This advanced seminar (Vertiefungsseminar) in the field of international relations focuses on the role of international

  organizations (IOs) in world politics, such as the United Nations, the European Union, and the World Trade Organization. IOs are established by international treaties, conventions, and protocols. They facilitate cooperation and coordination between their member states, and they typically differ in terms of structure, objectives and functioning. Some organizations have been established to resolve conflicts and facilitate the negotiation of peace agreements, others deal with the regulation of transboundary trade flows and environmental pollution. IOs bring new topics to the agenda of international politics, plan and conduct operational activities and monitor compliance with international agreements. This seminar provides an introduction to basic concepts, theories, and empirical research about IOs, their history, structure, actors and functioning, with a focus on important issue areas such as development, environmental protection, human rights, and trade.

International institutions vary significantly in their performance, or the extent to which they solve societal problems. The Ozone regime is a textbook example of an international institution that reached its core goals, whereas the contribution of the UN Security Council to the peaceful settlement of international conflicts is questioned by many observers. But how can we assess and measure the success and failure of international organizations more systematically? And how can we explain why some institutions perform better than others? This seminar provides an introduction into IR scholarship on the effectiveness of international institutions. First, participants learn to distinguish important concepts that describe the output-side of global governance, such as performance, effectiveness, compliance, and organizational survival. Second, participants get to read empirical literature showing how performance and effectiveness are studied within and across different issue areas and types of institutions, with quantitative as well as qualitative methods. Third, participants assess case studies of institutional performance issued by the “Multilateral Organization Performance Assessment Network” (MOPAN).

Das Ziel dieses Kurses ist eine Einführung in die internationale Umweltpolitik unter Einbeziehung einer Mehrebenenperspektive. Zum einen können die Teilnehmer:innen Kenntnisse zu diesem Politikfeld aus der Sicht der Internationalen Beziehungen vertiefen, zum anderen werden wichtige Fragen, Theorien und Konzepte aus der aktuelleren Forschung zu internationalen Beziehungen am Anwendungsbeispiel der Umweltpolitik erläutert. Wir wollen dabei bewusst über die Klimapolitik hinausgehen und das Politikfeld in seiner ganzen Breite und auch mit seinem historischen Hintergrund erfassen. Der erste Teil handelt von Grundlagen der Umweltpolitik und dem Einfluss internationaler Faktoren auf nationale Politikgestaltung. Der zweite Teil handelt von der besonderen Rolle der Europäischen Union in diesem Politikfeld, und der dritte und längste Teil vom Zusammenwirken internationaler Institutionen, nichtstaatlicher Akteure und Regierungen bei der Formulierung und Umsetzung internationaler Umweltpolitik. Neben der Auseinandersetzung mit der Kursliteratur, die sich aus theoretischen und empirischen Beiträgen zusammensetzt, sollen die Teilnehmer:innen auch selbst aktiv empirische Bezüge zu internationaler Umweltpolitiken  herstellen.