged in different locations, globally. Some of these ideas have travelled into, or provide the basis for IR as we ‘know’ it today; others have been ignored in the dominant framings of the discipline. The course surveys different ideas about international political thought from around the globe in order to critically reflect on the ‘foundations’ of what we know about international relations and its donminant traditionas.

While not pretending to cover all political thought across all time and space, the course focuses on international political thought from various regions of the globe (not ‘political thought about the global’), which would familiarize students with a variety of ways of perceiving international relations while also contextualizing and problematizing the canon of US-UK IR thinking and theorizing that has dominated the discipline. Central to the course is the idea of modernity and contra-modernity as the foundation of global political thought, and particularly questions concerning the universality of political thought and the role and influence of non-Western political thought in the development of Western political ideas.

While its focus is on political thought since 1900, it is historically anchored. The course also draws on the literature on ‘comparative political theory’, which uses cross-cultural comparisons as both a heuristic and pedagogical device. It is structured around a set of issues, for example, focusing on weekly topics such as nationalism, colonialism and empire, postcolonial modes of being, neoliberalism, religion and secularism, concepts of time and space, development and progress, and queer bodies and feminist political thought. The course investigates how these issues have been treated in outstanding contributions from various corners of the world, and asks what such ideas might teach us about how The Canon inescapably sets constraints and opportunities for the discipline of IR.

Knowledge and understanding

• Account for different regional and global ideas about international politics; 
• Situate and contextualise varying theoretical approaches to international politics within the field of IR; 

Competence and skills

• Analyze the relationship between, as well as strength and weaknesses in, different approaches to political thought; 
• Apply diverse ideas about international politics to current issues through written and verbal presentation; 
• Differentiate between different perspectives on the study of political ideas, applying suitable methods; 

Judgement and approach

• Critically assess the different approaches to ideas about global political order for our understanding of international relations; 
• Reflect on the ways in which the discipline of IR has been framed in different contexts.

Lectures, seminars, group presentations.

The course has three examination components:

• Reflection paper (2 credits) 
• Two compulsory seminars (2 credits) 
• Sit in exam (3,5 credits) 

Attendance at the compulsory seminars can be supplemented in the case of absence.

A student who has taken two exams in a course or part of a course without obtaining a pass grade is entitled to the nomination of another examiner. The student needs to contact the department for a new examiner, preferably in writing, and this should be approved by the department unless there are special reasons to the contrary (Chapter 6 Section 22 of the Higher Education Ordinance).

If a student has received a recommendation from the University of Gothenburg for special educational support, where it is compatible with the learning outcomes of the course and provided that no unreasonable resources are required, the examiner may decide to allow the student to sit an adjusted exam or alternative form of assessment.

In the event that a course has ceased or undergone major changes, students are to be guaranteed at least three examination sessions (including the ordinary examination session) over a period of at least one year, but no more than two years, after the course has ceased/been changed. The same applies to placements and professional placements (VFU), although this is restricted to just one additional examination session.

The grading scale comprises: Pass with Distinction (VG), Pass (G) and Fail (U).

• For the reflection paper, a three-grade scale U/G is applied 
• For the seminars, a two-grade grade scale U/G is applied 
• For the sit in exam, a three-grade grade scale U/G/VG is applied 

To Pass the course, students must receive at least Pass (G) on all assessed components.

To achieve Pass with Distinction (VG) for the course, students must Pass the Reflection Paper and Seminars, and receive Pass with Distinction (VG) on the Take Home Exam.

The course coordinator is responsible for systematically and regularly collecting the students' views of the course, and for making sure that the results of the evaluations in different forms are taken into consideration when developing the course. The results and possible changes to the course will be shared with the students who participated in the evaluation and the next class to take the course.