Unit Outline

International cooperation has undoubtly a positive ring to it. Recent decades have seen an impressive increase in inter-governmental and transnational cooperation, which often have been hailed for creating policies of peace and prosperity. Examples include the European Union, the Arms Trade Treaty or global measures for preventing climate change decided in Paris in 2015. However, international cooperation has also a dark side to it. It notably tends to (re)produce structures of inequality and injustice. With hindsight, for instance, we remember the 1884 Berlin Conference as a negative example of international cooperation as it carried on the colonization of Africa (the famous scramble for Africa), hence institutionalizing the looting and the violence and exploitation of the continent. However, at its times, the conference was seen as a peace conference as it avoided armed conflict between the two great powers of the time, France and Great-Britain. International cooperation is, as this example shows, often highly ambiguous. While it creates on the one hand conditions for a more peaceful and prosperous world, it also (re)creates conditions for exploitation and injustice. This unit will explore this ambiguity by looking at both sides of international cooperation: its bright side with is potential of solving major global problems and conflicts (climate change, wars, famine etc.) and its dark side, i.e. the conditions of power inequality and domination on which cooperation is often predicated on and which it institutionalizeds and reproduces.

Intended Learning Outcomes

As per the Assessment and Results Policy 1.3, your results will reflect your achievement against specified learning outcomes.

On completion of this unit, you will be able to:


1.	Explain different forms and instances of inter-governmental and transnational cooperation.
2.	Analyse key arguments and theoretical debates in the field of international cooperation.
3.	Apply theoretical knowledge from mainstream and critical approaches to empirical cases of international relations.
4.	Communicate coherently in written and/or oral formats drawing upon evidence to support your argument.

Requisites


REQUISITE TYPE	REQUISITES
Pre-requisite	HPP101 OR HIR101

Alterations as a result of student feedback

None

How will I be Assessed?

For more detailed assessment information please see MyLO.

Assessment schedule


ASSESSMENT TASK #	ASSESSMENT TASK NAME	DATE DUE	WEIGHT	LINKS TO INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Assessment Task 1:	Reading diary	Week 12	25 %
Assessment Task 2:	Essay	Week 14	50 %	LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Assessment Task 3:	Tutorial participation	Refer to Assessment Description	25 %	LO1, LO2, LO4

Assessment details

Assessment Task 1: Reading diary

Task Description:

Reading diary

Task Length:

Diary

Due Date:

Week 12 (24/May/2024)

Weight:

25 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Quality of readings. You have to use scholarly literature (no videos!) throughout. However, how far you dare reading into the more complex and demanding parts of the reading list will count for your assessment.
2	The accuracy of your summaries. You have to show good understanding of the reading content as well as context. You have to represent accurately the argument and analysis of the text you reference, and situate it in current debates
3	The presentation of your diary. This includes the efficiency of its structure, the clarity of your writing (no bullet point lists!), the accuracy of your referencing, and, last but not least, its physical presentation (tip: use headings!). This also

Assessment Task 2: Essay

Task Description:

Final essay

Task Length:

Due Date:

Week 14 (07/Jun/2024)

Weight:

50 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Quality of argument. Your essay has to answer clearly the research question, preferably in an analytical not descriptive manner. The essay has to present the answer as an argument. The argument has to be clearly announced and supported. Ask yourself:
2	Supporting evidence. The argument has to be supported by evidence. The evidence needs to be derived from high quality sources and be critically discussed.	LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
3	Organisation. The essay needs to follow a clear structure that allows the argument to unfold in a sensible manner. The different parts of the essay have to be linked through sensible transitions. Bullet-point style essays are inacceptable. Ask yourse
4	Quality of resources and literature. The essay should be based on original research and draw on scholarly literature. The quality of your sources is decisive for the quality of your argument. Your first point of call for the literature of your essay
5	Writing style and referencing. The essay has to be well written and carefully proof read to avoid spelling and grammar mistakes. The essay should be written in plain, simple but accurate English. Referencing and bibliography need to be presented in c

Assessment Task 3: Tutorial participation

Task Description:

Participation

Working groups submit notes of their in-class presentation on Mondays. Each working group submits once; online students participate via zoom or submit pre-recorded presentations.

Task Length:

Due Date:

Refer to Assessment Description

Weight:

25 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Accuracy of reading reports. The reading reports carve out the key argument of the readings. They discuss the evidence provided by the author to support their conclusions. Questions you should ask include: what is the key argument? On what kind of ev	LO1, LO2, LO4
2	Accuracy of data and information. Correct, detailed, accurate and concise presentation of data and information is mandatory for obtaining good marks in these assignments.

