LFU:online

Goals: The first goal of this course is to familiarize students with ways to think about and understand international relations. The course provides students with the necessary theoretical instruments to understand issues of international relations such as peace and war, diplomacy, international institutions, and others. By way of doing so, the course helps students to make sense of international relations systematically and reflectively, beyond mere factual knowledge. This course, then, also prepares students for more advanced courses in International Relations and world politics.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of this course, students will know the development of the subject of International Relations; its theoretical approaches and concepts; know how to apply those approaches to issues of international relations; identify major persistent and shifting practices in international relations; and identify major topical trends of international relations.

This course introduces students to the main concepts, practices, organizations, and problems of international politics in a global context, i.e. all things related to “world politics”. The course pays attention to theoretical attempts to understand concepts and phenomena of international relations, the current international system, and its institutions and organizations. Moreover, the course addresses current and future global political trends and challenges. After an introduction to International Relations theories, the course examines main concepts such as agency, structure, the state, power, security, war, and global governance. Seemingly domestic political issues and problems such as issues of identity and human dignity have long since begun to affect global politics. This is in particular the case for concepts of illiberal democracies or rightwing populism. The course, therefore, also addresses some of today’s most pressing global political problems such as the ones related to identity politics and human rights. Despite its general focus, the course relies on current events and examples, mainly drawn from the US, European, and international organizations contexts. The course is accompanied by several simulations in the classroom, guest lectures from practitioners (e.g. international law), experts (e.g. on current wars), and a field trip to an international organization (all tbc).

The University of New Orleans International Summer School program has a mandatory class attendance policy. All students are required to attend class for all morning classes and any required afternoon and/or weekend fields trips and lectures. No unexcused absences are allowed. However, LFU students who have to miss a UNO class due to LFU examinations in the first two weeks of our program, can receive one excused absence for this. Any further unexcused absences will result in an academic penalty. Each faculty member determines the penalty for missed classes. Most professors deduct a letter grade for each additional missed class day. For details, please refer to your course syllabi, which will be distributed on the first day of class. The listed ECTS credits are a recommendation by the University of New Orleans Innsbruck Summer School, based on contact hours, anticipated out-of-classroom requirements such as field trips, and projected workload for readings, assignments, and exam preparation. Mail: Center-New-Orleans@uibk.ac.at