The world is grappling with heightened geopolitical and economic competition & conflict. What lies and looms ahead in 2025 and beyond?

We will analyze from a European perspective the international current affairs with its transformative geopolitical & geoeconomic shifts:

• USA: A ‘Trumpworld’?: ‘America First Foreign Policy’ / ‘America First Trade Policy’; Broligarchy ; Serious Withdrawals: WHO / Paris Climate Agreement; ‘Drill, baby, drill!’: Energy independence & export in a new era of oil & LNG …
• China, India & the Global South: A new international world order?: BRICS+; BRI; De-Dollarization?...
• Middle East: New centrality of the Gulf states
• EU’s triple-nexus challenge: Climate, Conflict (Ukraine), Democracy (rising political polarization/ future funding/ spending priorities); De-Risking…
  • Germany: Snap-election (‘Bundestagswahl’ 02/2025) and its results; coalition building…
  • What’s ahead in France?
• Strategic hot-spots:
  • Taiwan (ROC) Issue: Taiwan Strait= Crossroads of global commerce; China’s options: Invasion, coercion, punishing, annexing?
  • Iranian Nuclear Issue
• Armed conflicts:
  • Russia’s war in Ukraine
  • Israel’s war on terror: Gaza

! Course open to all faculties & international students !

Upon completion of the course students will

• be able to name & explain the main geopolitical shifts & geoeconomic challenges of the current international order
• will understand the startling emergence of economic security as a crucial pillar of national security
• be well acquainted with the new character of war: from battlefields to grey-zone strategies (e.g. economic coercion) between war & peace
• have an appropriate knowledge of main terminologies, concepts (e.g. Global South) and state/ non-state actors related to current world politics
• be encouraged to train their skills for media literacy: by having a critical & analytical glance at the media preparation of political issues, finding fact-based sources and verifying information
• be able to deal with controversial topics & opinions and to identify media or personal bias.

Literature: Publications, articles and blogs (think tanks, scientific journals, newspapers) & videos. Some material will be made available in Moodle, but Moodle will NOT cover the full content of the course!

Präsenszeit: 26-30 UE
Selbststudium: 50 UE

Gesamtaufwand: 74 UE

1 UE (Unterrichtseinheit) = 45 Minuten