Introductory description

This module explores global governance in both historical and contemporary forms, addressing the role of global governance institutions – primarily the United Nations and its associated specialised agencies. Drawing on scholarship from Sociology and cognate disciplines, students will gain an understanding of some of the key concepts embedded in institutions of global governance, such as sovereignty, responsibility, development, and progress.

The first part of the module will look at histories of global governance, including the League of Nations and the United Nations, thinking about how these institutions both reflect and reinforce global power structures. This section provides the theoretical framework, highlighting the historical context of the UN’s establishment and the implications of this for its contemporary activities.

The second part of the module will examine case studies, exploring global governance in four different areas: peace and security; economic co-operation; development; and tradition and culture. In doing so, we will think about the key concepts and principles that underpin global governance, and the extent to which the United Nations is capable of addressing global inequality. The module will finish by looking at ‘rising’ powers and shifts to the global political landscape, asking what the future of global governance looks like.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

1. Introduction: Global Governance
2. Histories of Global Governance
3. The Founding of the United Nations
4. Peace and Security: Sovereignty and Responsibility
5. Economic Co-Operation: Aid, Trade and Loans
6. Reading Week
7. Development: Sustainability and Progress
8. Tradition and Culture: Protection and Preservation
9. Rising Powers and the Future of Global Governance
10. Can Global Governance Work?

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate a clear understanding of how the UN operates as an institution of global governance
• Identify, explain and critically evaluate key theoretical concepts related to global governance, drawing on appropriate scholarship
• Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between histories of colonisation and contemporary global power structures
• Address the aims and objectives of the module demonstrating close engagement with module materials

Indicative reading list

Bhambra, G.K. (2014) Connected Sociologies, London: Bloomsbury
Cohen, R and Kennedy, P (2013) Global Sociology, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Cottrell, M. (2017) The League of Nations: Enduring Legacies of the First Experiment at World Organization, Abingdon: Routledge.
Getachew, Adom (2019) Worldmaking After Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Gill, S (Ed). (2015) Critical Perspectives on the Crisis of Global Governance, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hall, S. and Gieben, B. (1997) Formations of Modernity, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Harsant, K. (2022) Selective Responsibility in the United Nations: Colonial Histories and Critical Inquiry, London: Rowman and Littlefield
Kennedy, S. (Ed.) (2017) Global Governance and China: The Dragon’s Learning Curve, Abingdon: Routledge.
Lee, C. (2010) Making A World After Empire: The Bandung Moment and its Political After-lives. Athens: Ohio
Ludert, J., Ketzmerick, M. and Heise, J. (Eds.) (2023) The United Nations Trusteeship System: Legacies, Continuities, and Change, Abingdon: Routledge.
Mazower, M. (2012) Governing the World: The History of an Idea. London: Allen Lane.
Mazower, Mark (2009) No Enchanted Palace, Princeton: Princeton University Press
Nash, Kate (2010) Contemporary Political Sociology: Globalization, Politics, and Power, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Patil, V. (2007) Negotiating Decolonization in the United Nations: Politics of Space, Identity, and International Community, New York: Routledge.
Prashad, V. (2007) The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World, New York: The New Press.
Roberts, Adam and Dominik Zaum (2008) Selective Security: War and the United Nations Security Council Since 1945, Abingdon: Routledge.
Rodney, Walter (2012 [1972]) How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Cape Town: Pambazuka Press.
Singh, J.P. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO): Creating Norms for a Complex World, Abingdon: Taylor and Francis.
Thakur, Ramesh (2006) The United Nations, Peace and Security, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wilder, Gary (2015) Freedom Time: Negritude, Decolonization and the Future of the World, USA: Duke University Press
Ziai, Aram (2016) Development Discourse and Global History: From Colonialism to the Sustainable Development Goals, Abingdon: Routledge.

Research element

Independent library-based research for assessment, which may also include accessing archival material

Interdisciplinary

The module topic is interdisciplinary in nature and while it looks at global governance primarily from the perspective of historical and political sociology, we will also draw on relevant theories/concepts/literature from International Relations and Law

International

The module is addressing global governance, which will draw on examples from various national contexts and international debates

Subject specific skills

1. Systematic understanding of key aspects of global governance, including the acquisition of coherent and detailed knowledge, informed by scholarship at the forefront of historical and political sociology
2. Ability to deploy established techniques of analysis and enquiry, including critical engagement with relevant theoretical scholarship
3. Conceptual understanding of global governance and related themes, which will enable the student to devise and sustain arguments, and to comment on existing research

Transferable skills

1. Understanding of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge
2. Ability to apply methods and techniques that they have learned to review, consolidate and apply their knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects
3. Ability to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences
4. Ability to manage their own learning, making use of appropriate literature and sources (e.g. refereed research articles and/or original materials)