Master
2021/2022
Global Actors in Public Policy
Type:
Compulsory course (Political Analysis and Public Policy)
Area of studies:
Political Science
Delivered by:
Public Policy Department
Where:
Faculty of Social Sciences
When:
2 year, 1, 2 module
Mode of studies:
offline
Open to:
students of one campus
Master’s programme:
Political Analysis and Public Policy
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
4
Contact hours:
44
Course Syllabus
Abstract
This course is aimed to explore the phenomenon of Global Actors and the role they play in global governance. It combines learning about main characteristics of such actors and conducting individual research on providing examples of global actors and their activities. We will seek to develop a coherent definition of global actors, distinguish between their types, aims, and influence they have in the globalized world. We will pay particular attention to non-state actors, like the commercial and trade organizations and global civil society institutions as global actors. During the classes the students will learn to analyze and compare global actors, global institutions and global instruments, understand modern forms of governance interactions and other global agenda issues. We will also apply the concepts of power and explore which type of power is used by different clusters of global actors.
Learning Objectives
- To provide a coherent definition of global actors, their types, aims and influence
- To consider commercial organizations and civil society institutions as global actors.
- To analyze and compare global actors, global institutions and global instruments
- To examine the roles of states, intergovernmental actors and global civil society in the process of international agenda setting and addressing problems of social and humanitarian development
- To develop understanding of the process of gaining global impact, and what are the motives, for framing particular issues
- To distinguish, which type of power is been used by different global actors and mechanisms by which one actor is able to influence other actors
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Apply the concept of “actorness” to the chosen Goobal Actor
- Design a definition, explaining which type of power the chosen Global Actor is using to gain its global Impact
- Formulate specific Global Challenges to which the chosen Global Actor is responding
- Identify main characteristics of Global Governance and Global Actors in Public Policy
- Justify (convince the reader) that the chosen Global Actor does have the identifiable Impact on global environment
- Reconstruct Strategic Global Goal of the chosen Global Actor
Course Contents
- Introduction. Globalization. Concept development
- Global Governance and International relations: similarities and differences between
- Globalization and Evolution of Global Governance Institutions
- Global challenges for Nation States and Intergovernmental Organizations
- Global Economic Regulators and challenges they address (WTO, IMF, WB and Rating Agencies as Global Actors)
- Businesses and Trans-national Corporations: do they have Global Goals as Regulatory Actors?
- NGOs and citizen movements: formulating Strategic Global Goals, accumulating resources
- Ideological and cultural institutions: how to distinguish Global Actors and prove their impact
- Media organizations as Global Actors: identifying “information power”
- Organizations with exclusive knowledge and intellectual capacity: do they have special type of power to be considered "Global Actors"
- Concept of Actorness. Global Actors, their origins, level of autonomy, their cognitive capacity to recognize the problem; ability to formulate Strategic Goal and capacities to accumulate resources
- Religious organizations in Global Governance: assessing the Impact
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- Dingwerth, K., Witt, A., Lehmann, I., Reichel, E., & Weise, T. (2019). International Organizations Under Pressure : Legitimating Global Governance in Challenging Times (Vol. First edition). Oxford, United Kingdom: OUP Oxford. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=2036225
- Frank Biermann, & Klaus Dingwerth. (2004). Global Environmental Change and the Nation State. Global Environmental Politics, (1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1162/152638004773730185
- Kaasch, A., & Martens, K. (2015). Actors and Agency in Global Social Governance. Oxford: OUP Oxford. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1200858
- Reinicke, W. H. (1997). Global Public Policy. Foreign Affairs, 76(6), 127. https://doi.org/10.2307/20048281
- Scholte, J. A. (2011). Building Global Democracy? : Civil Society and Accountable Global Governance. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=366297
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Danielsen, D. (2005). How Corporations Govern: Taking Corporate Power Seriously in Transnational Regulation and Governance. Harvard International Law Journal, 46(2), 411–425. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=bsu&AN=17786379
- Woods, N. (2001). Making the IMF and the World Bank more accountable. International Affairs, 77(1), 83. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.00179