Course Listings - Master of Science (Global Relations)
Please take note that not all courses are offered every academic year. Please click here for courses to be offered in the upcoming semester.
All courses are worth 4 units.
PS5101 - Research Design and Methods
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This course introduces students to the various research methods to research important questions. Over the course of the semester, students will learn to formulate testable questions, situate them in existing literatures and debates, articulate an argument and its observable implications, select an appropriate methodological approach and how to identify cases/data to test their hypotheses, and identify ways to collect and analyze their data/materials, while paying close attention to issues that often plague social science research, such as selection problems, measurement errors, biases, endogeneity, small sample sizes, among others.
PS5102 - Taskforce 1
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This course is the first in a sequence of two. The objective of PS5102 is twofold. First, to serve as a capstone course to the MSc in Global Relations. Secondly, and primarily, to prepare students for Task Force through furthering students’ research writing skills; data collection and analysis training; introducing students to policy analysis; enabling students to select their Task Force topics and external stakeholder; form their Task Force groups; and, finally, to begin work on their Task Force projects.
PS5103 - Taskforce 2
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
The seminar simulates a government advisory committee, NGO, INGO, or private consultancy firm where students work in groups and pursue research on a policy issue. Group research projects culminate in a final report which includes policy recommendations addressing the group’s research question.
PS4218 - European Foreign Policy
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
The European Union is often viewed as an economic superpower but a military pygmy. This course aims to provide students with tools to evaluate whether the EU, as a non-state actor, can have a coherent and effective foreign policy. It considers theories and debates concerning the institutionalisation of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), and includes case studies of EU objectives and actions on selected issues (international trade, ethics, human security), in selected regions (Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa), and in relations with international organizations such as the UN.
PS4231 - Social Theory and International Relations
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
Critical international relations theory argues that the social structures of the international system are the product of human interaction in specific historical circumstances. It also argues that these structures contribute to oppressing much of the world's population. How did these oppressive structures emerge, and why do they persist? Who gains from them and how do they maintain their privileged position? This course will explore such questions by examining major traditions in critical theory, including Marxism, constructivism, post‐modernism, and critical feminist theory and applying these theories to issues in international relations.
PS5211 - Non-State Actors in Global Governance
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This course explores the dynamic roles of non-state actors and how they interact with more established actors in international relations (states and intergovernmental organizations). We will focus on the business sector and civil society organizations as two major categories of non-state actors. Core questions we ask in this course include: When and how do non-state actors matter? What are the sources of their influence? What kind of strategies do they use to achieve their goals? What are normative implications of the growing influence of these new actors? How should the study of IR respond to this relatively new phenomenon?
PS5212 - Global Relations in the 21st Century
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This course asks how and why US dominance in the immediate years after the Cold War (1947-91), has given way to anxieties about the rise of new centres of power. Is the world moving away from a US-based liberal order? How will trade, diplomacy and businesses adapt to the changing geopolitics of the 21st century?
PS5214 - China's External Relations
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This course focuses on the general features and drivers of China’s external ties, covering its foreign policy, security, economic, and societal ties with the wider world. The first weeks will cover broad theoretical approaches and the wider historical backdrop. This includes including perspectives about the role of perceptions, domestic sources of policymaking, historical influences on China’s contemporary external relations, and major power competition. Subsequent weeks examine how the Cold War and Reform Period shaped current Chinese ties with the outside world. The course will then use this foundational knowledge to examine current trends in China’s relationship with the outside world, focusing on key facets of China’s outward interactions. A key thrust of the class is to enable students to establish longer-term trends, patterns, and trajectories in China relationship with the world and its neighbours.
PS5215 - Politics and Governance in the Field (*Field Trip Course*)
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
How does politics and governance work in reality? This course seeks to bring a field component to the study of politics and governance, allowing students to test political science theories and hypotheses through their field visits and interactions with political actors and practitioners. Particular topics of concern that students can potentially engage with in the proposed field country of the semester include electoral politics, political institutions, political economy of development, the politics of race and religion, civil society, foreign policy, decentralization and local politics, and bureaucratic governance and reform, amongst others.
PS5216 - Society, Politics, and Change
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This course introduces students to some of the major elements of the relationship between state and society. These include interactions among civil society, state agencies, law, and social institutions, covering such areas as cooperation, contestation, and cooptation. The class examines the ways that modern states organise themselves and how societal as well as political change comes about in different contexts. The course provides a broad foundation for students to approach the study of society and politics.
PS5217 - Small States in Peace and War
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
Is smaller better for peace and prosperity? This course explores the blessings and perils of state size across four themes: Development, Governance, International Organizations and War. It grounds this exploration with insights on the political and economic consequences of size from ancient (Thucydides) and contemporary (Nassim Nicholas Taleb) thinkers, as well as work in economics, political science and history.
