Learning outcomes

The students develop an understanding of the connections between IR, European studies and related disciplines/fields of study, and in this way obtain a clearer understanding of what questions IR approaches can solve in European studies and where multidisciplinary learning is needed.

Contents

This course explores the discipline of International Relations (IR) from the point of view of its most central metatheories such as realism, liberalism, constructivism and the English school, and elaborates their connections to research within related disciplines and fields of study. In this way IR approaches are related to heterogeneous field of European studies where the status of IR approaches has evolved from clear dominance to being just one, albeit still important approach within the chorus. During this evolvement several IR approaches have claimed dominance in the field and today many of them are in various forms alive. The study of European integration is portrayed as a multidisciplinary field of research where political science and IR enjoy the most important disciplinary status. From these starting points in particular in the essay seminars it is discussed what is disciplinary and multidisciplinary in IR and European integration studies. In the essay seminars disciplinary and multidisciplinary examples of research is discussed within fields ranging from EU foreign policy to regional integration, identity, conflicts and borders.

Teaching methods

Teaching method	Contact	Online
Lectures	10 h	0 h
Seminar	10 h	0 h

10 hours of lectures, and an essay based on the lectures and independent readings, 10 hours essay seminar

Teaching language

English

Evaluation

Numeric 1-5.

Recommended year of study

Autumn-winter 2008 (lectures II period, essay seminar III period).

Study materials

To be announced.

Belongs to following study modules