Department of European Studies & Modern Languages, Unit Catalogue 2007/08 |
EU50733 Norms in international politics |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Masters |
| Semester: 1 |
| Assessment: ES100 |
| Requisites: |
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Aims: This unit aims to:
* discuss the role of norms in International Politics; * address concept, approaches, institutions and cases of fundamental norms such as basic procedural norms (in world politics) and core constitutional norms (in democratic polities); * take a political science standpoint, however, acknowledging the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in order to grasp the complex interplay between law and politics. These include for example conflicting interests of international institutions and domestic players as well as contravening forces displayed by the normative structure, discursive interventions and individual motivations in international politics; * understand how norms work and assess their dual quality as structuring and constructed patterns of international politics, the unit addresses a range of major theoretical approaches. These approaches are applied to discuss specific cases of norm implementation; * discuss the principles of democracy, human rights, non-intervention and the abstention from torture; * offer an understanding of how politics, law, and policy making work with regard to the role of norms in international politics. Learning Outcomes: Students who complete the unit successfully will be able to demonstrate that they: * Have a detailed theoretical/empirical understanding of norms in international politics. * Have acquired knowledge of the key concepts in the study, understanding, and analysis of norms. * Are able to analyse how norms work in international politics. * Understand that norms are constituted through law and politics, and that they regulate politics and express legitimate proceedings with reference to law, ethics, justice and democracy. Skills: The key skills the unit will hone and further develop are: * Advanced research skills in identifying, locating and exploiting a wide range of descriptive, evaluative and theoretical literature. * Intellectual skills of conceptual, original and independent thinking, critical analysis, synthesis and reasoned argument. * Skills of assessment and judgement in relation to the soundness of competing arguments and scenarios, including the reporting and assessing of qualitative and quantitative data. * Generic and transferable skills related to the oral and written presentation of ideas. * Skills of self-direction, self-evaluation and time management. * Reading, discussion and presentation of theoretical material. * Explaining international politics and policymaking in context. * Familiarisation with methodological tools and their meaning. * Application of theoretical and methodological skills to case studies. * Ability to carry out independent research using multiple sources such as archives in libraries on IT, or working with multiple media. * Presentation of research using multi-media e.g. Overheads and PowerPoint. * Develop presentation skills in speech and writing through active oral participation in class, written assignments, the QOL platform and email based communication. Content: Part I: Introduction and Context: Which norms, where do they matter? Part II: Core Concepts: What are norms, and how do they emerge? Part III: Principles and Cases: How do norms work, can they work better? |