Global Studies Programme
International Master's Degree (M.A in Social Sciences) in association with Freiburg University (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg) and Humboldt University of Berlin.
Modality: in person.
| BRANCHES | MODULES | |||
| Globalization | Global Governance | Cultural change | Methodology | |
| I. Freiburg / Berlin | Theories of Globalization (7 ECTS) * |
Internacional Politics (7 ECTS) |
Modern European Thought (7 ECTS) |
Methods of cultural anthropology and cultural geography (7 ECTS)Data managment (1 ECTS) |
| II. Buenos Aires / Cape Town / Pretoria |
Global Public Sphere (7 ECTS) |
Global Economy and Society (7 ECTS) |
Culture and Identity (7 ECTS) |
Empirical Research Project I (7 ECTS) |
| III. New Delhi / Bangkok | Modernization and development (7 ECTS) |
International Institution (7 ECTS) |
Communication, Knowledge and Culture (7 ECTS) |
Empirical Research Project II (7 ECTS) |
| IV. Internship | Internship in a related organization for eight weeks (5 ECTS) | |||
| V. Freiburg / Berlin | Colloquium/Forum (3 ECTS) M.A. Thesis (25 ECTS) Oral Exam (2 ECTS) |
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| * European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System | ||||
Course Syllabi
Research and Methodology Project I
This seminar guides students through the practice of empirical research, from the formulation of a research problem to the design of a feasible, well-grounded proposal. It combines an inductive approach by observing, analyzing, and reconstructing published studies from Latin America and the Caribbean to extract methodological tools and strategies, with a workshop-oriented dynamic in which students present their own developing ideas for constructive discussion and critique from peers and instructors. This reflects the conviction that sound research design is not a solitary exercise but a social and dialogical one, informed equally by the close analysis of existing scholarship and the sustained discussion of students’ own emerging projects. The seminar also foregrounds researcher positionality and fieldwork ethics as constitutive rather than peripheral concerns. Combining scholarly discussion with hands-on exercises, students progressively develop the components of their own project over the course of the semester.
Global Public Sphere and Civil Society
In a historical context of increasing global multi-dimensional interdependence, but also of mounting tensions and vulnerability in the socio-economic, ecological, and military realms, the question of democratic steering of global developmental trajectories seems more relevant than ever. But an effective and legitimate steering of world affairs face a fundamental challenge: Both the political institutions inherited from the ‘Westphalian era’ and their theoretical underpinnings come under stress and are in need of a profound revision in the face of the unfolding polycrisis. For better or for worse, the liberal democratic state does not provide any applicable model for global (democratic) governance.
This course deals with two dimensions of the emerging global public sphere and global civil society: The first part will address the theoretical and practical problems derived from the transnationalization of these instances themselves, placing particular emphasis on the implications thereof for the effectiveness and legitimacy of democratic governance at the global level. The second part is aimed at introducing the most burning question posed to the emerging global polity for debate: to explore recent analyses and debates on the so-called global polycrisis, examining its various dimensions and implications, as well as the alternatives emerging to address it. It focuses in particular on the scenarios and narratives that are emerging against a backdrop of growing uncertainty, perplexity and fragmentation.
Global Economy and Society, and Culture Capture
This class is divided into two modules: Environment and Development and Understanding Corporate Capture.
The component Environment and Development analyzes how decades of unregulated global capital and off-shoring have prioritized financialization over local territories, communities, and natural resources. In light of recent global supply chain disruptions, it examines the challenges and opportunities this shifting global landscape presents for Latin America – a region historically dependent on resource extraction and marked by severe inequality and socio-environmental conflicts. Ultimately, the module debates the role of changing state ideologies and social movements in contesting these global markets and reshaping the political agenda.
The objective of the component Understanding Corporate Capture is to provide information and documentation for a comprehensive understanding of the corporate capture phenomenon throughout three main analytic pillars: democracy, human rights, and tax justice. The purpose is to recognise the different ways corporate capture harms development and democratic perspectives –mainly in the countries of the South– and to identify policies and mechanisms to mitigate them.
Culture and Identity in Latin America
This course studies a set of influential social and political ideas written by Latin American intellectuals since its independence from Spain and Portugal in the early 19th century until today. Our analysis of these ideas will be centred on: (1) their formulation of issues of national and regional identity; (2) their influence in the world at large. The goals of the course are to familiarise students with the way in which intellectuals in the Global South position themselves in relation to dominant ideas coming from the “West”. Problems associated with the degree of originality of these ideas, and their “application” and “adaptation” to other realities and ideal models will be specially considered. At the end of the course, students will be able to understand the driving forces that led to the main debates on social and political issues in Modern Latin America.