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The Challenges of World Politics in the Twenty-First Century

Module description

This module will expose you to a range of pressing conceptual and empirical issues in international relations (IR) and provide you with the analytical tools to critically assess their origins, nature and potential impact. The module will reflect upon on-going normative tensions and policy dilemmas that analysts and practitioners of international relations face in the twenty-first century. These include challenges such as great power competition, terrorism, global governance, human rights, poverty and inequality, and the environment. The module regards IR, its theories and core concepts, as deeply interpretative and normative providing competing sets of analysis that do not only seek to understand and explain what happens in world politics, but also give different and competing answers to the critical challenges around us.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will introduce you to an important sub-field within the discipline of Politics, that is, International Relations (IR). More concretely, this module will expose you to a range of pressing issues in world politics such as great power competition, terrorism, global governance, human rights, poverty and inequality, and the environment, and provide you with the conceptual and analytical tools to critically assess their origins, nature and potential impact. On completing the module you should be familiar with a range of contemporary political problems and the debates in world politics.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. demonstrate general knowledge of international politics from the 1990s onwards;
• 2. demonstrate familiarity with a range of conceptual approaches to specific global political issues;

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. distinguish between theoretical, conceptual and empirical lines of inquiry in international relations;
• 4. approach both empirical and theoretical literature in international relations critically;
• 5. make valid and insightful comparisons between international relations theories and cases;
• 6. articulate your own viewpoints on the main challenges in world politics;

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. listen and engage with the opinions of others, attentively and respectfully;
• 8. demonstrate that you are able to work independently and in groups to achieve your aims;
• 9. demonstrate the ability to work independently, within a limited time frame, to complete a specified task.

Syllabus plan

The module’s precise content may vary from year to year.

Topics covered range from international organizations and human rights, the global political economy and the capitalist system, global challenges such as poverty, climate change, and migration, to the implications for international security and order of great power competition, terrorism, and populism.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Indicative learning resources include:  

Baylis, John, Smith, Steve, and Owens, Patricia (2023), The globalization of world politics: an introduction to international relations (9th edn.: Oxford University Press).

Beeson, Mark and Bisley, Nick (eds.) (2017), Issues in 21st century world politics (3rd edn.: Palgrave MacMillan)

Edkins, Jenny and Zehfuss, Maja (eds.) (2019), Global Politics: A New Introduction (3rd edn., London: Routledge).

Key words search

International Relations, World Politics, Twenty-First Century