Managing the world: international politics and the global order

What organises the world?

• Sovereignty and anarchy: a brief history of conflict (100 years’ war, 30 years’ war, Westphalia)
• Trade, territory and economic deal-making
• World War I and the beginning of international relations

Better angels of our nature

• Democracy
• Human rights
• International justice

International law: a new rationality

• International law, the UN, and the disaster of WWII
• The UN: is it still fit for purpose? (a role-play exercise)

From Cold War to international terrorism

• First World vs Third World: regionalisation and proxy wars
• Cold War, Nato vs the Warsaw Pact and the new world order
• War on terror and the end of sovereignty?

The rise and rise of big regional powers

• BRICS to BITS: economic and political positioning of Brazil, India, Turkey and South Africa in the global order
• The Modi Effect: what it says about India and the region
• Turkey: Islamist model gone awry?

Managing crisis: mass migration in the Eurozone

• The EC, EU and EU expansion: how the Eurozone has developed over time
• How the Eurozone has managed the migration crisis
• The impact on Eurozone politics: Greece, Brexit, Hungary and Italy

Chinese foreign policy: challenging the rules of the international community?

• Formulating China foreign policy: from Mao to Xi
• China’s peripheral diplomacy: Asia and One Belt One Road
• Moving beyond the Asia Pacific: America, Europe and beyond

The Russian Bear and the American Eagle: eyeing the Northern Passages

• Spheres of influence, the Arctic territory, and the Arctic Council
• The Northern Passages and the law of the sea: treaties, claims, and land-grabs as the ice melts
• The impact on world trade, and multipolar tensions

Negotiating peace in the Middle East

• The legacies of colonialism, pan-Arabism and Islamism
• The Arab-Israel conflict: is the US an honest broker?
• Syria: is there a solution?

International order and future prospects

• Europe's post-Cold War blues
• The Middle East as a focus of international relations
• Where are we going?