About Global Trends
This module is basically designed for the course, Global Affairs. The course is designed to equip students with the basics of international relations so that they will be exposed to global challenges and perspectives. The course is very comprehensive, broad and multidisciplinary in its nature. Perhaps you may find it as an ice-breaking course since it touches up on wide range of issues, concepts, theories, approaches and debates that are helpful in understanding the contemporary international relations. Concepts, such as national interest, foreign policy, actors, globalization, balance of power, cold war, multi-polar systems, international law and other relevant concepts are being introduced. Different debates and approaches to the study of international relations including realism, liberalism are also given due emphasis. Due to the vastness of the course, its contents are organized into six chapters. The first chapter lays the foundation of the course by introducing major concepts, such as: the nature, scope, evolution, actors and levels of analysis, structure as well as theories of international relations. In the second chapter topics such as; national interest, foreign policy, diplomacy and Ethiopian foreign policy under successive regimes are discussed in some length. Chapter three brings out the contending issues of international political economy with emphasis on global institutions of governance. Last chapter the debates between regionalism and globalization with contemporary global issues that affect international relation