How your final result is determined

To pass this unit, you need to demonstrate your attainment of each of the Intended Learning Outcomes, achieve a final unit grade of 50% or greater, and pass any hurdle tasks.

Submission of assignments

Where practicable, assignments should be submitted to an assignment submission folder in MYLO. You must submit assignments by the due date or receive a penalty (unless an extension of time has been approved by the Unit Coordinator). Students submitting any assignment in hard copy, or because of a practicum finalisation, must attach a student cover sheet and signed declaration for the submission to be accepted for marking.

Requests for extensions

If you are unable to submit an assessment task by the due date, you should apply for an extension.

A request for an extension should first be discussed with your Unit Coordinator or teaching support team where possible. A request for an extension must be submitted by the assessment due date, except where you can provide evidence it was not possible to do so. Typically, an application for an extension will be supported by documentary evidence: however, where it is not possible for you to provide evidence please contact your Unit Coordinator.

The Unit Coordinator must notify you of the outcome of an extension request within 3 working days of receiving the request.

Late penalties

Assignments submitted after the deadline will receive a late penalty of 5% of the original available mark for each calendar day (or part day) that the assignment is late. Late submissions will not be accepted more than 10 calendar days after the due date, or after assignments have been returned to other students on a scheduled date, whichever occurs first. Further information on Late Penalties can be found on the Assessments and Results Procedure.

Review of results and appeals

You are entitled to ask for a review of the marking and grading of your assessment task if there is an irregularity in the marking standards or an error in the process for determining the outcome of an assessment. Details on how to request a review of a mark for an assignment are outlined in the Review and Appeal of Academic Decisions Procedure.

Required Resources

Required reading materials

Week 1: Please listen to the podcast: Vox The Gray Area, Thursday 2/11/2022, Sean Illing talks with Yuval Noah Harari, “Yuval Noah Harari thinks humans are unstoppable”

Week 2: Moulin, Carolina. “Narrative.” In Critical Imaginations in International Relations, edited by Aoileann Ní Mhurchú and Reiko Shindo, 136–52. Oxon: Routledge, 2016.

Week 3: Young, Oran R. “Regime Dynamics: The Rise and Fall of International Regimes.” International Organization 36, no. 2 (1982): 277–97.

Week 4: Koskenniemi, Martti. “Histories of International Law: Dealing with Eurocentrism.” Lecture. Faculteit Geesteswetenschappen, Universiteit Utrecht, November 16, 2011. https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/219007.

Week 5: Haack, Kirsten. “Introduction”, in: Women’s Access, Representation and Leadership in the United Nations. Springer, 2022, p.1-21.

Week 6: Braun, Benjamin, Sebastian Schindler, and Tobias Wille. “Rethinking Agency in International Relations: Performativity, Performances and Actor-Networks.” Journal of International Relations and Development 22, no. 4 (December 1, 2019): 787–807. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-018-0147-z.

Week 7: Jarstad, Anna, Niklas Eklund, Patrik Johansson, Elisabeth Olivius, Abrak Saati, Dzenan Sahovic, Veronica Strandh, Johanna Söderström, Malin Eklund Wimelius, and Malin Åkebo. Three Approaches to Peace : A Framework for Describing and Exploring Varieties of Peace. Umeå University, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-165979.

Week 8: Visoka, Gëzim. “Metis Diplomacy: The Everyday Politics of Becoming a Sovereign State.” Cooperation and Conflict 54, no. 2 (June 2019): 167–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010836718807503.

Week 9: Gray, Kevin, and Barry K. Gills. “South–South Cooperation and the Rise of the Global South.” Third World Quarterly 37, no. 4 (April 2, 2016): 557–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2015.1128817.

Week 10: Amoore, Louise. “Machine Learning Political Orders.” Review of International Studies 49, no. 1 (January 2023): 20–36. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210522000031.

Week 11: Adamson, Fiona B, and Gerasimos Tsourapas. “Migration Diplomacy in World Politics.” International Studies Perspectives 20, no. 2 (May 1, 2019): 113–28. https://doi.org/10.1093/isp/eky015.

Week 12: Aktaş, Özgür. “Rethinking the Limits of the Concept of Agency in the International Relations Discipline: The Case of the Climate Justice Movement.” Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences 31, no. 2 (November 8, 2022): 385–402. https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2022.31.1066830.