Summer semester

Applying qualitative methods: Designing a qualitative research project | 5 ECTS | Seminar

• Modul Number: 85777

• Examination Number: 57771
• Study program: International Business Studies, Sozialökonomik, Wirtschaftsmathematik
• Description: Much of what we know about human behaviour and social relations comes from qualitative research. Qualitative research, including interviews, participant observation and participatory methods, allows for in-depth understandings of how and why certain phenomena, events and processes occur and unfold. Why, for example, is right-wing extremism gaining traction across Europe? How does climate change affect rural life in Germany? Why do consumption patterns change in times of crisis? These are just a few of the many questions that qualitative research can help answer. This is a hands-on course on how to design and carry out a qualitative research project. The course will be based on seminars, discussions, fieldwork, group work and supervision. In the course, we will discuss a range of qualitative research methods, including participant observation, interviews, participatory methods, and visual methods. We will also reflect on research ethics and positionality. During the course, you will work in groups, designing and carrying out a small qualitative research project, based on your own interests.
• Teaching and examination language: english
• Lecturer: Dr. Anna Frohn Pedersen

International Business Relations | 5 ECTS | Seminar

• Modul Number: 85731

• Examination Number: 57311
• Study program: International Business Studies, International Economic Studies, Sozialökonomik, Wirtschaftsmathematik, Kulturgeographie, Wirtschaftswissenschaften  

• Description: This seminar will provide an introduction into International Business Relations, with a focus on the role of multinational companies and global supply chains. We will analyze the current geopolitical context, trade relationships and their environmental and human rights impacts and different forms of sustainability governance. In the first block of the seminar, we will study the public governance of global supply chains, with a focus on international norms and supply chain regulations such as human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) laws. In the second block on private governance, we will mainly analyze corporate commitments to uphold environmental and human rights standards, audits, the role of investors, corporate reporting and corporate sustainability management systems and practices. In the third block on multi-stakeholder governance, we will discuss the drafting, design and implementation of multi-stakeholder initiatives, such as certification standards (e.g., FSC, MSC, RSPO, RTRS), landscape approaches and collective grievance mechanisms. We will also shed light on community-led and consumer-led initiatives for responsible production and consumption.

• Teaching and examination language: english

• Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Almut Schilling-Vacaflor del Carpio

International Politics (only IBS/IES, WiWi) | 5 ECTS | Lecture

• Modul Number: 87013
• Examination Number: 23021 | 70131 | 57101 | 47601
• Study program: International Business Studies, International Economic Studies, Sozialökonomik, Kulturgeographie, Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Wirtschaftsinformatik, Wirtschaftsmathematik 
• Description: This course provides students with important knowledge of our international system, encompassing international organizations, international rules and state and non-state actors. We will focus on two of the major challenges of our time, which are the need to govern our climate crisis more effectively and to protect human rights globally. Combatting climate change and protecting human rights are key concerns in international politics, as established by for example the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement and the international human rights system. Non-state actors such as companies and civil society organizations have increasingly become influential actors in international politics, both as rule-setters and rule-takers. In our course, we will critically reflect upon key concepts from the fields of international relations and global sustainability politics, focusing on the concepts of legitimacy, effectiveness and accountability. Thereafter, we will have one block focusing on global climate governance and energy transition, followed by one block on human rights, with a particular emphasis on business and human rights. While these topics are often discussed separately, we throughout the course identify links – be they synergies or conflicts – between them, reflecting on to what extent policy integration of climate and human rights governance is possible and desirable. This critical reflection on theories and creative solution of problems is the focus in the course’s exercise blocks, designed to engage students in application and discussion of concepts and current global sustainability topics.
• Teaching and examination language: english
• Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Almut Schilling-Vacaflor del Carpio & Prof. Dr. Johan Lilliestam

Political ecology: Resource extraction | 5 ECTS | Seminar

• Modul Number: 85778
• Examination Number: 57781
• Study program: International Business Studies, Sozialökonomik, Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Wirtschaftsmathematik, Informatik
• Description: We live in an age of accelerated resource extraction. Oil and coal are heavily extracted to accommodate our energy needs, iron and copper facilitate new industrial developments and minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel power our tablets, smartphones and electric vehicles. Resource extraction spurs economies in the Global South and facilitates employment in rural areas. Yet, it also pollutes bodies and environments, displaces people, encroaches on other land uses and exacerbates inequality. In other words, resource extraction plays a key role in shaping societies and ecologies across the world. The study of resource extraction has thus gained traction among social scientists, invigorating cross-scalar research, as resource extraction is deeply entrenched in translocal trade relations, colonial legacies and globalised discourses. In this course, we will explore how resource extraction alters livelihood opportunities, power relations, profit distribution and landscapes, and we will discuss the methodological and analytical implications of studying resource extraction. We will approach resource extraction as a livelihood, a capitalist endeavour, an embodied practice and a sociomaterial phenomenon, and we will draw on concepts such as extractivism, resource enclaves, resource potentiality, resource frontiers, non-human agency and geosociality. The course will be based on seminars, group work, presentations, and discussions.
• Teaching and examination language: english
• Lecturer: Dr. Anna Frohn Pedersen

Internationale Studien I | 5 ECTS |

• Modul Number: 83691
• Examination Number: 36901
• Study programm: International Business Studies, International Economic Studies, Sozialökonomik
• Description: The module covers various topics, questions, and issues in International Studies, with the specific content varying considerably depending on the foreign university where the student is enrolled. Possible areas of focus include the development and structure of the international system; problems and processes of regional and global cooperation and integration; theoretical and research approaches to international and transnational relations; fundamental questions of intercultural perceptions and perspectives; and the development of society, economy, politics, and culture in other countries, especially in regions represented by the university’s area studies departments. Comparative approaches may also be included.

Internationale Studien II | 5 ECTS |

• Modul Number: 83692
• Examination Number: 36903
• Study programm: International Business Studies, International Economic Studies, Sozialökonomik
• Description: The module addresses various topics, questions, and issues in International Studies. The specific selection varies considerably depending on the foreign university where the student is enrolled. Possible areas of focus include the development and structure of the international system, as well as the problems and processes of regional and global cooperation and integration.

El papel de la Energiewende alemana en América Latina (The Role of the German Energiewende in Latin America) | 5 ECTS | Seminar

• Modul Number: tba
• Examination Number: tba
• Study program: International Business Studies (Latin America Area), Sozialökonomik
• Description: The global transition toward sustainability, driven by the Paris Agreement, has sparked an intense international debate about the need to advance a socio-ecological transformation that enables the development of greener, more equitable, and technologically advanced models. In this context, the Energiewende -Germany’s energy transition- is not only relevant domestically but has also become a structural pillar of Germany’s foreign energy policy, with profound geopolitical, normative, economic, and social implications in the international system. This strategy has positioned Germany not only as a key actor in the promotion of renewable energies but also as a norm entrepreneur in environmental standards and as an exporter of technologies associated with the energy transition. In this seminar, students will analyze the social, political, and environmental dimensions of the Energiewende, with a particular focus on its implications for Latin America. The course will examine how Germany shapes its foreign energy policy, evaluating the balance between national values and interests and its international projection.
• Teaching and examination language: spanish
• Lecturer: Dr. Jaime León González