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Studying

Politics 1 - Introduction to International Relations: the Personal is the International

This course aims to introduce students to many questions and will even offer some answers about the world of ‘the international’ and how it affects our personal lives and choice. By looking backwards to why scholars began to study International Relations (IR), to what they studied and why, we examine why certain issues are drawn to the fore again and again. Primarily, the course seeks to demonstrate that IR has transcended its traditional concerns of war and peace, and reaches into multiple issues that determine global governance today: poverty, human rights, international law, the economy, religion, race, gender, the environment, media etc.

Pol II - International Relations: The Post-American World

The course is designed to provide students with an in-depth critical overview of key developments in international relations in the post-Cold War era. Specific topics include the centrality of the United States to the post-Cold War/post 9/11 international order and its implications for structures and institutions of global governance, prospects of emerging bi-polarity/multi-polarity, emerging trends in south-south cooperation, the place of regionalism in world politics, and global responses to the rise of transnational armed non-state actors, etc.

Politics Diploma/Honours Course: Africa and the New Wars

This course explores the different explanations that have been offered to understand the causes of war and insecurity in Africa. We do so by examining dominant explanations about goals/objectives, methods, participants, and the political economy of African wars. We excavate other forms of militarisation of social and political life in Africa which are often obscured by the attention given to more visible and large scale forms of violence. We examine the politics of peacebuilding, especially efforts to demobilise and demilitarize, and the roles of regional and international organizations in the re-building of post conflict societies.

Last Modified: Wed, 11 Sep 2019 10:18:13 SAST