Autumn semester

Course name: Global Citizenship

Number of credits: 6

Duration of the course: 8 week

Participation Prerequisites:

Students should be at an advanced stage of their studies and have a solid understanding of international law, awareness of the sources of the EU law. Knowledge of written and spoken English is required, as well as skills of case-analysis and legal writing. Students are also expected to be ready to engage in theoretic discussions and practical exercises.

Goals: Consider the concept of “global citizenship” and develop their own definition of this complex and contested notion; develop a broad understanding of barriers and bridges to global citizenship; develop a broad understanding of issues of key concern to the international community; consider the impact they may have and their responsibilities, as global citizens, within their local, national and international communities; examine the ways in which individual consumer choices and behaviors impact; reflexively investigate, consider and debate avenues which may be open to them to participate as active global citizens, within their political, social, cultural and professional contexts.

Expected Outcomes: Students will be able conceptualize the global citizenship concept and to identify the spheres of domestic and international relations where this concept is useful for the application; will be able to differentiate the concepts of nation-state, post-national and de-nationalized citizenship in the frame of globalization and cosmopolitanism theoretical discourses; they will be able to apply the theoretical discourse of global citizenship to legal cases in diverse social situations especially related to the current societal global challengers; students will demonstrate competences to apply diverse research methods (comparative, intercultural, case-studies, quantitative research) by writing the final essay paper and position paper;

The course syllabus includes the following topics:

1. Introduction and course outline. How to conceptualize “global citizenship”?
2. Citizenship and Nation-state.
3. Citizenship and Globalization. Global citizenship and global governance.
4. The idea of the world citizen and national forms of political organization. Bottom Up Cosmopolitanism and Activist Citizenship.
5. Refugees and Representation.
6. Limitations and possibilities for global citizenship: comparing citizenship rules in Lithuania, Belarus, and the USA.
7. Global democracy and citizenship.
8. Rethinking the Universal Declaration of Human Rights through the global citizenship concept.
9. Environmental citizenship and global ecological challengers.

Language of Instruction: English

Course Methodology: The course represents a methodology of blended (in-class face-to-face and on-line) learning. Students are expected to devote approximately 8-10 hours per week for their autonomous work including forum, course interaction, course assignments while about 60% per cent of this time falls to studying the course materials. The course also includes 8 hours of in-class lectures and 10 hours of in-class seminars.

Grading:

The final grade is cumulative, and it consists of the following components: essay №1 - 20%; essay №2 - 30%; active and informed participation in all class sessions including participation in a multi-campus discussion board across the semester - 20%; group presentation: “Migration challengers in Europe today” (first session) - 10%; position paper and participation in the Symposium “Global citizenship challengers” (second session) - 20%.

Status: This course is obligatory for MA students 'International law and European Union law' program