Spring 2026
Decolonizing World Politics: Multiple Worlds and Global Futures
Dates: February 09, 2026 - May 13, 2026Day/Time: Monday; Wednesday 8:00 AM – 9:20 AM EST
Level: 300-Level
Instructor: Idil Brand, Central European University
This course invites students to rethink world politics through postcolonial and decolonial perspectives, exploring how histories of empire, cultural exchange, and inequality continue to shape global relations and everyday realities in the 21st century. Rather than treating world politics as a fixed system governed by states and international institutions, the course approaches the global as something produced through knowledge hierarchies, knowledge, affective relations, and political imagination.
Through scholarly readings, case studies, and creative engagements, students will explore how colonial legacies underpin contemporary global crises, such as migration, climate change, development, and representation. At the same time, the course foregrounds how diverse actors across the world respond to these challenges in ways that unsettle dominant political narratives and open space for alternative ways of knowing, organizing, and relating globally.
Combining critical reflection with applied analysis, the course equips students with intercultural awareness, ethical reasoning, and analytical skills for engaging thoughtfully and responsibly in global debates and professional contexts – including scholarly research, policy, and media - that shap e our shared future.
Credits: 4 US / 8 ECTS