Studying

If you are interested in international politics and especially the role of international organizations (IOs) in an increasingly complex world, the teaching area "International Organizations" offers great possibilities to deepen your knowledge and gain expertise in this area. In times of transboundary crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic, IOs like the World Health Organization (WHO) play an important role and can be viewed as both forums for states to negotiate cooperative solutions and actors in their own right. Departing from basic conceptual considerations of how to define IOs and how they differ from other international institutions and actors such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), one focus of the teaching area regards the influence that IOs wield over states and, conversely, how states employ IOs for their own purposes. Against the background of this intricate relationship, we assess the problem-solving capacity of IOs in the context of global interdependencies and scrutinize the institutional change of IOs as well as of the global governance system more generally. Studying in our teaching area not only enables you to understand these processes, but also provides you with analytical tools to investigate them in your own research projects. Additionally, study trips, the United Nations Security Council simulation "SChillerMUN", and the annual participation in the Harvard WorldMUN offer practical insights into the work of IOs. We do not limit ourselves to the most established IOs, such as the United Nations or NATO, but we also include IOs of the Global South – such as the African Union, ASEAN, MERCOSUR, or ECOWAS.