Building a Just Global Order
Our First Humanitarian Course!

Humanity is currently facing various threats with catastrophic potential. Climate change, nuclear war, pandemics, and extreme financial inequality are just some of the issues requiring urgent attention. Individual nations cannot solve these challenges on their own; these global crises require global solutions that engage civil society and national governments worldwide. As such, effective and dedicated institutions of global governance are necessary to mobilize coordinated collective actions in response to the problems that threaten our society. To accomplish these objectives, it may be necessary to reform or even replace current institutions.

This new course will focus on exploring proposals for reform or replacement of the United Nations (UN), guided by the open-access book Global Governance and the Emergence of Global Institutions for the 21st Century. Students will be encouraged to probe the worldviews of the UN’s founders and their intentions to ensure that the great powers of 1945 would continue to hold power. They will also explore how reforming the UN can potentially benefit a new and ever-changing world.