Fundamental content for expertise in international affairs
The world of global governance requires a profound understanding of different, yet interrelated, areas. The political, social, and economic events that are happening globally must be addressed from multiple perspectives. The Bachelor in Global Governance, Economics & Legal Order includes the disciplines necessary to enable you to approach all types of international issues as an expert. From the first year, you will combine subjects of law and legal systems, economics, governance, and geopolitics (such as accounting, geopolitics, the United Nations model, or the international protection of human rights). From the second year you will receive specific training in either global economics or global politics, depending on the specialisation track you choose.
Analyse how markets work and learn the keys to analysing industries. We also reflect on how major technological platforms are changing the economy and discuss the economic policy options for regulating markets (including an analysis of the efficiency of the measures currently taken).
Introduction to Legal Systems
What is law? How are relationships in social systems regulated? Are there different options for the world’s different legal systems? And what are the differences? We will make an initial approach to all these questions in this subject.
World Economic History
This course will help you understand how the world has changed over the last 200 years. What are the main changes in the economic structure? Is the world more open today? Is the distribution of income less equal? How are politics and economics related throughout history and how do they explain the present? This course enables you to study historical development through the debate that has taken place among the great economists, and you will understand these economists within their historical contexts and the challenges they faced.
Countries use their geographical locations and resources to establish advantageous positions in their relationships with the rest of the world. You will learn these strategies and the methodology used to analyse geopolitics.
Macroeconomics is the part of economic theory that examines global indicators: totals of goods and services produced, total income, levels of employment, productive resources, balance of payments, exchange rates, and general price behaviour. An understanding of macroeconomics brings you closer to understanding macroeconomic policies. Topics discussed include: macroeconomic variables, fiscal policies, the financial sector, recession, and crisis.
Regional Economics and Integration
Since the signing of the Treaty of Rome gave birth to what is now the European Union, the EU has become a unique experiment in economic and social integration. You will learn what is the European Union, what is the role of the various EU institutions, what are the challenges ahead, and how community law works.
Institutions and Decisions Making
This subject enables you to understand how institutions interact and how the different forms of decision-making give rise to social, political, and economic solutions that reveal significant differences.
This course is an introduction to constitutional law and political systems: What is a constitution? Are there legal and political systems without constitutions? Which political systems are most common and what are their consequences?
The economic activity of nations is conditioned by their geographical location and resources. In turn, countries use their economic potential to achieve political ends. During this course you will learn how countries use their economic potential to gain advantage in international politics.
Sociology provides you with the basic elements to understand the existence of different social groups and analyse how they interrelate, as well as the conflicts, areas of cooperation, and forms of social interrelation that arise. An understanding of the tools of sociology enables you to apply this knowledge in an analysis of political decisions.
Strategic Thinking for Global Governance
Companies, political parties, governments, and most economic agents make decisions that affect third parties, but they are in turn affected by the decisions of competitors and partners. Can we predict the best strategy? Game theory is a basic tool to answer this question: in this subject you will learn games theory with applications in economics, politics, and international relations.
Self-Determination and Minority Rights
This course discusses the regulation of self-determination and how it has been applied historically. You will analyse the tools and institutions that protect the rights of minorities, as well as the challenges posed by the protection of minorities.
European Union and External Relations
The European Union is an important player in the global panorama, both for its defence of certain values and manner of understanding democracy – as well as for its economic power. This subject enables you to better understand how the EU works and its relations with third parties.
United Nations Model
International relations require constant dialogue to reach agreements among economic agents who have different points of view. To dialogue, negotiate, and reach agreement, it is necessary to develop a series of negotiation and teamwork skills; and acquire the knowledge to prepare and defend your position in debate; make proposals and negotiate. These skills are developed in the United Nations Model in a very practical approach.
Any organisation, public or private, must produce financial and economic information. This subject introduces the accounting process and international accounting regulations, and most importantly, helps you interpret the financial information that companies publish.
Track Global Politics
How is statistics used in political science? This subject will introduce you to the basic statistical concepts used in the political arena: types of variables, measures of central tendency and dispersion, correlation analysis, construction of indicators in political science, introduction to survey design, etc.
In this subject, you will learn the basics of the international development cooperation system. We will explore the various types and agents of cooperation as well as the development-related international institutions, all from a theoretical and practical approach. We will also conduct simulations in which the students will be responsible for managing development projects.
International Conflict Management
What tools are used to manage international conflicts? In this subject, you will discover the main forms of conflict and the various resources and mechanisms used to solve conflicts. You will study conflict theory, the various types of international conflicts, their causes, and the tools used to resolve them.
