Current Seminar (Winter Term 2024/2025)

Policies of International Development in the Polycrisis – Current Issues and Novel Approaches

(Entwicklungspolitik in der Polykrise – Aktuelle Themen und neue Ansätze)

MA Internationale Beziehungen und Entwicklungspolitik as well as MA Development and Governance

University of Duisburg-Essen

In the face of multiple interconnected crises—collectively known as the polycrisis— critiques of international development policies are growing increasingly vocal. Critics are questioning the effectiveness of foreign aid, development assistance and development cooperation as reliable instruments for ensuring the well-being of humanity and the planet (Gabriel et al., 2022, Brand et al., 2021). The polycrisis has exposed the limitations of Western anthropocentrism and instrumentalism, which perpetuate several binaries and dichotomies inherent in the "civilizational" approach (Godrej, 2016). As a result, there is a pressing need for alternative perspectives that transcend Western-centric and purely technocratic approaches to development.

This seminar seeks to revisit, reimagine and reshape international development policies by exploring how alternative conceptions and practices can effectively the polycrisis. The seminar will achieved this aim through the following three steps:

1)      Vision - Reimagining international development by incorporating bodies of knowledge beyond Western ideation, such as indigenous wisdom and non-Western development outlooks.

2)   Barriers – Assessing the current limitations of international development, with a focus on power dynamics, dominance structures and path dependencies in consensual knowledge and multilateralism.

3)      Actions – Developing policy recommendations for advancing international development policies

Throughout the seminar, students will enhance their critical thinking skills and deepen their understanding of diverse concepts and practices in international development. They will also learn to critically and analytically engage with international development discourse, exploring its various theoretical approaches and related practices.

Past Seminars and Trainings

Seminar: Aufstrebende Mächte Asiens in der Entwicklung und internationalen Zusammenarbeit (Emerging Asian Powers and their International Development Policies, in German)

Summer Term 2024, Institute of Political Science, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Conflict and Climate Justice

Winter Term 2023/2024, Institute of Political Science, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Academic module on climate justice, Managing Global Governance (MGG) Academy, IDOS, Germany

2018-2023, post-graduate course for emerging leaders from Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and the EU

Negotiations and Conflict Management

Winter Term 2020/2021, Institute of Political Science, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

New Global Players in International Cooperation and Development

Summer Term 2020, Institute of Political Science, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Climate Justice (with Eva-Maria Lynders)

Managing Global Governance (MGG) Academy 2020 (Digital), German Development Institute

Negotiation and Decision-Making - Peace and Conflict Perspectives

Winter Term 2019/2020, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Multi-Akteursansätze und private wirtschaftliche Akteure in der Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit (with Dr. Dorothea Wehrmann)

Postgraduierten Program, 2019, German Development Institute, Germany

Embedding Justice, Fairness and Equity in Transformative Research and Policy Advice

Global Transformation towards Sustainability - Transdisciplinary Peer Learning between Africa, Europe and Rising Powers for the 2030 Agenda, Alumni Spring School 2019, Joint Collaboration betrween the University of Bonn and the German Development Institute

South-South Cooperation and Triangular Cooperation on Sustainability Standards

UN Catalytic Support to South-South & Triangular Cooperation in Implementing the 2030 Agenda, 2018, United Nations System Staff College, Bonn, Germany

Energy and Environmental Policies and Economics

Summer Term 2017, Faculty of Built Environment, University of Technology, Kingston, Jamaica

Global Energy Politics - A Comparative Approach

Summer Term 2016, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Leipzig, Germany

Negotiation and Conflict Management

Winter Term 2015/2016, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Leipzig, Germany

Energy Supply Security - Progressive Outlook of the Energy Sector through Youth Empowerment

European Autumn Academy 2015, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and Fraunhofer Institute for International Management and Knowledge Economy

Negociaciones internacionales y cooperación en el campo del cambio climático: instituciones, políticas, acuerdos e instrumentos

2014, Postgrado de Economía, División de Estudios Postgrado de la Facultad de Economía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico

Negotiations and Conflict Management

Winter Term 2014/2015, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Leipzig, Germany

Climate Change and Sustainable Development: Understanding Decision-Making

Third Term 2014/2015, Ateneo School of Government, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines

Climate Change and the IPCC

Summer Term 2014, Lecture Series, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Leipzig, Germany

Globalisierung und Ökonomisierung

Summer Term 2014, Faculty of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Leipzig, Germany

Negotiations and Conflict Management

Summer Term 2014, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Leipzig, Germany

Sustainability Assessment of the German Energiewende (with Theresa Weinsziehr)

Winter Term 2013/2014, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Leipzig, Germany

Negotiations and Conflict Management

Winter Term 2013/2014, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Leipzig, Germany

Äriläbirääkimised ja otsustamine (negotiation)

Spring Term 2014, Entrepreneurship and Technology Management, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu, Estonia

International Negotiations

Term 2013, Faculty of Economics, University of Alcala de Henares, LLP/Erasmus Program 2012/2013, Alcala de Henares, Spain

Global Environmental and Sustainability Politics - Assessment of Case Studies (with Theresa Weinsziehr)

Winter Term 2012/2013, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Leipzig, Germany

Globalisierung und Ökonomisierung

Summer Term 2013, Faculty of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Leipzig, Germany

The Art of Science: Research Skills and Methods

Winter Term 2012/2013, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Leipzig, Germany

Nachhaltigkeit und betriebliches Umweltmanagement - internationale Umweltverhandlungen

Winter Term 2011/2012, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Leipzig, Germany

International Negotiations - Experiencing Old Lessons and New Challenges

Winter Term 2011/2012, Institute of Political Science, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany

International Negotiations - Experiencing Old Lessons and New Challenges

Winter Term 2011/2012, Faculty of Economics and Social Science (WISO), University of Cologne, Germany

International Negotiations - Experiencing Old Lessons and New Challenges

Winter Term 2010/2011, Faculty of Economics and Social Science (WISO), University of Cologne, Germany