CCR213 | Critical Reflections on International Politics

This elective is designed as a standalone course to invoke curiosity among the students about the field of international politics, following an interdisciplinary approach. The discipline is commonly referred to as International Relations based on the state-centric assumptions of inter-state affairs. Thus, calling it International Politics is a deliberate attempt at making the discipline more inclusive and creating a larger space for critical engagement with issues pertinent to the discipline.

This course will be treated as an introduction to the discipline by familiarising the students with the major issue areas, bereft of the mainstream approach. While the discipline is riddled with Western-centric worldviews, the course attempts to expand its horizons. Unlike conventional IR courses, this course brings alternative discourses to the forefront of international politics. Every session, therefore, is designed for theme-based discussions on relevant IR concepts.

Pedagogically, a combination of methods including lectures, Socratic discussions, seminar-style discussions, and flip classrooms will be employed. This will allow greater room for dialogic engagement and the development of a coherent set of ideas among the students with regard to international politics.