Unit 2 - Area of Study 2: Global cooperation and conflict

Outcome 2

Describe and analyse the extent to which global actors can effectively manage cooperation, conflict and instability in relation to selected case studies.

Examples of learning activities

• 
  This Area of Study lends itself to a major research report on international cooperation and international conflict.
• The teacher models the research required with analysis of one case study for international cooperation and one case study for international conflict.
• Create post-its with each of the areas of international cooperation and international conflict, i.e. the environment, animal welfare and biodiversity, health, people movement, disarmament, international crime, human rights, action and aid relating to disasters, border disputes, war, separatism and terrorism.
• Create two sections on the white board, one for international cooperation, the other for international conflict. The class discusses and gives examples to decide which areas should go under international cooperation and which under international conflict. Some areas cover both international cooperation and international conflict e.g. Human Rights and People Movement. Working in pairs, the students determine why these two areas are included as both cooperation and conflict. Broaden this into a classroom discussion.
• Go to the Council on Foreign Relations’ Global Conflict Tracker. Students must select at least five examples from the tracker and categorise them into their areas of international conflict (i.e. border disputes, war, separatism, terrorism, human rights and people movement). These five examples must include at least three of the areas of international conflict in the Study Design. Students who chose the same example form a group and based on the information from the website, provide a three minute presentation on the conflict, including its causes and challenges to being resolved.
• Go to Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) home page. The students must complete the following web quest:
  • What is the aim of HRW?
  • What are the topics covered by HRW? Explain how one of these topics is relevant to human rights.
  • List at least one human rights abuse example from each region of the world covered by HRW.
  • What is the impact of HRW on human rights?
  • What part does HRW play in forming international cooperation to protect human rights? Provide an example.
• Prepare a presentation based on the research of one of the case studies for either international cooperation or international conflict.
• Rank the most pressing issues, based on the research of case studies and presentations conducted by the class. Students must justify why they believe a particular case study is more or less important than others. If there is disagreement, the class must vote on a ranking.
• Based on the research and presentations, students identify the key global actors that appeared the most. Students discuss the importance of these global actors (such as the USA or the UN) in the case studies of international cooperation or international conflict. Conduct a debate on the topic, ‘Without the participation of particular global actors, global issues cannot be resolved effectively’.
• Students draw on their research of international cooperation and international conflict to write an essay on the following topic: ‘responses to global issues must be multilateral to be resolved effectively’.

 

Detailed example

Global issue case study report

Students write an annotated case study on one area from either international cooperation or international conflict. This report should be 800-1000 words long and include both referencing throughout (whether footnoting or another method is at your discretion) and an annotated bibliography of five sources.

Students choose the area they wish to study.

The case study must cover the following:

• an explanation of the nature of the global issue
• an explanation of the involvement of global actors in relation to international cooperation and conflict
• the roles in relation to international cooperation and conflict
• a description of the responses of global actors
• an analysis of the effectiveness of these responses
• an analysis of the challenges to an effective resolution.

Construct an annotated bibliography.

Case studies could be presented to the class for discussion.