If there is one thing world leaders today can still agree on, it is the shared assumption that the world has entered a decisive decade, in which the future international order will be shaped. Joe Biden often refers to “a significant inflection point in world history.” Olaf Scholz has spoken of a “Zeitenwende”, a watershed. Vladimir Putin sees the world at a crossroads, entering the “most dangerous decade” since the end of World War II. According to Narendra Modi, “the world order is taking a new shape.”
Building on various theoretical approaches to understand “order” on the global level, this course discusses the contemporary crisis of the international order, its causes and its consequences: What are the main principles of the contemporary international order? Which intellectual traditions inform the debate about world order today? Why is there a crisis of what has been called the liberal international order? Who is contesting which elements of the order? Can it be reformed – and if so how? What are the fundamental alternative visions discussed today? Which of the visions of a new world order will shape the future? What could a peaceful and sustainable global order look like?
This course is for 2nd year MIA, MPP and MDS students only.
Instructor
- Tobias Bunde , Senior Researcher, Centre for International Security
