This course offers a comprehensive overview of the role of international institutions in promoting international cooperation. The course assumes and builds upon students’ prior understanding of theories of international relations, and of international politics.
The module is designed around the following question: Do international institutions promote international cooperation? In particular, the course analyzes the main challenges to international cooperation, and how international organizations (IOs) can help to overcome them. To answer this question, the module relies on three pillars: First, it introduces a set of theories to help understanding cooperation among states. Second, it applies these theories to the analysis of some of the most important IOs. Finally, the last part of the module reviews the effects of IOs both on the behavior of states, and on international markets.
By the end of the module, the students should be able to: (i) understand and identify the central problems for cooperation in an anarchic world; (ii) identify and explain key concepts for the analysis of international institutions; (iii) use theories to analyze the role of international institutions in world politics; (iv) demonstrate analytical and critical thinking skills when analyzing political phenomena.
All the essential (required) readings can be found here https://rl.talis.com/3/essex/lists/F9ED9DCD-239E-1728-4579-48CD42E2297B.html?lang=en-US&login=1.