Module Information

Module Identifier
IPM2820
Module Title
Order-Making in International Politics
Academic Year
2025/2026
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2
Reading List

Course Delivery

 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Research proposal  1500 Words  30%
Semester Assessment Study of Order-Making  Study of a chosen issue area and site of order-making 3500 Words  70%
Supplementary Assessment Research proposal  1500 Words  30%
Supplementary Assessment Study of Order-Making  Study of a chosen issue area and site of order-making 3500 Words  70%

Learning Outcomes

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

Demonstrate a theoretically informed understanding of the relationship between knowledge, action and the global political order of relations

Be able to critically analyse and evaluate different actors engagement in international politics and capacity to influence change.

To be able to develop a research proposal that identifies what the problem or puzzle to be studied is, why it is important, how it has been tackled in existing studies and how the project builds on this.

To be able to identify an appropriate site and appropriate methods for studying a chosen aspect of agreement-making.

Conduct critical research into and at a chosen site of agreement-making.

To read, review and critically evaluate present scholarship and its contribution to understanding of climate politics

To communicate and present the development of a research project and its findings.

Brief description

This module explores the actors, sites, processes and order-making constitutive of agreement-making in international politics, as can be observed and studied at the international, national and local level. The module analytical framework is built from the significance of order in and to international politics and as studied through collective action to address and govern global issues like climate change, health, nuclear non-proliferation and trade relations. We examine these issue areas as central sites of international order-making. While many actors have a stake in the global response to these issues, the potential to shape how they are known and governed is not equally distributed and the capacity to influence reflects the broader distribution of economic and cultural resources. Starting from this conceptual basis, each student will identify an issue area and site of collective action and explore appropriate theoretical and methodological approaches to interrogate and illuminate relations of global agreement-making.

Content

Part I: Why social order matters in international politics

Part II: Knowledge and order

Part III: Sites of agreement-making: the case of climate change

Part IV: Other sites and cases of agreement-making: Health, Nuclear, Trade

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Critical and analytical thinking Through your reviewing of current literature and development and application of your own methodological approach for the study of agreement-making in international politics you will develop critical and analytical skills and the ability to apply this to your own concerns and research interests.
Professional communication Through oral and written presentation you will learn to communicate the complexities of climate politics and its study in a clear and accessible way to both the specialist and to a non-specialist audience.
Reflection The ability to review and reflect on the contribution literature makes both to the field of study and your own understanding and study of the topic.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 7