COURSE INFORMATION Course Title: INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Code	Course Type	Regular Semester	Theory	Practice	Lab	Credits	ECTS
PIR 225	B	3	3	0	0	3	5

Academic staff member responsible for the design of the course syllabus (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature)	Dr. Dea Haxhiu dbashkurti@epoka.edu.al
Main Course Lecturer (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours:	Dr. Dea Haxhiu dbashkurti@epoka.edu.al , Monday 10:00-12:30
Second Course Lecturer(s) (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours:	NA
Language:	English
Compulsory/Elective:	Compulsory
Study program: (the study for which this course is offered)	Bachelor in Political Science and International Relations (3 years)
Classroom and Meeting Time:
Teaching Assistant(s) and Office Hours:	NA
Code of Ethics:	Code of Ethics of EPOKA University Regulation of EPOKA University "On Student Discipline"
Attendance Requirement:
Course Description:	The course will analyze international organizations and their role and place the world order. The course begins with a discussion of what constitutes an international organization. It then turns to the history of international organizations followed by a discussion of different theoretical approaches to international organizations. The course then looks at security-related international organizations such as the United Nations and the OSCE. The course proceeds to examine economic and trade-related international organizations, including the World Bank, IMF and the World Trade Organization. It then concludes with a discussion of regional organizations, most notably, the European Union, USMCA, Mercosur, the African Union, ASEAN and APEC.
Course Objectives:	This course is about cooperation and sacrifice. Specifically, it is about "institutionalizing" cooperation at the international level. The focus is on intergovernmental organizations. We will examine their historical origins, ostensible functions, the international and domestic political forces impacting their operations, and effectiveness and focusing on understanding what role do International Organizations (IOs) play in global politics.

BASIC CONCEPTS OF THE COURSE

1	Cooperation
2	Regimes
3	Governance
4	International system
5	Integration

COURSE OUTLINE

Week	Topics
1	Introduction to International Organizations
2	International Organizations and the Regimes. The goal of this opening chapter is to provide a survey of international organizations: to explain what they are and how they relate to states, to review the varieties in which they are found, and to explain how they have evolved and what they do. McCormick, J. (2024). International Organizations. Bloomsbury Publishing.Pg. 5 - 29.
3	How international organizations work? This chapter focuses on the functions of international organizations. It does this by approaching them as political systems, reviewing the rules on which they are based, the manner in which they make decisions, how they are led and how they are funded. McCormick, J. (2024). International Organizations. Bloomsbury Publishing. Pg. 29-47
4	Approaches to understanding Governance in IOs. This chapter focuses from a purely legal perspective, the power and limitation of international organizations stems from their status as legal persons akin to corporations under many domestic legal systems. Regardless the power or complexity of any international organization, it requires an international agreement for its creation, operationalization and framing of the permissible activities it is empowered to engage in and the parameters of these activities Edgar, A. D. (2023). Introduction to the Handbook on Governance in International Organizations. Pg. 7-42
5	Why states act through formal international organizations? This article addresses the question of why states use formal organizations by investigating the functions IOs perform and the properties that enable them to perform those functions. Starting with a rational-institutionalist perspective that sees IOs as enabling states to achieve their ends, the authors examine power and distributive questions and the role of IOs in creating norms and understanding. Centralization and independence are identified as the key properties of formal organizations, and their importance is illustrated with a wide array of examples. IOs as community representatives further allow states to create and implement community values and enforce international commitments. Abbott, K. W., & Snidal, D. (1998). Why states act through formal international organizations. Journal of conflict resolution, 42(1), 3-32.
6	Regional Integration. Before moving to the specific regimes around which each of the remaining chapters of the book are based, this chapter looks at the more focused work of regional international organizations (RIOs). These are more geographically limited than most IGOs, and yet they are also often more ambitious, and are typically interested in a wider range of policies, including economic cooperation, foreign policy coordination and the development of single markets. McCormick, J. (2024). International Organizations. Bloomsbury Publishing. Pg. 51-74.
7	Peace and Security. This chapter focused on a regime deals with international organizations whose work addresses the needs of peace and security. It begins with a discussion about the meaning of terms such as war, peace, security and human security, and then looks at the short history of the League of Nations (founded in 1920). McCormick, J. (2024). International Organizations. Bloomsbury Publishing. Pg. 77-101
8	Finance and Development . The second regime addressed revolves around finance and development, although given the control that states prefer to exert over economic policy there is more of a focus on the latter than the former. The chapter begins with a review of the global economic picture, introducing the Human Development Index as a comparative measure. McCormick, J. (2024). International Organizations. Bloomsbury Publishing. Pg. 102-125
9	Midterm exam
10	United Nation. The purpose of this chapter is to paint a broad landscape of the United Nations (UN) and its work. This discussion of the origins of the United Nations offers a glimpse into the some of the major issues and debates involved in the creation of the organization. Pg. 1-29, The United Nations: Policy and Practice, Krasno E. J., editor, (2023).
11	European Union. The chapter shows how and why the European Union (EU) has come to assume the status of an emerging global power. Its focus is on the practical, political, and economic consequences that have resulted from the EU's becoming an internationally significant actor. Pg. 13-47, Piening, C. (1997). Global Europe: the European Union in world affairs. Lynne Rienner Publishers.
12	North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The chapter analyses the role of NATO in the international system, as a powerful alliance. The structure and the treaty are part of the lecture. Pg. 18-32,Rynning, S. (2024). NATO: From Cold War to Ukraine, a History of the World's Most Powerful Alliance. Yale University Press.
13	International Monetary Fund. The chapter focuses on the reason the IMF was formed which has little to do with the economic programs in developing countries for which the IMF is famous today. Pg. 1-37, Vreeland, J. R. (2006). The International Monetary Fund (IMF): politics of conditional lending. Routledge.
14	Presentation of the students project, revision of the course

