Making sense of a rapidly-changing economic and political world is a challenging agenda. This unit introduces a range of approaches to understand global economic and political integration and shifting power. In particular, the unit focuses on how the roles of nation states, international organisations and globalising markets are changing, and the way conflicts that arise with these changes are being and might be addressed.

This inter-disciplinary unit will develop students' understanding of themes in and approaches to Global Studies. It will introduce students to conceptual frameworks of 'the global' and identify the core perspectives used by anthropology and sociology to analyse issues such as: the emergence of global economic, political, cultural and social processes; population movements; national, international, and global identities; diasporas and diasporic cultures; colonialism, post-colonialism and self-determination movements; discourses of international law, human rights and cosmopolitanism, appreciating the politics of the intercultural.

What are the roles of language, culture and communications in international relations? Who are "global actors" and how do they shape the transnational public sphere? How do the politics of place and space intervene? This second year core Unit of the Bachelor of International and Global Studies will address key issues and theoretical approaches in transnational, area and diaspora studies and global communications. It is taught by the School of Languages and Cultures and the Department of Media and Communications.

This 'capstone' unit in International and Global Studies focuses on case studies of contemporary problems (e.g. wars, natural disasters, economic and diplomatic crises). Groups of students will track particular cases to analyse interactions between social, cultural, political and economic institutions (including governments, aid agencies, the United Nations and others) and informal networks at the domestic, regional and international levels. In doing so, they will acquire high-level competency in theories, ethics, and methodologies informing interdisciplinary, team-based assessments of global issues.