WORLD INSTITUTIONS AND POLICIES

Academic Year 2021/2022 - 1° Year
Teaching Staff: Fulvio Attinà
Credit Value: 6
Scientific field: SPS/04 - Political science
Taught classes: 36 hours
Term / Semester:

Course Structure

This Course offers advanced knowledge about the present-day politics and policymaking of the world polity. Emphasis is on the political science scholarship addressing the formation and operation of the world-reach policymaking institutions at the time of the world order transition.

On ground of the bachelor studies, the student either acquires or expands the ability to analyse issues and trends of world politics. Based on the careful preparation to the Seminar, the student also acquires communication skills that are of value to jobs in government, business organizations, consultancy firms, research centres, and the media.


Detailed Course Content

Sessions and Schedule

The eight Sessions of the Course consist of the Friday Lecture and Thursday Seminar.

14 October 2021 - Welcome class

Session 1: 15 & 28 October – World politics and the world political space The ontology (the primary substance) of the world politics is the first object to spot on because politics and world politics are polysemic terms. Is the power of the great powers the first and foremost driver of world politics? Are the world-scale, collective problems the drivers of the worldwide political space and the origin of one world polity whose institutions produce policy responses to those problems?

Keywords. Society. Politics. State. Political system. Institution. Problem. Policy. Political space. Polity.

Session 2: 29 October & 4 November – Authority, legitimacy, and the word political orderPolitical authority and legitimacy are essential requisites of government, policymaking, and political order. Students are called to consider the nature and form of authority and legitimacy in the world polity where the equal sovereignty and unequal resources and power of the states matter.

Keywords. Government. Authority. Legitimacy. Power. Sovereignty. Inequality. Order. Political order life cycle.

Session 3: 5 & 11 November - The life cycle of the American world order The profile of the last 70 years of world politics shows the unfolding of the American world order. It has passed from the twenty-year first phase of institution-building and implementation of the foundational policies to the phase of rising de-legitimation of the foundational institutions and policies and of missing appropriate response to urgent new problems. Last, the recently begun phase of coalition reconfiguration puts the world order in the transition mode that should end with the macro-decision over the next world order.

Keywords: Foundational order institutions (IMF, GATT/WTO, UN) and policies (Finance, Trade, Security of the state, De-coloniztion). World coalitions. Order de-legitimation.

Session 4: 12 & 18 November – Order transitions. Revisionism and coalition reconfiguration - The main theories of world order transition are reviewed to assess the will, resources, and qualities of the big powers of today, the United States, China, and Russia. Their revisionist orientation and coalition power are spotted.

Keywords: Hegemonic stability theory. Power transition theory. Status quo orientation. Revisionism. Coalition power.

Session 5: 19 & 25 November – Multilateralism, policymaking institutions, and world policies - In the mid-20th century, a set of multilateral institutions were created to form and implement world policies to respond to world-scale problems. In the early 21st century, order transition impairs multilateralism, but the multilateral institutions struggle to deliver world policies towards the growing number of world-reach problems, including climate warming, forced migration, and healthcare and epidemics.

Keywords: Multilateralism. Multilateral policymaking. World-scale, collective problems.

Session 6: 26 November & 2 December - Problems and policies in the pipeline of multilateral institutions. The Climate change & Green transition – From 1992, the policy response to the climate warming problem is the remit of the United Nations FCCC (Framework Convention on Climate Change). In 2015, the multilateral policymaking process achieved to deliver the world climate policy, known as the Paris Agreement. The policy implementation is in progress under the guide of the FCCC and with respect for the sovereign states’ policy ownership.

Keywords: GHG. Great emitters. 2030 target goals. De-carbonization. Transition to RES (Reusable Energy Sources).

Session 7: 3 & 9 December - Forced migration: the world-reach, difficult-to-handle problem. The EU’s inappropriate response Contrary to the view of the experts that predicted the rising of the migration wave, the governments of the inflow countries turned deaf hears to the problem. Migration is the remit of several international organisations that lack the resources and instruments of the world policymaking institutions. In 2018, the UN Global Compact on Migration has been approved by 164 countries, but its content remains controversial and far from progressing towards the goal of forming the world policy towards forced migration. The governments of Europe, one of the destination areas along with Australia and the United States, do not share the same view towards such problem and the case of forming the world policy response by the multilateral policymaking method.

Keywords: Forced migration. Root causes of migration.

Session 8: 10 & 16 December – Problems and policies in the pipeline: Healthcare and pandemics – Healthcare and epidemics are the remit of the World Health Organisation (WHO), born in 1948. The COVID-19 pandemics is challenging both the WHO’s response capability and the states’ will to join in the effort of forming the appropriate policy response.

Keywords: Communicable disease. Epidemics. Pandemics. Healthcare.

17 December - Wrap-up class


Textbook Information

The WIP Companion Book 21 is the assemblage of excerpts from political science articles and books. It is provided in digital form to the students for their own use in this Course.