Prerequisite(s):
Textbook(s):	McCormick, J. (2024). International Organizations. Bloomsbury Publishing; Edgar, A. D. (2023). Introduction to the Handbook on Governance in International Organizations.
Additional Literature:	Rynning, S. (2024). NATO: From Cold War to Ukraine, a History of the World's Most Powerful Alliance. Yale University Press; Vreeland, J. R. (2006); The International Monetary Fund (IMF): politics of conditional lending. Routledge; The United Nations: Policy and Practice, Krasno E. J., editor, (2023); Piening, C. (1997). Global Europe: the European Union in world affairs. Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Laboratory Work:
Computer Usage:
Others:	No

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

1	Summarize the main functions of IOs
2	Explain why states establish IOs
3	Demonstrate why IOs look the way they are
4	Give examples of how states take advantage of IOs for their domestic political purposes
5	Analyze the role of IOs in current international events
6	Construct theories about how IOs can help (or not) address a specific international crisis

COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO... PROGRAM COMPETENCIES (Blank : no contribution, 1: least contribution ... 5: highest contribution)

No	Program Competencies	Cont.
Bachelor in Political Science and International Relations (3 years) Program
1	Having and using advanced knowledge and comprehension supported by textbooks including actual knowledge in political sciences and international relations literature, materials and the other scientific resources.	5
2	Analyzing data, ideas and concepts of current political issues and international relations, determining complex events and topics, making discussions and developing new suggestions in accordance with researches.	5
3	Having knowledge and thought about actual topics and problems together with their historical, social and cultural aspects.	5
4	Introducing those who are interested in politics and international events with the topics of Political Science and IR and teaching clearly the problems and the types of solutions.	5
5	Improving skills of working together with the main social science disciplines and other disciplines which are related to Political Science and International Relations.	4
6	Improving critical thinking and skills in making research independently.	5
7	Developing solutions about the problems and conflicts which are common in national and international arena.	5
8	Improving skills for leadership and research and analyze capacity of those who is responsible with national and international ones.	4
9	Knowing any foreign language enough to communicate with colleagues and understand actual researches and articles.	3
10	Gaining IT skills to use computer and technology) in order to reach actual knowledge.	2
11	Gaining skills to follow societal, scientific and ethic values during collecting, interpreting, conducting of data related to social and political developments.	2
12	Having consciousness about human rights and environment.	3
13	Gaining the skills to follow actual developments and pursue long-life learning.	1

COURSE EVALUATION METHOD

Method	Quantity	Percentage
Midterm Exam(s)	1	30
Presentation	1	5
Term Paper	1	10
Final Exam	1	40
Attendance		15
	Total Percent:	100%

ECTS (ALLOCATED BASED ON STUDENT WORKLOAD)

Activities	Quantity	Duration(Hours)	Total Workload(Hours)
Course Duration (Including the exam week: 16x Total course hours)	16	3	48
Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice)	16	3	48
Mid-terms	1	10	10
Assignments			0
Final examination	1	15	15
Other	1	4	4
Total Work Load:			125
Total Work Load/25(h):			5
ECTS Credit of the Course:			5

CONCLUDING REMARKS BY THE COURSE LECTURER