How are international power relations changing and how can global peace and stability be maintained? This course familiarizes you with some main theories of international relations, shows how the global order is gradually changing and discusses how selected international and regional organizations contribute to the maintenance of global peace and security. You learn what research findings tell us in terms of the capacity of international organizations and actors to help prevent or stop violent conflict, what tools are used to negotiate agreements and how foundations for sustainable peace are best created. We will also focus on the role of the European Union in terms of diplomacy and efforts to prevent conflict, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the contribution of organizations such as the African Union to the prevention of conflict and war. We will study the United Nations Security Council and see in which ways its membership could be adapted to more accurately reflect the power relations of the current global order. Through quizzes and exercises testing your knowledge of these subjects, you will understand crucial concepts and get insights into how the academic study of international relations and international organization contributes to the search for global stability and peace in practice.
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- Provider Coursera
- Cost Free Online Course (Audit)
- Session Upcoming
- Language English
- Certificate Paid Certificate Available
- Effort 6-8 hours a week
- Start Date
- Duration 7 weeks long
- Learn more about MOOCs
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Overview
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Syllabus
Welcome to the course
-Great that you are joining us! In this course you will learn about international relations, peace and security. Before you start with studying we invite you to first go through our introduction module and introduce yourself in the forum to meet your fellow learners. If you encounter any difficulties while studying, please let us know in the forum. For technical difficulties or questions regarding the course certificate, you can always contact the Coursera Learner Helpdesk. Good luck and we hope you will enjoy the course!
Theories of International Relations
-In this first week, we will discuss theories of international relations and in addition to this, we will have a first lecture on the United Nations Security Council. Theories may at times seem a bit ‘abstract’, or even ‘dry’, but you will see that they actually do matter; make sure to also have a look at our assigned and recommended readings to provide you with additional insights.
The Changing World Order: Rising Powers and International Institutions
-This week we will be looking into changing world power in more detail, mainly targeting the question: who are the rising powers? You will get lectures from two of our guest instructors: Professor Rob de Wijk and Professor André Gerrits. Topics covered are power politics, the rise of China and the role of Russia in the current global order.
Conflict, Conflict Resolution and Security
-This week, we will look at Conflict, Conflict Resolution and Security. We have a number of very interesting lectures as well as some additional interviews with experts in the field. Some of the topics include negotiation and mediation strategies, UN Security Council sanctions, the role of the International Criminal Court, and interviews on the practical implementation of these strategies and mechanisms. Additionally, for those of you completing the honors track, this week we have the peer review essay assignment. In this assignment, you will write about a conflict of your choice and apply the conflict resolution strategies to the conflict. Good luck on the assignment!
Regional Organizations in Global Affairs
-This week, we will look at regional organizations in global affairs in which we first focus on the European Union. Thereafter, Prof. dr. Giles Scott-Smith will familiarize us with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Arctic Council. We will also present an additional interview with Prof. dr. Mohamed Salih about the African Union and an interview with Hetty Burgman about Cordaid. Lastly, also a guest lecture at Leiden University by Federica Mogherini, the current High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, is released.
NATO in a Changing World
- The topic addressed this week is NATO in a Changing World. There are two lectures by Prof. dr. Rob de Wijk. The first examines coercion and the second elucidates the new role of NATO in the international arena. Furthermore, there are also interesting interviews with several former Secretary Generals of NATO, including Jamie Shea, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, and Rasmussen.
Reforming the UNSC: Strategies and Proposals
-This week, we will focus on the United Nations Security Council and Reform Proposals. The topics addressed are the history of the UNSC, its current structure, and how it can best be reformed. Additionally, there are two extra videos by Abiodun Williams and Edwin Bakker.
Handing in the UNSC Reform Groups Proposals
-Please note that during week 7, there are no lectures and assigned readings. The purpose of the week is for the students participating in the UN Security Council reform group assignment to hand in their proposals. The deadline is on Wednesday of this week at 13:00 CET. If you were unable to participate in the group assignment but would like to in the future, in 6 weeks the assignment will be available again!
-Great that you are joining us! In this course you will learn about international relations, peace and security. Before you start with studying we invite you to first go through our introduction module and introduce yourself in the forum to meet your fellow learners. If you encounter any difficulties while studying, please let us know in the forum. For technical difficulties or questions regarding the course certificate, you can always contact the Coursera Learner Helpdesk. Good luck and we hope you will enjoy the course!
Theories of International Relations
-In this first week, we will discuss theories of international relations and in addition to this, we will have a first lecture on the United Nations Security Council. Theories may at times seem a bit ‘abstract’, or even ‘dry’, but you will see that they actually do matter; make sure to also have a look at our assigned and recommended readings to provide you with additional insights.
The Changing World Order: Rising Powers and International Institutions
-This week we will be looking into changing world power in more detail, mainly targeting the question: who are the rising powers? You will get lectures from two of our guest instructors: Professor Rob de Wijk and Professor André Gerrits. Topics covered are power politics, the rise of China and the role of Russia in the current global order.
Conflict, Conflict Resolution and Security
-This week, we will look at Conflict, Conflict Resolution and Security. We have a number of very interesting lectures as well as some additional interviews with experts in the field. Some of the topics include negotiation and mediation strategies, UN Security Council sanctions, the role of the International Criminal Court, and interviews on the practical implementation of these strategies and mechanisms. Additionally, for those of you completing the honors track, this week we have the peer review essay assignment. In this assignment, you will write about a conflict of your choice and apply the conflict resolution strategies to the conflict. Good luck on the assignment!
