2019/2020

2020/2021

DM270

SPS/04 (POLTICIAL SCIENCE)

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

PERCORSO COMUNE

2°

1st semester (28/09/2020 - 11/12/2020)

6

40 lesson hours

English

ORAL TEST

CLEMENTI MARCO (titolare) - 6 ECTS

Basic Knowledge of History of International Relations; and of Concepts and Theories of International Relations and Political Science

The course is designed to combine rigour academic analysis with a policy relevant study of current issues. On successful completion of the course, the students will be able to: (1) understand the basic factors of international conflict and cooperation; (2) select and analyze the main issues in contemporary patterns of conflict and conflict management; (3) retrieve data on international phenomena; and, (4) approach the position and interests of key international subjects.

The course aims at presenting the features and trends that have come to characterize the contemporary international system; to examine if and how these features are changing the patterns of conflict and conflict management in international relations; and, to assess whether they trigger regional and/or global security dilemmas.
First of all, the course will focus on some fundamental issues of current dynamics and discuss their theoretical and policy implications. To this regard, it will pay attention to the issue of great powers’ identity and role; the issue of system polarity and the strategic consequences of unipolarism; the issue of the international effects of good governance and institutional fragility at the state level; the issue of the political consequences of competition for natural resources in a globalized world.
Second, the course will present the main contemporary patterns of conflict management, by focusing both on states and on non-state actors as security providers. To this regard, it will specially focus on the changing nature of warfare and on the nexus between hunger and international conflict.

Lectures and seminars. Lectures aims at presenting key concepts and issues and offer basic knowledge to relate the theoretical controversies to real world phenomena. Seminars aims at debating key issues and puzzles in contemporary international relations and to emphasize their policy implications.

Exam bibliography for not attending students:

J. Clapp (2012), Hunger in the Balance. The New Politics of International Food Aid, Itacha and London, Cornell University Press;

A. Krieg and J.-M. Rickli (2019), Surrogate Warfare: The Transformation of War in the Twenty-First Century, Washington, D.C., Georgetown University Press.

Assignments and Written examination to assess: (1) the theoretical awareness about the main issues in contemporary international relations; (2) the ability to debate them critically; and, (3) the ability to develop policy prescriptions to conflict management. In particular, the assessment will base on the following criteria:
Assignments (20%): form (effectiveness, length); structure (clarity, articulation); content (thoroughness and originality);
Active Participation to Class (10%): active participation (no/some/frequent/very frequent active participation). “Active Participation” means regular attendance and constructive comments.
Written examination with open questions (70%): precision on the concepts, appropriateness of the lexicon, capability to use the explanatory strategies of the theories studied to empirical cases.

See the website of the LM in World Politics and International Relations.