S1414 Global Governance for Peace and Security, Cooperation and Development

The course provides basic tools and concepts to understanding the concept of Global Governance and its relevance for peace, security, development and international cooperation. The course explores how practices of Global Governance function in different fields of the contemporary societies and how these practice could be relevant to solve and manage global current challenges and threats.
According to the bulk of literature on the topic, Global Governance is characterized by: 1. the participation and the interplay of public and private actors such as states, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, multinational corporations, networks of scientists and experts and human rights activists; 2. the predominance of soft-law instruments as mechanism of relationship and co-operation among the actors just mentioned.
Starting from this definition the course overviews some of the central debates on Global Governance, especially in regard to peace and security issues, human rights, economic transactions, and the environment. Some key theoretical questions will be addressed in relation to these debates: What is Global Governance? Which are the key-actors of Global Governance? Which tools and instruments (international agreement, international cooperation mechanisms, technical and financial assistance, international protocols and guidelines) characterize Global Governance? Where does accountability lie in this type of networked global system?

The course is divided into four parts.
The first part (3 weeks) explores how Global Governance arrangements emerged in the last 30 years and the reasons, such as geopolitical changes, security threats and globalization, for this emergence. Various policy fields of Global Governance (such as peace and security, human rights, economic and environmental issues and health governance) are presented. In this part, the focus is on the networks of states, activist and scientific experts as a key feature of the Global Governance dynamics. The complex link between Global Civil Society and International Norms is analyzed as well.

The second part (4 weeks) covers specifically the interplay between states and international organizations (IOs) with a detailed focus on selected international organizations examining
similarities and differences in their creation, mandates and working methods. The IOs that will be analyzed and discussed are: United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, European Union and Council of Europe. This part also explores the impact of global social movements on the international economic organizations mainly involved in the global political economy (WTO, IMF and WB). An invited guest-experts on this topic will be involved during one of the lectures.

The third part (3 weeks) examines the expansion of Global Governance dynamics and tools in some selected areas. The first area is related to peace and security threats and to the emergence of networked international responses to this challenges. The role of International Courts and Tribunals will be also analyzed as well as the increasing relevance of other international quasi-judicial institutions, such as judicial networks and commissions. The second area is the one of human rights protection addressing the role of the UN, the EU and the Council of Europe. A special focus with an on-site visit at the Council of Europe-Venice Commission will be organized. The third area is related to environment and health governance. Health Global Governance will be discussed with an invited guest-expert.

The fourth part (2 weeks) concludes the course focusing on the changing nature and developments of the globally-networked international relations. Two lectures are devoted to analyze recent areas of major conflict such as Afghanistan and the countries involved in the Arab Spring.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Students will gain a broad understanding of the concept of Global Governance and its potentiality to understand the current state of world politics and economy. The first aim of the course is thus
to make students aware of the interconnected and networked dynamics and functioning of modern society.
The logic of the course ensures that students gain knowledge of the evolution of various components of Global Governance, governance’s activities, both formal and non formal rules and mechanisms, Global Governance actors, networks and stakeholders. Students will be competent in recognizing international organizations and their respective roles in different policy fields.
Upon the attendance of the course students must know and recognize:
-The theoretical foundations of Global Governance;
-Processes, components, actors and stakeholders of Global Governance;

-The challenges in Global Governance;
-International organizations such as the UN, the WTO, the IMF, the World Bank;
-NGOs and social movements in Global Governance;
-Regional organizations such as the European Union and the Council of Europe;
-The main issue areas of Global Governance intervention (such as peace and security, human rights, economy, environment and health policies);
-The changing nature of international relations.

TEACHING AND EVALUATION METHODS
Classes consist primarily of seminar discussions, involving both short lectures by the professor and presentations by the students on the topics of the class. All students are expected to study the assigned reading of each seminar in advance and be ready to engage in a critical discussion with each other and with the instructor.
Each seminar will be organized as follows: one or two students will be alternatively charged of introducing and summarizing the assigned readings (approximately 30 pages for each seminar) acting collectively as ‘discussion leader’. The discussion leaders will have to outline the main points of the readings thus highlighting questions for class’s discussion. In the second part of the class the topic will be discussed and presented by the instructor. Video, on-line interviews and web-sites will be used during all the classes. Some case studies will be presented and analyzed inviting also guest-experts from Italian and European universities. Work-group brief assignment will be also used.
A precious occasion for this course is given by the location of the VIU Campus in Venice that makes possible to organize a focus and an on-site visit to the Venice Commission (Commission for Democracy throughout Law) of the Council Of Europe that meets every four months in Venice at the Scuola Grande S. Giovanni Evangelista. The Commission is currently one of the most relevant international body working in the field of human and constitutional rights protection and diffusion.

Evaluation methods
The students will be evaluated on the basis of class participation, a jointly written short-paper, a mid-term test and the final exam. The students are expected to participate actively in class discussions, and must be able to debate the main ideas presented in the assigned readings.
After the fourth week, students will prepare one jointly-written (2-3 people) short paper (2500 words) selecting a topic related to the arguments already analyzed in the course. The paper have to be sent to the instructor by the ninth week of the course. Specific details and information for the short-paper preparation will be provided during the course.