Internationale Betrekkingen

What can we learn about how attempts to create order in the world have to do with how things are connected and disconnected?

How is it that nationalisms and identities, economic systems, ideologies, inequalities, environmental and health issues, as well as belief systems, are used to connect and disconnect people, ideas, and places creating (new) geopolitical realities?In this track you will be introduced to a novel approach, developed and led by colleagues at Groningen, to understand geopolitics as a connectivity effect. You will learn how spaces are, and have been, the result of connecting (strategically or not), many of the issues mentioned above. Drawing on historical and contemporary case studies and issues, you will develop unique analytical skills to approach any geopolitical issue in time.Some questions inspired by this approach are, for example, how has the United States tried to change the terms under which it connects to the world in an attempt to force a different geopolitical context? How is China resetting the terms for its global connectivity through its Belt and Road initiative(s)? How is the European Union attempting to develop an environmental agenda to connect its members and create its geopolitical projection in the world? How do actors in the global realm challenge or benefit from these geopolitical aspirations? How do certain people and regions choose, and

How do actors relate to each other and their natural environment in terms of threats and vulnerabilities? When and how is violence organized? How can possible conflicts be prevented or solved?

International Security, a track of the master International Relations, is aimed at issues of power politics and international order, peace and war, and strategy and diplomacy. Its main focus is the phenomenon of, and theoretical reflection on, 'violence' in its broader context.Traditionally, attention for warfare and political violence, i.e. military security, has dominated the study of International Security. They still form the central issues. But especially after the Cold War other concerns occupy the agenda, such as environmental security (about climate change or industrial hazards), societal security (about group identities) and economic security (about welfare and development). These different types of concerns have their own meaning when studying the causes of violent conflict, its prevention and management, and conflict resolution and reconciliation.

Methodologically, the study of International Security has profited from the so-called constructivist turn in International Relations. In addition to traditional analyses new approaches have emerged, most notably Critical Security Studies, the Copenhagen School, and the Risk Society approach. Studying International Security at Groning

What does the future hold for the European Union? Are its founding ideals of peace and prosperity strong enough to overcome public distrust about further integration? Find out in this track.

European Politics in a Global Perspective is a track within the Master's degree in International Relations.

European integration is a unique phenomenon. Nowhere else in the world have national states decided to a such a far-reaching form of cooperation and 'pooling' of resources as has been the case within the framework of the present-day European Union. Despite the problems the EU is facing nowadays, the economies and currencies, and to a certain extent also the political and social systems of the member countries, have become 'Europeanized' to a considerable extent. This fascinating development is studied in the track European Politics in a Global Perspective in Groningen.