International Studies

The course explores development and social change in and from the Global South. The course adopts a critical political economy perspective to trace the recent history, politics, and power relations which, following the 1980s debt crisis, saw the Global South integrated into neoliberal globalization. The course starts by locating the globalization project in the Global South and provides two further weeks of critical theory introducing students to the economic and political processes that makes development in the Global South a profoundly unequal, gendered, and racialized project. 

This course provides a study of the principle theories of human rights and the role of human rights in democratic societies. It looks at the challenges of guaranteeing human rights in different cultural contexts, the function of human rights in the constitutional order, and issues regarding justice of law, the legitimacy of power, and rights-based theories.

This course provides an overview of theories on international politics and security as well as specific security issues between China, South Korea, North Korea and the US. 

This course provides a theoretical and practical overview on the economic "globalization," and the changes in international business over time, in the context of the continuous changing global economy trends. It emphasizes on international business strategy and development by integrating three key concepts. The first one is the international business which approaches business globalization, internationalization, and extroversion theoretically. The second one is strategy which extends the international business concept and theories with critical thinking on which, when, where and how shall be applied best. Furthermore, practical business development models, methods, and frameworks are presented to implement the selected international business strategy. The course covers all types of businesses, from the multinational firm to the start-up, aiming to sustain, develop, or achieve effective and successful international business. 

The course explores the international political economy of sanctions in the constantly changing context of economic warfare and geopolitical rivalry. The aim is to investigate various theoretical approaches to sanctions and to apply those to case studies (e.g. Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, Venezuela, Cuba, Iraq, etc.). Sanctions are analyzed with reference to wider political debates over essential topics, such as national security, state sovereignty, economic warfare and sustainability, legality and legitimacy. The plurality of visions is explored by listening to alternative voices and narratives. By counterposing the justifications for the use of sanctions by sender states to diverse perspectives, expressed by the target states, as well as to increasingly heterodox views of third parties, students develop their critical thinking, and obtain a comprehensive and holistic understanding of sanctions.

Laurea Magistrale program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by consent of the instructor. This course sheds light on the nature and problems in the relations among the main regional actors in Northeast Asia (including the United States), by examining the changes that have taken place, especially in the last decade. These countries’ economic systems and their characteristics are also carefully discussed. This course is an overview of international relations of the East Asian region, which aims at broadly exploring the economic and political issues surrounding the Asia-Pacific rim. At the end of the course students are able to examine topics related to historical and contemporary patterns of state relations in East Asia, US security alliances in East Asia and the new Asian Pivot, the rise of China, nuclear crise in the Korean Peninsula, territorial disputes, regional multilateral institutions, East Asian development models and economic integration, environmental challenges, energy security, and other related issues.

This course explores core questions which lie at the heart of International Political Economy (IPE), the discipline that studies the interactions between states and international markets and the governance of the global economic system. These include, among others: how do politics shape international economic relations and vice versa; who are the winners and losers of economic globalization? Is the global economy stable and why do economic crises happen; why is regional integration so widespread today?