PS5316- Seminar in Public Administration
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This seminar is designed for graduate students in any subfield of political science. The course examines the intellectual history of public administration and the basic issues that confront it today. The seminar pays particular attention to administrative responsibility and ethics and to the formulation and implementation of public policy. To this end, it will emphasise the nexus of public administration and politics.
GL4880A - Globalization, Culture, and Identity
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This course examines contemporary global cultural flows. Emphasis is placed on cultural forms and the production/circulation of identity through/within globalization. The goal is to raise questions about power, cultural interaction and change, and the nature of globalization through landscapes of popular/vernacular culture. The course will address debates concerning questions of globalization and identity, such as: What is culture? How and why does ‘culture’ circulate through material exchange? How and why do processes of globalization mediate the material exchange of culture, and how was this different than the era of ‘national culture’? Where is the ‘location of culture’?
SNG5102 - Introduction to the Geopolitics of South Asia
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
The rapidly changing geopolitical landscape of South Asia necessitates a closer look at the issues that impact the region and the global order. Taking a thematic approach, this course will focus on some of the critical areas that define the political, social and economic contours of the region. It will look at issues relating to ethnicity and nation-building; civil-military relations; religion and politics; women and politics; and nuclearization and conflict management in South Asia. The impact of these issues on regional and international geopolitics will be explored using particular case studies at the national and regional levels.
PS4226 Emerging Markets and Economic Governance
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This course introduces students to some of the major themes of comparative political sociology through the lens of a clearly established literature that draws from a variety of national and sub-national case studies. It focuses on the relationship between civil society and the state and on the institutions and processes that mediate that relationship. Topics covered include contemporary theories of the modern state; political culture and civil society; revolutionary and non-revolutionary political regime change; clientelism; and corporatist and non-corporatist forms of interest group intermediation.
PS5312 - Seminar in Comparative Politics
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This seminar will survey the methodology, dominant approaches and theories in comparative politics. The seminar will place emphasis on methodological and theoretical issues that are common to the study of comparative politics. Classic works by leading comparativists will be used to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of the existing methodological and theoretical approaches to the study of comparative politics.
PS5314 - Seminar in International Relations
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
The course will introduce to students important and influential theories on international relations, including realism and liberalism, that attempt to explain cooperation and conflict among nations. Students will also be exposed to some of the important methods of analysis - such as case studies, formal modeling, and statistical analysis - that help distinguish the current study of international relations from that of previous eras. Important approaches, such as constructivism and rational choice, will also be discussed. Under the instructor's guidance, students will undertake an academic-quality presentation to the class and write a paper which proposes in detail an original research project in international relations.
PS5411- The Geopolitics of Regional Integration
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This course studies the economic, geopolitical and socio-cultural motivations behind inter-governmental regional organizations in Asia, Europe and elsewhere. It evaluates the dominant theories of regionalism, asking whether the world is moving towards a shared global space, or one of multiple competing regions; and whether/why regional hegemons rise and fall.
PS5412 - Security Studies
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
What are the causes of security and insecurity in the world? What do states, societies, people, and other political actors do to safeguard their safety and survival? How do conflicts begin and how do they end? What are ways to prevent conflict? Are there better and worse ways of addressing or even participating in conflict? This course explores the above questions, which represent major concerns in the area of international relations and introduce students to concepts and themes central to security. The course covers inter-state and civil wars, insurgencies, terrorism, and war termination as well as humanitarian intervention, and non-traditional security. The course seeks to draw connections between security issues and other domains such as economics, climate, and health to break down the common conceptual separation among these topics. Such an approach seek to draw students’ attention to and develop an advanced understanding of the interconnectedness and intersectional nature of security issues.
PS5413 - Community Responses to Disaster and Climate Crisis (*Field Trip Course*)
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This course develops students’ theoretical and practical understandings of societal responses to environmental disaster and climate change. Course materials and activities encourage students to critically engage commonly applied concepts in disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation practices, such as “resilience,” and gain deeper insight into diverse experiences of the environment. Major topics include vulnerability, resilience, disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, and complexity in disaster. This is an 8-week course with field components: 6 weeks of class meetings in Singapore followed by 2 weeks of workshops on community-based methods in Manila, Philippines.
PS5414 - Corporate Governance and Corruption (*Field Trip Course*)
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This course will examine policies that deal with corporate governance and corruption in different jurisdictions. It will first discuss what is a corporation, why it exists, and how it is regulated. Next it will discuss theoretical discussions on the differences between networking, bribes, and corruption. The remainder of the course will be dedicated to exploring global and Asian cases of corporate governance mishaps and acts of corruption. Students will also work in groups to explore in great detail a case of corruption to examine the ethical, legal, and practical challenges with regulating corruption.
