Unit HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANITATIONS

Course
International relations
Study-unit Code
GP003775
Curriculum
Conflitti internazionali, studi strategici e analisi di politica estera
Teacher
Lorella Tosone
Teachers
  • Lorella Tosone
Hours
  • 63 ore - Lorella Tosone
CFU
9
Course Regulation
Coorte 2021
Offered
2021/22
Learning activities
Caratterizzante
Area
Storico
Academic discipline
SPS/06
Type of study-unit
Obbligatorio (Required)
Type of learning activities
Attività formativa monodisciplinare
Language of instruction
Italian. International and Erasmus students are invited to take the course. Readings and other course material are also available in English; written and/or oral exams, as detailed in the course program, may be taken in English. Please contact the instructor for further details and to schedule an appointment during the first week of the Spring Semester
Contents
The course aims at enabling students to acquire a good knowledge of the major international organizations, their functions and fields of activities, as well as their role in the evolution of the XX century international system. Attention will be devoted, from a historical perspective, to both global and regional organizations and to their interactions. In particular, the course will deal with the United Nations system, the International Financial Institutions (International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group), the European Union, the African Union.
Reference texts
For students that attend the classes a complete list of readings will be made available at the beginning of the course on the Unistudium platform.
For students that cannot attend the classes:
Carla Meneguzzi Rostagni, Politica di potenza e cooperazione. L’organizzazione internazionale dal Congresso di Vienna alla globalizzazione, Padova, Cedam, 2013 and one of the following books:

¿ Alexander Betts, Gil Loescher, James Milner, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The Politics and Practice of Refugee Protection, London-New York, Routledge, 2011
¿ Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, The Millennium Development Goals. Ideas, Interest and Influence, London-New York, Routledge, 2017
¿ Richard Jolly, UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Global Governance That Works, London-New York, Routledge, 2014
¿ Peter Nadin, The UN Security Council Reform, London-New York, Routledge, 2018
¿ Peter Willetts, Non-Governmental Organizations in World Politics. The Construction of Global Governance, London-New York, Routledge, 2010
Educational objectives
Upon the completion of this course, the students will be able to:
- Explain the origins and the historical evolution of the main international organizations
- describe their role in the current international system
- describe the main tools and fields of action of multilateral diplomacy
At the end of the course students will also be able to critically interpret the evolution now taking place in the international system and to understand the challenges posed by new actors (especially China) to the universal international institutions established at the end of WWII. Through individual presentations and discussions on various topics relating to the international organizations history they will also acquire better communication skills.
Prerequisites
It is important that students have a basic knowledge of International relations history, especially of the Cold War years.
Teaching methods
Lessons and seminars.
Other information
Attending classes is strongly recommended. For futher information: lorella.tosone@unipg.it
Learning verification modality
For students that attend the classes
- Oral presentation: Students will be asked to deepen one of the topics related to the course content by reading material indicated by the teacher at the beginning of the course and to present the content in the classroom. In this phase the students' ability to critically read the texts, to present them clearly and concisely, and to answer some questions by adequately arguing the answers will be evaluated. Students will be encouraged to enrich their presentations with individual insights.
- Oral exam: The final oral exam will consist of a 20 minute interview in which 2/3 questions will be asked about the topics covered during the course and will be assessed taking into account the student's ability to answer questions precisely, logically organizing the speech and with a clear language.
For students that cannot attend the classes, the evaluation will be based on an oral exam of about 30 minutes with 4/5 questions on the topics of the program, which will aim to ascertain the acquired knowledge, the ability to express an informed judgment and to organize the answers logically.
For information regarding services for tudents with disabilities, please visit http://www.unipg.it/disabilita-e-dsa
Extended program
The course will cover the following topics:
- Patterns of international cooperation in the late nineteenth and early twenty centuries: the public international unions and the Hague system
- The establishment of the League of Nations after WWI and its action in the fields of collective security and economic and social cooperation
- The establishment of the United Nations system: collective security, development cooperation and human rights protection
- The establishment of the Bretton Woods institutions and their evolution
- The regional and sub-regional organizations and their interactions with the UN system
- The external action of the EU
- The “emerging” countries (Brics) and global governance
- The democratization of international institutions: the reform of the IFIs and of the UN Security Council
Condividi su