Expand+INRL30330 Integration and Fragmentation in the Global System
Academic Year 2021/2022
International politics today features growing levels of trade and communication, various trans- and supranational actors, and in the partial homogenization of life...

Hide-INRL30330 Integration and Fragmentation in the Global System
Academic Year 2021/2022
International politics today features growing levels of trade and communication, various trans- and supranational actors, and in the partial homogenization of lifestyles and consumption patterns. Yet it has also witnessed the breakup of some multinational states, intensifying religious and ethnic conflicts, and a growth in what some depict as "civilizational clashes." This course seeks to gain a conceptual handle on these at first glance contradictory tendencies. After reviewing more established approaches in International Relations it turns to accounts of economic "globalization," models of "international society" and regional integration, cultural and "civilizational" paradigms, and the construction and dissemination of international norms.

Learning Outcomes:
On completion of this module students should: understand how different approaches to the global system diverge and complement each other; know how to evaluate different approaches with respect to their theoretical consistency and empirical applicability; Understand the difference between inductive and deductive theorizing; be able to relate explanations for particular empirical phenomena to the underlying theoretical assumptions that inform them.