Global governance - History of a quiet revolution within the United Nations (1945-1996) WSE-EU-GG
2025-03-03: Introduction to the Charter of the United Nations: juridical nature, primary purposes, main bodies and language. Who are “We the Peoples of the United Nations”?
Introduction to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, its language and the notion of “universality” (Greeks etc.). Universal vs. global.
First approach to the notion of “global governance” and the transformation of the UN into global governance. Definition of global governance.
2025-03-17: UN Charter Article 71, the birth of international non-governmental organizations and the rise of internationalism. Soft vs. hard issues. The Cold War, the stalemate of the Security Council and the development of ECOSOC and “soft issues”.
Extent to which the goals of major international NGOs influential at the UN incorporated those of the 1960s’ cultural revolution of the West. The rise of postmodernity.
2025-03-31: The UN’s international conferences during the Cold War on human rights, the environment, population and women. The proactive role of NGOs at these conferences: their introduction of a language absent from the UN’s foundational documents. How NGOs linked their interests to the platform of international cooperation.
2025-04-14: The independent reports and commissions of the 1970s and 80s which wielded influence over the weaving of a new UN platform: sustainable development. The end of the Cold War and the 1989 Kairos moment. The UN’s intent to build a “new global consensus” for the 21st century through a new series of international conferences. The three stages of the global governance revolution.
2025-04-28: The UN’s post-Cold War wave of UN conferences: historical presentation of the building of the new global consensus and global governance as content. Analysis of the UN’s departure from what it had declared “universal” in 1948 (language, ideology).
2025-05-12: Historical establishment of the new partnership politics for sustainable development which constituted global governance: rationale for partnerships, actors coopted in global governance, redistribution of roles between state and non-state actors.
2025-05-26: Soft power vs. hard power. The hard character of global governance’s “soft politics”. How the global governance revolution within the United Nations ushered in a coexistence regime, destabilizing democracy and the international order.
2025-06-09: Oral exam
(in Polish) E-Learning
(in Polish) Grupa przedmiotów ogólnouczenianych
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Assessment criteria
Class participation will account for 40% of the final grade. It will be assessed by an active attitude during class: responding to questions, asking questions, participating in group discussions.Because of the method used for this course, it is mandatory that the students have their camera and mic ON at all times during each classStudents will be given a reading or research assignment after each class. This assignment will be the object of a group discussion at the beginning of the following class.
The final exam (60% of final grade) will be an individual oral examination. At least two weeks before the exam, students will be given a choice of three topics. They will be asked to prepare one of them and expose it orally at the exam. The student will have to display a good general understanding of the fundamental concepts taught in class.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: