2494.16 - West Nordic Geopolitics from a Faroese Perspective.

2494.16

West Nordic Geopolitics from a Faroese Perspective.

10

Bachelor degree or equivalent with adequate component of social science.

This course will offer students an in-depth Faroese perspective of the new High North geopolitical realities facing the West Nordic Region. The course will bring relevant theories of International Relations and geopolitics in play through case studies focusing on the environment and climate. This will qualify students to work in policy, business, and education with questions of West Nordic policy and development in a changing climate.

Through case studies of Faroese approaches to how the West Nordic Region is facing a new geopolitical situation of the High North, students will apply and discuss strengths and weaknesses of International Relations theories (Realism, Liberalism, Securitisation Theory, and International Practice Theory). Case studies include Arctic Council, West Nordic Council, and major powers’ military strategies). The outside-in approach is reflexively supplemented with an inside-out approach based on discussions of how the micro-societies are coping with new challenges brought about by climate change as well as the region’s ongoing challenges of regional development and distances. The course is connected to research activities at the University of the Faroe Islands.

The course is based on 40 hours of teaching in a combination of three types of approaches: 1) Classroom teaching (20 hours) will introduce different topics, and will be used to reflect upon and discuss the other activities such as guest lectures and field visits. 2) Practical learning (10 hours) with the specific topics through dissemination of new knowledge gained through e.g. own interviews and observations. E.g. through writing a blog, making videos, posters, public speaking, or a radio programme. The lecturer functions as supervisor. 3) Dialogue sessions (10 hours) where teachers and students engage in dialogue with society, e.g. political, business, and civil society actors. Students will help prepare the dialogue.

At the end of the course the students will be able to: • Describe, analyse and discuss difficult and complex challenges facing the micro-societies of the West Nordic Region relating to regional development in geopolitical perspectives. • Describe, analyse and discuss strengths and weaknesses of main International Relations theories. • Demonstrate skills in communication of new knowledge based on own material to a non-academic audience. • Present academic reflections about own dialogue with society on a given topic.

• Following the case studies, students will produce a written, audio, or visual presentation of one case targeted a non-academic audience. • Based on the communication product, students must write a synopsis paper that explains the communication product in relation to a chosen problem and the course literature. It must also reflect upon the presentation and reception of the product. The written paper must be maximum 1.500 words. • The overall course will be assessed through an oral exam using the synopsis paper and case presentation: External examiners (with teacher).

External

7-

800 pages research literature in English. 200 pages empirical material in English.

Lau Øfjord Blaxekjær