ASTK12255U The Future(s) of World Order

Volume 2014/2015
Content

How will the international order look like in the next 25 years? What about in 50 years or 100? Since the end of Cold War the question of what sort of an international order are we living in and what will be the future of international order animated many scholars of IR. This course aims at analyzing and discussing some of these discourses about the future of international order developed in the IR literature, including unipolarity, multipolarity, non-polarity, G-Zero, G-2, renewed liberal order etc. Throughout the course we will be looking at some of the more prominent examples of such futures for world order and try to understand the conditions under which those visions might come to pass. The purpose is to critically analyze both implicit and explicit mechanisms that would lead to a particular future that the author envisions and assess their validity, possibility, and desirability. 

Learning Outcome
  • Summarize the main points of major alternative future international orders
  • Discuss the mechanisms through which such international orders could come about
  • Compare and analyze various futures for the international order in terms of theoretical consistency and empirical validity
  • Assess the possibility and desirability of different alternatives for the future of international order

A preliminary list of readings include

  • Brooks, S.P. And Wohlforth W.C. (2008). World Out of Balance: International Relations and the Challenge of American Primacy. Princeton UP
  • Ikenberry, G.J. (2012). Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order . Princeton UP
  • Kupchan, C.A. (2012). No One's World: The West, the Rising Rest, and the Coming Global Turn. Oxford UP.
  • Sorensen, G. 2011. A Liberal World Order in Crisis: Choosing between Imposition and Restraint. Cornell UP
  • Dunne, T. And Flockhart T. (2013). Liberal World Orders. Oxford UP
  • Zakaria F. (2012). The Post-American World: Release 2.0. W.W. Norton & Co.
  • Schweller, R. (2014). Maxwell's Demon and the Golden Apple: Global Discord in the New Millennium. John Hopkins UP
  • Hurrell, A. (2008). On Global Order: Power, Values, and the Constitution of International Society. Oxford UP.

A final list will be provided before the classes start.

Lectures, class discussions, and other in-class activities.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 28
  • Exam
  • 79
  • Preparation
  • 168
  • Total
  • 275
Credit
10 ECTS
Type of assessment
Oral examination
Synopsisexam
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
Criteria for exam assesment

Criteria for achieving the goals:

  • Grade 12 is given for an outstanding performance: the student lives up to the course's goal description in an independent and convincing manner with no or few and minor shortcomings
  • Grade 7 is given for a good performance: the student is confidently able to live up to the goal description, albeit with several shortcomings
  • Grade 02 is given for an adequate performance: the minimum acceptable performance in which the student is only able to live up to the goal description in an insecure and incomplete manner