To understand the key contemporary debates in international trade, students will learn some basic economic concepts such as trade barriers or forms of regional economic integration as well as the meaning of the World Trade Organization’s principles and exceptions. Through these concepts the students will learn how to look at contemporary international relations from a trade perspective and how close geoeconomics and geopolitics are.

Assessment

The evaluation of International Trade is part of the general evaluation of the course Contemporary Debates in International Studies. It is based on participation in class (2 points) as well as on the class preparation by students (4 points) and a final short presentation (4 points). Students will have to send the instructor (through the Virtual Campus) the answer to several factual questions before each class. The factual questions for each session will be posted in the Campus. Finally, students will make a short presentation on any of the debates in international trade. 

The grade obtained in International Trade will represent 50% of the final grade of the course Contemporary Debates in International Studies.  

The class methodology in International Trade is based on team-based learning, building on the responses to the factual questions. In other words, students are to prepare the descriptive part of the sessions on their own by answering the factual questions and, in class, we will focus on answering analytical questions. It is a combination of reverse and question-based learning.

The design of the course on Contemporary Debate in International Trade is suited both for face-to-face and on-line tuition. The type of tuition used will therefore depend on the pandemic situation.

 

Competences, learning outcomes and teaching activities (PDF)