PS5415 - Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policies
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This course will explore the history, implementation, and criticisms of diversity, equity, and inclusion (EDI) efforts in the workplace. Meant to address inequity with regards to gender, race, sexuality, religion, and other identities, the course will go beyond basic EDI trainings to include academic research, legal frameworks, and robust discussions on the value of EDI trainings. The first half of the course will consist of traditional lectures. The second half of the course will consist of guest speakers and student presentations. Students will work in groups and deliver their own EDI trainings in the last two weeks of class.
PS5416 - Global Inequality
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This course explores the multifaceted dimensions of global inequality, addressing its causes, consequences, and the policy interventions designed to mitigate its effects. Students will be introduced to theoretical perspectives, will examine empirical data on global inequality trends, and will analyze the role of colonialism, institutions, markets, states, and transnational actors in exacerbating various types of inequality. Topics include inequality between nations, inequality within nations and different types of inequalities: income, health, gender, racial, environmental, and technological. This course also considers how factors like globalization, digitization, and climate change have impacted both inter and intra-country inequality.
ACE5410 - Cultural Diplomacy and Intelligence
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
Culture is a key driver for diplomacy and intelligence. This course examines how the soft power of cultural diplomacy has fundamentally shaped global trade elations and cultural complexity. It will also introduce cultural intelligence as a framework to understand the international and organisational complexities of culture. Students completing the course will learn: soft power applications to culture; management approaches to cultural intelligence; cultural complexity theory; everyday multiculturalism and cultural diversity planning, across a range of sites and case studies including education, art, media and tourism, the multi-ethnic workplace, the cross-cultural marketplace, social contact learning, cultural statistics and creative industries.
GL4882B - Contested Globalization: Resistance and Resilience
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This interdisciplinary course examines the ways in which globalisation has provoked resistance as well as resilience. Global forces are often presented as inevitably and overwhelmingly structuring local actors and processes. But globalisation remains widely resisted in various ways. By drawing on materials from global studies, history, sociology, economics and political science, the class interrogates the varied local sources of and resistance to globalisation in different issue areas, ranging from health and the environment to migration and development. It problematises key concepts related to global processes and places them in the context of crucial debates about globalisation.
Theme : Culture, Society and Governance
PS5215 - Politics and Governance in the Field (*Field Trip Course*)
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
How does politics and governance work in reality? This course seeks to bring a field component to the study of politics and governance, allowing students to test political science theories and hypotheses through their field visits and interactions with political actors and practitioners. Particular topics of concern that students can potentially engage with in the proposed field country of the semester include electoral politics, political institutions, political economy of development, the politics of race and religion, civil society, foreign policy, decentralization and local politics, and bureaucratic governance and reform, amongst others.
Theme : Political Economy, Security, and Society
PS5413 - Community Responses to Disaster and Climate Crisis (*Field Trip Course*)
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This course develops students’ theoretical and practical understandings of societal responses to environmental disaster and climate change. Course materials and activities encourage students to critically engage commonly applied concepts in disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation practices, such as “resilience,” and gain deeper insight into diverse experiences of the environment. Major topics include vulnerability, resilience, disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, and complexity in disaster. This is an 8-week course with field components: 6 weeks of class meetings in Singapore followed by 2 weeks of workshops on community-based methods in Manila, Philippines.
PS5414 - Corporate Governance and Corruption (*Field Trip Course*)
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
This course will examine policies that deal with corporate governance and corruption in different jurisdictions. It will first discuss what is a corporation, why it exists, and how it is regulated. Next it will discuss theoretical discussions on the differences between networking, bribes, and corruption. The remainder of the course will be dedicated to exploring global and Asian cases of corporate governance mishaps and acts of corruption. Students will also work in groups to explore in great detail a case of corruption to examine the ethical, legal, and practical challenges with regulating corruption.
Theme : Culture, Society and Governance
SNG5102 - Introduction to the Geopolitics of South Asia
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
The rapidly changing geopolitical landscape of South Asia necessitates a closer look at the issues that impact the region and the global order. Taking a thematic approach, this course will focus on some of the critical areas that define the political, social and economic contours of the region. It will look at issues relating to ethnicity and nation-building; civil-military relations; religion and politics; women and politics; and nuclearization and conflict management in South Asia. The impact of these issues on regional and international geopolitics will be explored using particular case studies at the national and regional levels.
Theme : Political Economy, Security, and Society
ACE5410 - Cultural Diplomacy and Intelligence
| Units | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | Nil |
| Preclusion(s)/Cross-listing(s): | Nil |
Culture is a key driver for diplomacy and intelligence. This course examines how the soft power of cultural diplomacy has fundamentally shaped global trade elations and cultural complexity. It will also introduce cultural intelligence as a framework to understand the international and organisational complexities of culture. Students completing the course will learn: soft power applications to culture; management approaches to cultural intelligence; cultural complexity theory; everyday multiculturalism and cultural diversity planning, across a range of sites and case studies including education, art, media and tourism, the multi-ethnic workplace, the cross-cultural marketplace, social contact learning, cultural statistics and creative industries.