IR412      One Unit
International Institutions

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

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International organisations and other international institutions are created and expected to provide solutions whenever governments face challenges across borders, such as conflict and war, humanitarian emergencies, pandemics, climate change, financial crises, trade restrictions, economic development, and human rights. But their role in world politics is controversial. Some perceive international institutions as effective and legitimate alternatives to unilateral state policies, while others view them as cover for the exercise of power by dominant states. Many are disappointed by the gap between the lofty aspirations of international institutions and their actual performance in addressing global problems— and wonder how that gap could be closed. Global power shifts, geopolitical tensions and hostility to international governance pose major challenges to international cooperation. 

While some observers tend to lump all international institutions together, in reality the functioning, power, and effectiveness of international institutions differ widely – across organisations, issues, regions, and over time. The first part of the course introduces influential explanations for key questions about international institutions: why they are created, why they differ, who makes the key decisions and how, when and why they help solve international problems, and how they relate to one another in complex webs of global governance. The second part answers these questions in relation to specific international organisations, including the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the World Trade Organisation, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, as well as international institutions in the areas of human rights, environmental protection, and global health. The course also considers international organisations that promote regional integration.

15 hours of lectures and 13.5 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.
13.5 hours of seminars and 13.5 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn and Winter Term.

Students will be expected to produce 1 formative essay in the AT and sit one formative mock exam in WT week 11.

Each seminar participant is required to deliver 1 presentation and to provide commentary on a peer’s presentation. 

The formative coursework provide opportunity for students to engage skills and knowledge that are examined through the summative essay, including comprehension and application of theory to empirical cases, critical analysis, and argumentation. 

Volker Rittberger, Bernhard Zangl, Andreas Kruck and Hylke Dijkstra. 2019. International Organization: Polity, Politics and Policies, Third Edition, London: Red Globe Press

Ian Hurd. 2018. International Organizations: Politics, Law, Practice, Third Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Aggarwal, V. K. and Dupont, C. (2014) Cooperation and conflict in the global political economy. In: Ravenhill, John, Global political economy. 4th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Fehl, C. (2004) 'Explaining the International Criminal Court: A 'Practice Test' for Rationalist and Constructivist Approaches', European Journal of International Relations 10(3): 357-94

Niemann, A. (2006) ‘Beyond Problem-Solving and Bargaining: Genuine Debate in EU External Trade Negotiations’, International Negotiation 11: 467–97

Exam (85%), duration: 180 Minutes in the Spring exam period

Course participation (15%)

E-exam (85%)) in the Spring Term.

Class participation (15%) across the AT and WT (based primarily on seminar discussions).