Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società

The course aims at enabling students to understand the structure and purposes of the main international organizations and of the other actors in the field of international economic law. In particular, it aims at providing the analytical tools for a basic understanding of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, their institutional and legal framework and their interconnections. The course will also focus on sovereign debt issues.

Students will be provided both with a solid background as well as a set of conceptual and critical tools for reflecting more deeply on the role of international financial institutions in the world economic order and the logics of sovereign debt.

This course contributes to the realization of the AGIC curriculum by introducing the functioning of key international financial institutions (the World Bank, the IMF) and by explaining how sovereign debt impacts on development. The standpoint adopted is that of public international law.

The course will be taught through the traditional learning model based on frontal lectures as well as through interactive lectures and group work actvities. Reference documents will be distributed to stimulate debate. Experts in specific fields may be invited as speakers.

Teaching and reading materials will be made available through the Moodle platform. The platform will also be used to organise group activities.

It is therefore essential and compulsory that all the students enrol on the Moodle page of the course to have full access to studying materials and for communication purposes.

The first lecture will take place on the 26th of September 2022 at 18:00 (Rome time), in class.

EXAM MODALITIES for A.Y. 2022-2023

For students regularly attending class in a.y. 2022-2023

Evaluation: 

• 1) Group work participation (a breakout group exercise that will be organized during the  course) = 25%
• 2) Research paper (3,500 to 4,000 words) = 75%
• OR
• 2) A test – 1 open question and some multiple choice questions – on what was discussed in class and on materials uploaded on Moodle – that can be taken only once on the December 2022 exam date (both for AGIC and ELS students) = 75%

The research paper should focus on one of the topics discussed in class: it could be a general topic (for example, the IMF and human rights or odious debt) or a more specific case (a project funded by the IBRD or the IDA, a case brought before the Inspection Panel, the Haitian independence debt, etc).

I expect the submitted paper to be final (i.e. no amendments or updates allowed): no help in finding bibliographic material or other information will be provided; you are entirely responsible for bibliographic research and for writing the paper.

The minimum - maximum length is 3500 - 4000 words (bibliography and footnotes not included).

Papers can only be submitted by using the Moodle platform.

Grades will be officially registered at the first available exam session, but remember to submit the research paper at least one week in advance to allow for enough time for evaluation. For example, if the exam date is the 10th of June, you need to submit your research paper on Moodle at least by the morning of the 3rd of June, otherwise the grade will be registered at the next exam date.

The final deadline to submit a research paper and to be evaluated as an attending student will be the 30th of June 2023.

No research paper will be accepted and evaluated after the 30th of June 2023.

Remember that PLAGIARISM is a serious academic offence. Therefore, every paper will be uploaded on Turnitin to check for plagiarism.

Before starting writing your research paper, please read the infografic on the plagiarism spectrum clicking the hyperlink.

2) Students will be also required to write a final paper (please remeber to write an email to propose a research topic before starting wrking on it).

Research papers should met the same requirements outlined above for attending students (selection of topic, lenght, check for plagiarism, submission at least a week before the exam date, etc).  

The final grade will be however calculated in this way: 50% test + 50% research paper.

*****

Expected learning outcomes (according to Dublin descriptors)

Knowledge and understanding: knowledge of the main topics analyzed during the course

Applying knowledge and understanding:ability to apply the knowledge acquired to understand relevant reading materials and news, to participate in a discussion or a conference, to understand experts

Making judgements: ability to recognize relevant research materials, to identify a research question, to structure the content of an essay, to interpret sources and to provide an answer to the research question 

Communication: ability to communicate the acquired knowledge, demonstrating an adequate capacity of synthesis and abstraction and using a clear and rigorous language (grammar included)

Lifelong learning skills:acquisition of an effective study method, ability to identify and interpret different problems and texts