Political Science

Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin

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Module Code: POU44021

Module Name: Contemporary International Relations A 2024-25

ECTS Weighting: 5
Semester/Term Taught: Semester 1
Contact Hours: 2 hours per week
Module Personnel: Lecturer - Prof Sharyn O'Halloran
Module Co-Requisite: POU44032 Contemporary International Relations B

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

Analyze contemporary international political economy issues, from various perspectives.
Describe and present political economy models.
Apply political economy toolkit to international public policies.
Collect, present, and explain international political economy trends using data and other visuals.
Write a clear and compelling paper that states a hypothesis, summarizes the relevant literatures, describes a research design to test the hypothesis, collects evidence and the implication of their findings.

Module Learning Aims

Students will learn:

Substantive knowledge of contemporary international political economy issues.
The economic and political drivers of international public policy.
To distinguish among competing explanations.
Write a compelling position paper.
Develop a clear research paper, which states hypothesis, research methodology, evidence and findings.

Module Content

***Please note topics covered in Contemporary International Relations A and B may be interchanged from Semester 1 to Semester 2 and viceversa****

Contemporary International Relations A and B modules will cover a variety of important topics in international politics over 2020-21. The current descriptions set out a sample set of topics that have been covered in the past and may be covered again in 2020-21. However, the exact topics to be covered in 2020-21 as well as the instructors for these modules is subject to change, including switching of topics from Semester 1 to Semester 2 and vice versa, as well as changes in focus and materials over the year.

The course will cover a wide range of themes within the contemporary international relations literature, ranging from international trade to migration to global environmental cooperation.
The course will cover a number of contemporary theories that focus on the strategic interaction of international political actors. These theories will then be applied to important new topics of international politics that are especially relevant to understanding the international system of the 21st century, such as transnational networks and issues dealing with environmental policy cooperation.