POLS 433 International Organization

Overview of Course

The world does not run itself. Behind every global crisis, every peacekeeping mission, every human rights declaration, and every development goal is a web of institutions, laws, politics, and people trying – imperfectly, ambitiously, sometimes heroically – to organize collective action across borders. This course pulls the curtain back on that world.
We will explore the nature and structure of the international legal system and trace the development of international organizations within it – how they came to exist, how they are built, and how they actually function when law meets politics. The UN system will be our primary focus, but we will also examine regional organizations and the growing role of nonstate actors – including non-governmental organizations and transnational corporations – whose influence on global affairs can rival that of governments themselves.
From there, we dive into the substantive work that makes these institutions matter: collective security, peace operations, and human rights. There are not abstract concepts – they are arenas where international organizations succeed, fail, and are constantly challenged to do better. We will also wrestle honestly with questions of UN reform and the so-called democratic deficit – who really has power, who is left out, and what a more just global architecture might look like.
Expect lively discussion, debate, and role-playing activities that put you in inside the institutions we study.