Introduction of the course topics and schedule, the syllabus(!), assignments and readings. General introduction to the course.

4th Industrial Revolution – Artificial Intelligence, Digital Divide, Principles of New Digital Realms, Complexity, Uncertainty, Probability, Dual purpose technology, Big Data

Biopolitics – Individual and Population Level Control, GWOT, Exhaust Data, Spectacle, Internet of Things, Digital Divide, Inequality

Description: How do Social Media influence the information we get? Is connectivity promoting or detrimental to Democracy? Who has the authority/information to govern? How do Populists work with information?

Description: Every few decades scholars predict a change in world order, today is no different – rise of new powers, decline in US leadership, global problems such as climate change, rise of inequality and different values challenge the order we live in.

Description: Russia has been reasserting its influence over the past decade, what are the internal and external motivations? How does Russia view its neighborhood, its sphere of influence? Is war in Ukraine part of a Liberal World Order challenge? Are we witnessing a new Cold War?

Description: If early 2000s saw the “hey-day” of human rights, with principles such as Responsibility to Protect adopted by the UN, the 2010s decade saw a decline or ignorance of rights, often the result of humanitarian intervention and attempts to change regimes. Furthermore, does the new era of digital communication and climate change bring a demand for new rights?

What are the scientists saying? How do we approach nature? Are there any other ways how to think about human-nature relationship? How do we qualify climate change and does it redistribute risks anew? What do countries and regions do to prevent the worst and how does the short-term, long-term nature of democratic political systems aid these efforts?

Migration is a result of multiple factors, climate change, instability being just a few of them. What are some of the reasons why people migrate? What can governments do about it?

To say that a global pandemic caught us unprepared would be an understatement, it has shown the best and the worst of political regimes around the world. Why is global cooperation failing in the face of yet another global threat? What are governments doing to get their power, legitimacy and influence back?

While resilience seems now like a “catch-all” term, it does not make the effort of surviving any less relevant. How do people, societies adapt to new challenges? How do we live and govern ourselves in environments full of uncertainty and complexity? How can we re-think our social and political organization?

Discuss!