Course teacher(s)
Romain WEIKMANS (Coordinator)ECTS credits
5
Language(s) of instruction
english
Course content
While we will in this course encounter a wide variety of factors and actors that drive globalization, its empirical focus is rather on one of the crucial sites from which they manage to do so: “International Organizations” or IOs, here mainly understood as Intergovernmental Organizations or IGOs.
We will amongst others try to understand IO’s heterogeneous and multifaceted social realities, their impact on international order, states and societies. We will also look at the main IOs as well as at the theories in IR and organizational sociology that have tried to shed light on these organizations.
As a consequence of what precedes, IOs cannot solely be grasped through their transnational bureaucracies and intergovernmental cooperation. Their study also invites a reflection on the role of the manifold actors and collective agents with whom they interact: International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), Multinational corporations, elite networks etc. Beyond the mere question of interaction, the issue is equally how these international institutions are shot through with transnational and transgovernmental networks from which they are virtually inseparable.
Finally, to understand IOs one must account for the fact that, in their context, governments are not necessarily consistent actors, nor their strategies necessarily internally consistent.
In order to come to terms with this complexity, the questions that will guide us throughout this course are: How IOs impact on (and are affected by) these different actors? Does the main impact of IOs lie in their function as fora or arenas in which governments coordinate their action? Under what conditions do IOs of different sorts acquire an autonomy of their own? How do they draw non-state actors (NGOs; private firms; physical persons) into the “game” of collective decision-making and how can the resulting interactions, struggles and their inherent complexity and emergent effects, be analysed?
Putting these questions pertaining to “international actorness” at the forefront has four advantages compared to more single-handed accounts of IOs:
1/ Rather than taking the fuzzy contours of the object “IOs” as determining the structure and outline of the course, it allows organizing it along a more analytical thread;
2/ Rather than taking notions of “(collective) actors”, “(collective) action”, interaction, agency or “actorness” for granted, it allows problematizing and questioning them;
3/ This approach might shed new light not only on IOs but also on the nature of the more traditional “actors” of international relations: national governments;
4/ While IOs are generally analysed either as mere fora or as full-fledged actors themselves, it might allow exploring a third option: that the relations of interdependency upon which they thrive (and that they increase) constrain and transform the actors themselves and their interrelations.
We will amongst others try to understand IO’s heterogeneous and multifaceted social realities, their impact on international order, states and societies. We will also look at the main IOs as well as at the theories in IR and organizational sociology that have tried to shed light on these organizations.
As a consequence of what precedes, IOs cannot solely be grasped through their transnational bureaucracies and intergovernmental cooperation. Their study also invites a reflection on the role of the manifold actors and collective agents with whom they interact: International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), Multinational corporations, elite networks etc. Beyond the mere question of interaction, the issue is equally how these international institutions are shot through with transnational and transgovernmental networks from which they are virtually inseparable.
Finally, to understand IOs one must account for the fact that, in their context, governments are not necessarily consistent actors, nor their strategies necessarily internally consistent.
In order to come to terms with this complexity, the questions that will guide us throughout this course are: How IOs impact on (and are affected by) these different actors? Does the main impact of IOs lie in their function as fora or arenas in which governments coordinate their action? Under what conditions do IOs of different sorts acquire an autonomy of their own? How do they draw non-state actors (NGOs; private firms; physical persons) into the “game” of collective decision-making and how can the resulting interactions, struggles and their inherent complexity and emergent effects, be analysed?
Putting these questions pertaining to “international actorness” at the forefront has four advantages compared to more single-handed accounts of IOs:
1/ Rather than taking the fuzzy contours of the object “IOs” as determining the structure and outline of the course, it allows organizing it along a more analytical thread;
2/ Rather than taking notions of “(collective) actors”, “(collective) action”, interaction, agency or “actorness” for granted, it allows problematizing and questioning them;
3/ This approach might shed new light not only on IOs but also on the nature of the more traditional “actors” of international relations: national governments;
4/ While IOs are generally analysed either as mere fora or as full-fledged actors themselves, it might allow exploring a third option: that the relations of interdependency upon which they thrive (and that they increase) constrain and transform the actors themselves and their interrelations.
Objectives (and/or specific learning outcomes)
The main objectives of this course are:
1. To present the main IOs, their function and political uses throughout different policy-areas;
2. To introduce the major concepts and current academic debates relating to IOs (mainly but not exclusively in IR theory);
3. To offer analytical perspectives on the way in which IOs reframe the relations and interactions between the main actors of IR.
After having followed this course, students will be able to:
1. Better understand the functioning of IOs, and to critically reflect on their rationales, their actors, their social uses and utilities and their endogenous and exogenous dynamics;
2. Assess the role and impact of IOs on diverse international actors while differentiating between policy-sectors and regions;
3. Ascertain how IOs reframe questions of democracy, accountability, power and political legitimacy in the contemporary world.
1. To present the main IOs, their function and political uses throughout different policy-areas;
2. To introduce the major concepts and current academic debates relating to IOs (mainly but not exclusively in IR theory);
3. To offer analytical perspectives on the way in which IOs reframe the relations and interactions between the main actors of IR.
After having followed this course, students will be able to:
1. Better understand the functioning of IOs, and to critically reflect on their rationales, their actors, their social uses and utilities and their endogenous and exogenous dynamics;
2. Assess the role and impact of IOs on diverse international actors while differentiating between policy-sectors and regions;
3. Ascertain how IOs reframe questions of democracy, accountability, power and political legitimacy in the contemporary world.
Teaching methods and learning activities
Throughout its twelve sessions of two hours, this course will constantly rely on examples, illustrations and case studies while simultaneously endeavouring to familiarize the students with the conceptual tools that might shed light upon them. In other words, empirical data and theoretical reflection will be interwoven in each of the sessions. Readings and podcasts will also be put on the Université virtuelle.
References, bibliography, and recommended reading
See Université Virtuelle.
Course notes
- Université virtuelle
Other information
Contacts
Prof. Dr. Romain Weikmans
Email: romain.weikmans@ulb.be
Webpage: https://repi.phisoc.ulb.be/en/members/academics/romain-weikmans-1
Campus
Solbosch
Evaluation
Method(s) of evaluation
- written examination
written examination
- Open question with developed answer
- Open question with short answer
- Closed question with multiple choices (MCQ)
- Closed question True or False (T/F)
Closed-book 2-hour written exam held during the examination session.
You must have with you:
- A pen;
- Your student card.
- An English dictionary (or French-English, Spanish-English, etc.);
- A drink / snack;
- An analogue or digital watch (but not a smartwatch).
Language(s) of evaluation
- english