The purpose of the course is threefold. First, it aims at introducing the students to the discussion about how to approach, analyze and possibly intervene “on” so-called international phenomena, i.e. socio-political phenomena that develop beyond, or transcend the limits of their spatially and temporally situated sites of materialization. Second, it ambitions to make students aware of the radical heterogeneity of the practices that have constituted the “international” as both a domain of practices and an object of knowledge. Thirdly, it aims at equipping the students with “critical” skills, that is with conceptual and analytical tools so they approach contemporary social and political issues without merely reproducing commentaries and discussions about what is unreflectively referred to as the “international.”

In this purpose, the course is divided in two main clusters. The first will develop about some of the most influential approaches to international relations [(neo-)realist, marxist, (neo-)liberal, constructivist and the so-called critical approaches] as well as the main concepts around which they have come to articulate their understanding of particular issues they attach to the ‘international’, hence their conception of the latter. The second cluster of lectures will more specifically discuss some of the most pressing issues of our contemporary era such as violence, war and security, migration, mobility and borders, development and/or environment, trying more particularly to assess the way they are being problematized by each of the previously introduced approaches.

Course overview
Session 01 – Introduction

CLUSTER 1: Approaches of ‘international relations’
Session 02 – Realist and neo-realist approaches
Session 03 – Liberal and transnationalist approaches
Session 04 – Marxist and IR Critical Theory approaches
Session 05 – Constructivism
Session 06 – Sociological approaches
Session 07 – Conceptual approaches

CLUSTER 2: Contemporary Challenges
Session 08 – Violence, War, Conflicts and Security
Session 09 – Migration, Mobility, Borders
Session 10 – Development and Progress
Session 11 – Technology and Environment