GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY

The course will be taught in a tutorial group. Students are required to attend classes and actively participate (giving one presentation, based on the readings from the reading list, which will be assigned at the beginning of the course). Classes will be based on 15 minutes ppt presentations by the students, mini-lectures with slides by the instructor, the use of videos, seminars given by experts, working groups and practical exercises and most prominently group discussions around the readings. Game of Peace, an award-winning simulation based on conflict resolution will be used to engage students in playing different roles and working on a real conflict. Packets of readings for each module, as well as additional material  will be distributed by the instructor.

Students who may require to solidify their preparation before joining the course, are invited to enroll for free in the following MOOC on Basic International Relations: 

https://eurasiaproject.eu/courses/international-relations/

The course offers to students a series of abilities to analyze the different typologies of civil society organizations, their identities and tools, the participation procedures used to access international and regional organizations as well as the main critics they move to global policy-making. It combines an ample theoretical overview with a dynamic analysis of the practical implications that civil society organizations can produce on the main domains of global politics.

Two main aspects are particularly stressed: 

1. a description of the relations that different organizations have established with their own members and supporters, the interests they represent and the legitimacy of their activities;

2. an analysis of the relations they have developed with formal authorities – States and international governmental organizations – as well as the way through which civil society organizations participate to the global policy-making – at different levels – and access to the politicization processes.

Several policy fields are analysed and described, mainly related to peace and security studies, land particularly democratization, human rights, environmental issues, humanitarian action, conflict transformation, natural disasters management, migration and counterterrorism. In these fields, the practical implications of the roles played by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and social movements are described by offering examples and case studies.  

At the end of the course, students will be required to write a short paper (4,000 words) on a topic of their own interest, dealing with the course contents.

Assessment is based on active participation; individual presentation; participation in the simulation and final paper.

Humanitarian action.