1. Knowledge and understanding: Students will gain an understanding of IR theories, ranging from mainstream to critical approaches, in order to develop analytical tools with which to interpret international affairs and ongoing challenges. Furthermore, students will gain of the EU institutions and decision-making procedures in the area of foreign policy, the key aspects, principles, and problems of the international politics of the EU as well as an awareness of the legitimacy, effectiveness and transparency of EU’s role in an evolving multipolar world. They will be expected to demonstrate this knowledge in the context of group presentations as well as in the final exam. 2. Applying knowledge and understanding: Students will learn how to critically assess the international politics of major international actors, including the US, the EU, China and Russia. They will develop the capacity to transfer abstract concepts and theoretical frameworks to the specific analysis of particular empirical problems and practical examples of foreign policymaking. 3. Making judgements: Lectures, assigned readings, and class discussions will impact on students the need to ask critical questions and to explore different possible answers to address these. This will be examined in the final exam at the end of the course. Value will be given to open-ended questions and analysis of complex problems, rather than on description of bare facts. 4. Communications Skills: The course will be based on interactive teaching and include problem- and research-based learning elements. Students will discuss, research and debate their responses to the key challenges facing different actors in international and foreign politics. They will receive feedback on both the substantive knowledge they present and the communication, presentation and rhetorical skills they demonstrate. 5. Learning skills: Students will gain the skills to discuss and analyse the nature of international politics. This includes the search for, and study of, relevant literature, official documents, and media reporting on foreign policy, as well as active listening and discussion with their peers in class. They will also learn to condense their knowledge of complex issues when responding to questions, be it in through interventions in class discussion, group presentation or the final exam paper.

Learning skills: Students will gain the skills to discuss and analyse the nature of international politics. This includes the search for, and study of, relevant literature, official documents, and media reporting on foreign policy, as well as active listening and discussion with their peers in class. They will also learn to condense their knowledge of complex issues when responding to questions, be it in through interventions in class discussion, group presentation, debates or the final exam.

This course introduces students to the core issues of International politics and European Union studies. In the first part of the course, students will familiarise themselves with the most important debates within the literature on IR and develop the analytical skills necessary to understand contemporary international affairs. The second part of the course situates the EU within the context of global politics to understand its role across a range of thematic and geographical areas of international politics and the impact of external developments on Europe. The course thus takes a closer look at the role of major actors, including the US, the EU, China and Russia, in key areas of global governance and international security.

IR Handbooks: 1) Jeffrey Haynes, Peter Hough, Bruce Pilbeam, (Eds.), World Politics. International Relations & Globalisation in the 21st Century. (2023 - 3rd Edition), SAGE 2)Sørensen, G., Møller, J., & Jackson, R. H. (2022). Introduction to International Relations: Theories and Approaches. Oxford University Press EU handbooks: 1) S. Keukeleire and T.Delreux, The Foreign Policy of the European Union (London: Palgrave, 2014) 2) C. Hill, M. Smith, and S. Vanhoonacker (eds), International Relations and the European Union (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017) Additional sources available on Luiss Learn

The course combines a number of educational formats, specifically lectures, and classroom discussion. The emphasis is on interactive and problem-based learning. In the first half of the course, sessions will feature lectures by the instructor which will present key developments in the field and in the literature and raise issues for subsequent discussion. The remainder of the session will then be devoted to classroom discussion addressing these questions, and any other points that students may want to raise. Moreover, every other week, students will be divided into groups, so the classes will also be split into two groups for the second class. During these breakout sessions students will be divided into groups to participate in a structured debate activity on key questions related to the subject of the course, and on each occasion two teams will advance opposing positions and debate them with one another, while other course participants will also be invited to put challenge either team.

Assessment of Compliant Students The course will be assessed through the following three elements. Reflecting the adoption of the SMART educational model, this includes one element assessing students’ participation over the duration of the course, accounting for 30% of the final grade: Participation as a team member in a structured debate (30% of the final grade) At the end of the semester a written exam, accounting for 70% of the final grade, will be conducted individually. Structured Debates Starting a number of weeks after the beginning of the course, structured debates among two groups of students will take place on a weekly basis. These debates will usually be held during the breakout sessions of the course. In each session, two groups will debate a designated question or statement (as indicated below) related to the topic of the lecture in the same week. Students will be divided into groups depending on the overall number of participants to each session, and for each session two groups, designated as “Team A” and “Team B” will advance opposing positions on the topic of the week. The performance of each team in the debate will be graded based on the of the arguments advanced, the rhetorical skills exhibited, the quality of the research conducted, the extent of the knowledge of the field, and the effectiveness of the team-work. All members of a team are expected to participate actively and will receive the same grade in the assessment. All debate sessions should be attended by the entire class, and students who are not part of the two debating teams are expected to pose questions or challenge the positions of either team during the second half of the session. Students will be graded based on the team performance and the general participation to the debating sessions. Final Written Exam (70%) The final written exam consists of four open-ended questions, which account for 70% of the overall course grade. The first two questions will refer to the first part of the program about IR theories, and the last two questions will focus on the second part of the program about the role of the European Union in global politics. In answering the questions, students will need to critically assess a specific topic, drawing on theoretical perspectives and empirical examples. This assignment encourages students to apply theoretical frameworks to real-world scenarios, enhancing their analytical skills and deepening their understanding of international relations theory in practice. Essays will be graded based on the quality of the analysis, the knowledge of the field, and the academic writing skills demonstrated. Assessment of Exempted and Non-compliant Students Only students who have been formally authorised by the Student Office are permitted not to attend classes. Authorised non-attending students will be assessed via both a written and an oral exam, the first accounting for 70% of the final grade, and the second part accounting for the remaining 30%. The written assignment will be a hand-written test, consisting of four open-ended questions. The first two questions will refer to the first part of the program about IR theories, and the last two questions will focus on the second part of the program about the role of the European Union in global politics. After the written part of the final exam, an oral part will take place during which non-compliant students will need to respond to questions based on the entire program. Therefore, the assessment for non-compliant students will consist of two elements: Final written exam consisting of answering four open-ended questions on the whole program (70%) Final oral exam (30%) All final exams will be conducted in person.

TBD