Track Global Economics
Mathematics Applied to Economic Analysis
This subject covers the mathematical fundamentals of economic analysis. You will study key topics such as univariate analysis (continuity, derivability, graphical analysis), multivariate analysis, and linear algebra (matrices, operations, solving systems of equations). You will also gain a basic understanding of the differential equations used in economics (models of economic growth).
This subject is divided into two fundamental thematic parts. First, we will cover content related to international trade: explanatory theories of international trade, analysis of trade policies, the global trade system in the context of globalisation, the global organisation of production and trade integration processes. The second part of the subject includes content such as analysis of exchange rates and the various exchange-rate regimes, the international financial system, and the mechanisms of monetary integration.
This subject will provide an introduction to topics such as probability, random variables, descriptive statistics and statistical inference – essential knowledge for drawing data-based conclusions in economic studies.
Ethics and Global Governance
This course introduces the ethical debate on the role of institutions and social models. You will analyse the ethical implications of the various models of governance.
International Public Law: International Society
In an increasingly globalised world, national legal systems are not enough – globalisation implies the need for international public law systems. This subject will help you deepen your understanding of the legal relationships between countries.
Introduction to Financial Markets
Financial markets have a growing impact in the field of economics, politics, and international relations. This course introduces you to the main financial products and their characteristics, how financial markets operate, and the relationships between financial markets, the economy, and international relations.
Law and Economics
Should legal regulations consider the economic effects they produce? How are economic relations conditioned by regulatory frameworks? Are we establishing the appropriate regulation for new forms of economic activity such as the collaborative economy or large digital platforms? This course helps you understand the economic analysis of legislation – and so helps you answer the above questions.
You can study this course at ESADE or The Fletcher School in Boston thanks to the Study Abroad programme. In either case, you will analyse the major risks for international security and the mechanisms for handling these risks
Track Global Politics
Global Political Economy
What is the welfare state? What are economic policies like in a globalised world? In this subject, you will discover the theoretical fundamentals of economic policy, the welfare state and its evolution, and political economy on the international stage (economic internationalisation and governance in the global economy).
Public and Private Governance
In global governance, collaboration between public and private organisations is commonplace. In this subject, you will study how business, government and society can create economic and social value through formulas for public-private partnerships and learn about their function with regard to achieving general-interest goals.
Natural Resources and Geopolitics Strategy
The management and exploitation of natural resources is a key national-policy issue on the global stage. In this subject, you will study production systems and their environmental impact, the relationship between natural resources and economic growth, the geopolitics of energy sources, conflict minerals and their geopolitical implications, and governance and future challenges in the management of natural resources.
Track Global Economics
What is a monopoly? And an oligopoly? In this subject, you will study market structures and barriers to entry: monopolies, oligopoly models, product-differentiation models and monopolistic competition. You will also study the finer points of industrial policy and market regulation.
Econometrics is the application of statistics and mathematics in the study of economics. In this subject, you will gain a basic understanding of econometric fundamentals: linear regression models with a single explanatory variable (estimation, goodness-of-fit measures, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing and prediction), multiple linear regression models (estimation, goodness-of-fit measures, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing and prediction), and non-linear regression models.
Financial Markets and Financial valuation
In this subject, you will gain a basic understanding of financial mathematics (simple and compound capitalisation) and learn to analyse financial transactions (income and lending). You will also learn the basics of borrowing and stock valuation (discounted cash flow).
Human Rights Protection
You will study human rights, their regulation and protection mechanisms, but also their limitations and possible alternatives in the future.
This matter is essential in a world where digital platforms, big data, and social networks are changing the way we understand organisations, as well as our social and economic relations. Cybersecurity is essential but involves serious risks. Do we have adequate regulations in place?
This course gives you the tools needed to prepare your final degree project. These skills are also essential if you want to continue in the world of academic research.
Globalization: Economics and Politics
This subject closes your degree studies. You will analyse social reality from economic, legal, and political science viewpoints. The course involves a review of the current world situation and combines analysis from these disciplines.
Track Global Economics
Climate change affects every country on the face of the earth. How is it managed at the international level? In this subject, you will delve into the concept of climate change, its consequences, the stakeholders involved in international environmental policy, the current situation, and the present and future governance challenges associated with climate change.
Track Global Politics
In the fourth year, you will finish the Global Economics track by delving into key topics of advanced macroeconomics: economic models of intertemporal choice, models of expectations and public policies, labour market models, introduction to macroeconomic dynamics, etc.