PPR412: International Organisation and Foreign Policy

Objectives

This module explores the political, military, functional, economic and humanitarian roles played principally by the United Nations in international relations, and in particular examines the varying importance of international institutions as instruments of states' foreign policies, as modifiers of state behaviour and as independent actors in their own right.

Structure

The module will be taught on the basis of ten weekly 2-hour seminars. Students will be expected to make a 10-15 minute presentation to the seminar and the other students will be expected to participate in the discussion.

The following topics will be explored:

• what are international institutions
• what are the major categories of decisions that are taken by international institutions
• what are the functions of international secretariats
• what roles can international institutions play in peacefully settling disputes
• what are the problems and prospects for international peacekeeping forces
• the uses of economic sanctions by international institutions
• collective security in theory and practice
• the politicisation of the specialised agencies
• how do governments attempt to use international institutions for foreign and domestic policy purposes and how does the United Nations attempt to protect human rights.

Select Bibliography

Alvaraz,J.E.: International Organizations as Law-makers, 2006

Ba,A.D & Hoffman,M.J. (eds): Contending Perspectives on Global Governance: Coherence, contestation and world order, 2005

Brown, G.W & Held,D. (eds): The cosmopolitanism reader 2010

Kennedy,P.: The Parliament of Man: The United Nations and the Quest for World Government 2006

Mittelman, J.H.: Contesting global order : development, global governance, and globalization 2011

Rochester,J.M.: Between Peril and Promise: The Politics of International Law 2006

Wilkinson,R (ed.): The Global Governance Reader 2005

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