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Summer School Modules

The Global Politics Summer School Syria 2008 will introduce five paramount topics in International Relations to the participants.

It will start with the module New Challenges in Global Politics. The participants will be exposed to the new approaches in International Relations and introduced to the different tools and methods of designing research concepts. The changed face of global politics that developed after the end of the Cold War will be examined and prevalent research questions that capture today’s global phenomena identified. Against this background, a new picture of global politics, with its challenges and opportunities, will emerge and provide a framework for the subsequent summer school modules.

The module Diplomacy and Bargaining will look at new conditions and challenges in the field of international diplomacy. Participants will be introduced to instruments and strategies of diplomacy and will analyze case studies from international and bi-national negotiation situations in different regional contexts. A special focus will be put on negotiation situations between actors in Europe and the Greater Middle East. In addition, the implications of these negotiation situations for the workings of diplomacy in International Relations will be identified.

The module Politics of Transition willmake participants familiar with regulation practices of states in International Relations against the backdrop of the profound changes that have occurred in the international system since the end of the Cold War. Different paths of transition in Syria, China, and Russia will be looked at in a comparative setting. Participants will learn to critically reflect on challenges and opportunities of these transition paths in different political and social contexts. A special focus will be put on the transition processes in the Arab world; participants will learn through this context to design their own research questions in this field of study.

The module Public Diplomacy willtake a comparative look at mass-mediated interpretations of political regulation. In this context, public diplomacy can be understood as a new instrument of „image-building,“ found also in foreign policy. This module looks at the emergence of mass media as a new actor in International Relations and asks how state and non-state actors make use of the narrative power of mass-mediated interpretation. Furthermore, the module seeks to identify the strategies actors employ in order to present their agendas in the media. The module also touches on the relative importance of “soft power” in policy makers’ toolbox for political regulation.

In the module International Negotiation and Simulation, participants will conduct a simulation game. They will act in the role of an international actor and simulate negotiations over a conflict in an international conflict management body, such as the United Nations Security Council.Participants will thus become familiar with the dynamics of international conflict in the context of globalization. During the first portion, they will be introduced to a specific conflict background and to their roles and interests. Subsequently, the simulation game will be carried out. In this setting, participants will learn about the increasing complexity of international negotiation situations. This simulation offers a unique opportunity to train strategic understanding and negotiation skills by looking beyond personal positions and seeking to understand the rationales of all actors involved.