Global Governance and Sustainable Development MA

Middlesex University

This core module aims to provide you with skills and knowledge to understand and critique the notion of sustainable development and the many manifestations it takes in policy and governance starting with the global blueprint of Agenda 21. An increasingly popular term, global governance refers to the collaborations of state and non-state actors in advocating, making laws and policies for and undertaking practical actions to address issues that have global scope in terms of impact and/or causality. This module will help you to understand new and emerging theorisations of governance, power and evidence as well as the normative and institutional premises of governance for sustainable development. You will gain a critical understanding of a range of global governance issues such as food security, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and healthy cities.

In this module you will be asked to consider the implications in International Relations of the forces of globalisation, looking at international political processes and institutions at the level of politics, economics and culture. You will analyse the relevance of international organisations, and look at transnational politics and issues of global importance. Additionally, you will explore theoretical debates surrounding these issues and learn to critically evaluate the effectiveness of international policy. The aim of this module is to provide you with a platform to work constructively in groups, gain leadership skills and formulate arguments and coherent debates in a diverse international environment.

This module prepares you to complete either a dissertation or an assessed work placement or a work based learning project. You will attend a series of lectures and workshops and online exercises address research methodologies, skills and employability. You will undertake a series of formative and summative assessments developing your critical and practical skills and leading to either; I) the production of a research proposal or ii) a critical review of the work of the organization you are to be placed with or work with. The satisfactory completion of the module will then allow you to proceed to writing a dissertation of 10-12,000 words or to embark on a work placement assessed by production of a project report / paper and exercises reflecting on your experience.

This module will help you critically explore the key institutions and frameworks that govern human rights at the international level and of the international policy context that promotes sustainable development, to examine how the two interact. You will examine the notion of rights as competing, contested and co-opted and question their ability to function in crisis situations. It focuses on issues of inclusion/exclusion and reflects on how the rights and ?development? of three ?marginalised groups? have been promoted. You'll focus in particular on indigenous peoples, the caste system and gender inequality. The aim of this part of your studies is to question if current legal approaches to human rights are sufficient to bring sustainable development to groups currently marginalised.