Dr. Johannes Muntschick

Sem (MA/MA-EU) Retreat of Multilateralism? The Crisis of the Liberal World Order and its Impact on Europe

Instructors: Dr. Johannes Muntschick
Shortname: Sem Multilaterism
Course Type: Seminar

Requirements / organisational issues

Organizational issues:
- Task assignments

Anwesenheitspflicht

- mandatory attendance on group work/presentation session(s)

Digital teaching

The seminar mainly takes place in presence. Selected sessions will be digital in asynchronous (time-shifted) learning/teaching mode. Details will be provided in the seminar schedule.

Recommended reading list

• Daase, C. & Kroll, S. (eds.), 2018: Angriff auf die liberale Weltordnung: Die amerikanische Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik unter Donald Trump. Wiesbaden: Springer.
• Hasenclever, A., Wolf, K. D., Zürn, M. (eds.), 2007: Macht und Ohnmacht internationaler Institutionen. Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag.
• Ikenberry, G., 2008: The End of Liberal International Order? In: Foreign Affairs, 94:1. 7-23. 
• Katz Cogan, J., Hurd, I., Johnstone, I. (eds.), 2016. The Oxford Handbook of International Organizations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Keohane, R., 1984: After Hegemony. Cooperation and discord in the world political economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Lavelle, K., 2021: The Challenges of Multilateralism / Kathryn C. Lavelle. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Levi-Faur, D., 2012: The Oxford Handbook of Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Mearsheimer, J., 2018: The Great Delusion. Liberal Dreams and International Realities. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Scott, W. R., 2014: Institutions and Organizations: Ideas, Interests, and Identities. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Contents

There is evidence that democratic states are increasingly skeptical towards multilateral structures of global governance for the past few years, including some withdrawing from important international institutions. This seems paradoxical, because it contradicts the theoretical assumption that democracies in particular are more likely to support multilateral cooperation than autocracies. Furthermore, the liberal world order after the Second World War was shaped primarily by Western democracies, which were also considered the biggest beneficiaries of multilateral institutions and forums for a long time. However, the support for "global multilateralism" in many Western states - especially in liberal democracies – seems to be at stake: The USA, for example, has adopted a much more skeptical position towards numerous international institutions in recent years (notably under the Trump administration) and turned somehow from a strong proponent of multilateral cooperation to an advocate of bilateral agreements. The Brexit and other empirical cases show that this observation is by no means limited to the USA. This has an impact on global governance – and on the EU.
The seminar explores and analyses the role of multilateralism and international institutions in the global order and shall provide political science explanations of whether and why they are in crisis. Against this background, the impact on the EU shall be discussed. For this purpose, relevant political science theories will be elaborated to guide analyses and debates on concrete empirical case studies and global phenomena.

Additional information

'Active participation' in the course is necessary to successfully pass the seminar. Students document this by completing certain tasks and may then proceed with their works to gain credits/ECTS. Details will be announced in the seminar plan.

Dates

Date (Day of the week) Time Location
04/17/2023 (Monday) 18:15 - 19:45 02 601 Seminarraum
1137 - Georg-Forster-Gebäude (Sowi)
04/24/2023 (Monday) 18:15 - 19:45 02 601 Seminarraum
1137 - Georg-Forster-Gebäude (Sowi)
05/08/2023 (Monday) 18:15 - 19:45 02 601 Seminarraum
1137 - Georg-Forster-Gebäude (Sowi)
05/15/2023 (Monday) 18:15 - 19:45 02 601 Seminarraum
1137 - Georg-Forster-Gebäude (Sowi)
05/22/2023 (Monday) 18:15 - 19:45 02 601 Seminarraum
1137 - Georg-Forster-Gebäude (Sowi)
06/05/2023 (Monday) 18:15 - 19:45 02 601 Seminarraum
1137 - Georg-Forster-Gebäude (Sowi)
06/12/2023 (Monday) 18:15 - 19:45 02 601 Seminarraum
1137 - Georg-Forster-Gebäude (Sowi)
06/19/2023 (Monday) 18:15 - 19:45 02 601 Seminarraum
1137 - Georg-Forster-Gebäude (Sowi)
06/26/2023 (Monday) 18:15 - 19:45 02 601 Seminarraum
1137 - Georg-Forster-Gebäude (Sowi)
07/03/2023 (Monday) 18:15 - 19:45 02 601 Seminarraum
1137 - Georg-Forster-Gebäude (Sowi)
07/10/2023 (Monday) 18:15 - 19:45 02 601 Seminarraum
1137 - Georg-Forster-Gebäude (Sowi)
07/17/2023 (Monday) 18:15 - 19:45 02 601 Seminarraum
1137 - Georg-Forster-Gebäude (Sowi)