This Course provides students with a systematic introduction to the United Nations as a family of organisations facilitating complex patterns of diplomatic engagement in the 21st Century.  It opens with a discussion of the emergence of the United Nations then moves on to explore the structure and function of key United Nations organisation and finally examines the involvement of the United Nations in a range of complex endeavours such as humanitarian assistance, intervention, conflict management, and peacebuilding in disrupted states.  It concludes with a discussion of the prospects for reform of the United Nations system.

The course if designed to equip students with a thorough knowledge of how the United Nations system is organised and functions and with the skills to work competently either in the United Nations offices or in diplomatic missions attached to the United Nations and its agencies.

Written work of 6,000 and a take-home examination at the completion of the course.

Students undertaking this course could expect a workload of 20 hours per week.  This is inclusive of actual contact hours for lectures and also out of class preparation time.

With the exception of students enrolled in the Doctor of Diplomatic Studies, students enrolled in the Master of Diplomatic Studies must have successfully completed DIPL8001 Transnational Diplomacy.

Paul Kennedy, The Parliament of Man:  The Past, Present and Future of the United Nations (New York:  Random House, 2006)

Students require access to a computer with Microsoft Word and access to the internet.

Delivery Mode:

Winter session, on campus, seminar-style.