Regional Organizations in Global Affairs
-This week, we will look at regional organizations in global affairs in which we first focus on the European Union. Thereafter, Prof. dr. Giles Scott-Smith will familiarize us with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Arctic Council. We will also present an additional interview with Prof. dr. Mohamed Salih about the African Union and an interview with Hetty Burgman about Cordaid. Lastly, also a guest lecture at Leiden University by Federica Mogherini, the current High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, is released.
NATO in a Changing World
- The topic addressed this week is NATO in a Changing World. There are two lectures by Prof. dr. Rob de Wijk. The first examines coercion and the second elucidates the new role of NATO in the international arena. Furthermore, there are also interesting interviews with several former Secretary Generals of NATO, including Jamie Shea, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, and Rasmussen.
Reforming the UNSC: Strategies and Proposals
-This week, we will focus on the United Nations Security Council and Reform Proposals. The topics addressed are the history of the UNSC, its current structure, and how it can best be reformed. Additionally, there are two extra videos by Abiodun Williams and Edwin Bakker.
Handing in the UNSC Reform Groups Proposals
-Please note that during week 7, there are no lectures and assigned readings. The purpose of the week is for the students participating in the UN Security Council reform group assignment to hand in their proposals. The deadline is on Wednesday of this week at 13:00 CET. If you were unable to participate in the group assignment but would like to in the future, in 6 weeks the assignment will be available again!
Taught by
Madeleine Hosli and Andre Gerrits
Help Center
Reviews
for Coursera's The Changing Global Order
Based on
6 reviews
- 5 stars 33%
- 4 stars 50%
- 3 star 17%
- 2 star 0%
- 1 star 0%
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Write a review- 1
Zsófia S
6 days ago
by
is taking this course right now, spending 3 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be medium.
This has the potential to be a really great course, but it left me disappointed and very, VERY frustrated. It's hard to give a simple star rating.
The content itself, and the format would deserve 4.5-5.
I think it's a great course in this aspect and I'm very thankful for the University of Leiden for making it freely available.
However, they've published this well-put-together course without ever checking it's written content, which is full of mistakes and inaccuracies. Because most of the professors speak with a very heavy accent, it's an absolute mus…
The content itself, and the format would deserve 4.5-5.
I think it's a great course in this aspect and I'm very thankful for the University of Leiden for making it freely available.
However, they've published this well-put-together course without ever checking it's written content, which is full of mistakes and inaccuracies. Because most of the professors speak with a very heavy accent, it's an absolute mus…
This has the potential to be a really great course, but it left me disappointed and very, VERY frustrated. It's hard to give a simple star rating.
The content itself, and the format would deserve 4.5-5.
I think it's a great course in this aspect and I'm very thankful for the University of Leiden for making it freely available.
However, they've published this well-put-together course without ever checking it's written content, which is full of mistakes and inaccuracies. Because most of the professors speak with a very heavy accent, it's an absolute must to have subtitles displayed, even in English. Showing the transcript of the videos is also the default option on Coursera, so it's safe to assume that most English speakers watch these videos with English subtitles. Which in this case are horrendous. The transcript is automatically generated and every paragraph contains multiple mistakes. At best, it's just small details, but very often full words are changed which give a completely different meaning to the sentence. Let me give you an example: the transcript says "The Indian-American journalist and author Fareed Zakaria argued that due to the rise of the West, you are now seeing the emergence of a post-American world." It's exactly the opposite what Zakaria says!!! It's the "rise of the rest," meaning the economic emergence of China, India, Brazil, and other countries, in opposition to the West, which he describes in The Post-American World (2008).
So far I found no way to get in touch with the publisher to give them the list of amendments necessary. This really could be a very good course, but this way I'm struggling to understand most of the videos.
The content itself, and the format would deserve 4.5-5.
I think it's a great course in this aspect and I'm very thankful for the University of Leiden for making it freely available.
However, they've published this well-put-together course without ever checking it's written content, which is full of mistakes and inaccuracies. Because most of the professors speak with a very heavy accent, it's an absolute must to have subtitles displayed, even in English. Showing the transcript of the videos is also the default option on Coursera, so it's safe to assume that most English speakers watch these videos with English subtitles. Which in this case are horrendous. The transcript is automatically generated and every paragraph contains multiple mistakes. At best, it's just small details, but very often full words are changed which give a completely different meaning to the sentence. Let me give you an example: the transcript says "The Indian-American journalist and author Fareed Zakaria argued that due to the rise of the West, you are now seeing the emergence of a post-American world." It's exactly the opposite what Zakaria says!!! It's the "rise of the rest," meaning the economic emergence of China, India, Brazil, and other countries, in opposition to the West, which he describes in The Post-American World (2008).
So far I found no way to get in touch with the publisher to give them the list of amendments necessary. This really could be a very good course, but this way I'm struggling to understand most of the videos.
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Rooswilhelm R
4 years ago
Good and well-structured introduction into thinking about international relations. The material can be somewhat 'dry' but I really liked how different profs and guest speakers hightlighted different angles and I found the reading material and essay writing interesting easy to set myself to (which is an accomplishment in itself :-).
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