Geopolitics and Perspectives
The subject is lectured in these programmes:
Geopolitics and Perspectives |
| Prof. Guillaume Finck |
| WHAT DO STUDENTS GAIN FROM THE STUDY AND FROM COMPLETING THIS SUBJECT |
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The goal of this course is to help students operate internationally, especially in business or government. The course helps explain why certain regions, countries or sub-national areas, especially in developing countries, will suffer from strife including armed conflict, while others become more stable and democratic. Students will learn to assess risks for international endeavors such as investment or business expansion, keep a critical view of information, and draw possible scenario for the future. Studying this subject will mainly give you an opportunity to continuously consult your lecturer, an expert on the topic, about real problems, practical cases and situations, and to design a solution to these problems in the form of practically oriented case study (essay) elaborated under the lecturer’s guidance. As the consultations are not held in groups but only between you and the lecturer, you can consult also sensitive company issues, including specific data etc., without any worries about sharing this information with other students. The output from this subject is thus a valuable document that can be immediately used in your own company or job, providing high value-added thanks to one-to-one consultations with an expert. |
| EXAMPLES OF FIELDS AND TOPICS TO BE CONSULTED WITH THE LECTURER |
| Field 1 - The globalization of trade and information is dramatically transforming prospects for security and economic growth |
| Field 2 - Lessons are richly illustrated with slides, short videos and images. Topics addressed include a brief history of the various empires that shaped the world order, definition and concepts of geopolitics, globalization’s effects on corruption, religious and nationalist extremisms, armed conflicts, the redrawing of borders, and the ability of today’s underdeveloped and conflict-stricken societies to connect to global business networks that generate wealth and, over time, increasingly democratic governments. |
| More topics within the lecturer’s area of competence can be agreed upon |
| COMPLETION OF THE SUBJECT |
| In order to complete the subject, students elaborates an essay in which they address a specific topic from their practice related to the given subject, or one of the model topics prepared by the lecturer (see below). The essay should contain 7-10 pages in the A4 format, comprising at least 8 standard pages of text. The evaluation of the essay is done by the lecturer and expressed in percentage 50% and more means that the student has completed the subject successfully. |
| MODEL TOPICS FOR THE ESSAY |
| 1. What are the expected main geopolitical consequences of the Corona Virus pandemic? |
| 2. Sunnites vs Shiites, Iran vs Saudi Arabia, Republics vs Monarchies… Comment on the current middle east tensions |
| 3. What is the geopolitical toll of current global terrorists threats ? |
| STUDY LITERATURE AND OTHER RESOURCES : |
| Supporting study materials elaborated by the lecturer (available online in the study system) |
| E-books available online: |
| Huntington, the Clash of civilizations |
| The Economist books, Globalization, making sense of an integrating world |
| Other study literature (Authors: Name, Publisher, Year of publishing, ISBN): |
| Will Durant, the Story of Civilization |
| Other useful resources (videos, online professional groups, blogs, discussions etc.): |
| NPR https://www.npr.org/sections/news/?t=1548403308783 |
| BBC News https://www.bbc.com/news |
| The Prince, Machiavelli |