MSPOL1339 International Politics
MSPOL1340 Theories of International relations
MSPOL2228 Theories of democracy
This course tackles contemporary issues relating to international democracy that derive from: the phenomena of governance and globalization, the challenge globalization entails for formal and informal international bodies, and the rise of influential non-state actors operating at the international level and that might be conceived of as constitutive of an international civil society. The course will examine that very notion, analyze its evolutions, the actors it subsumes, and their capacity to influence decision-making processes (in economic, social, environmental, political fields'). The course reflects on the democratic legitimacy of such actors and their ability to affect international outcomes.
At the end of this course, the student will be able to analyze the major challenges that pertain to the behavior of both state (States, International organizations) and non-state actors at the international level in terms of democracy, as well as challenges relating to a would-be international civil society, its evolution, its actors and their impact on policy-making processes in a wide variety of domains. The student will be able to understand and criticize the theoretical assertions of a scientific article on such topics. S.he will also be able to identify the theoretical and conceptual tools that seem to be the most appropriate for the examination of a specific topic in the realm of the course.
The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled 'Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit'.
The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.
Participation + case study (an enquiry to be presented during class time + research paper)
Lectures and presentations by the students
Democracy and civil society : definitions and elements for a theoretical analysis; the democratic legitimacy of international bodies and international democratic deficit; the democracy-related stakes of the reform of international organizations; emerging powers perspectives on democratic issues; the actors of the International civil society: NGOs, lobbies, networks and social movements; the legitimacy of ICS actors; the struggles and strategies of the ICS: cooperation and challenge; thematic issues: democratization and institutional engineering; human rights and global justice.
Keck, Margaret E., Sikkink, Kathryn, Activists beyond borders: advocacy networks in international politics, Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 1998
Russet, Bruce and Oneal, John, Triangulating peace. Democracy, interdependence and international organizations, New York: W.W. Norton & Cie, 2001
Scholte, Jan Aart (ed.), Building global democracy: Civil society and accountable global governance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011
