The re-emergence of the city from the long shadow of the state in the late-twentieth century was facilitated by the state itself. The unprecedented size and scale of today’s global cities owe their conditions of possibility to a fundamental shift in the character of political order at the level of the international system. This course explores the notion that we must understand the rise of the global city as part of a wider process of the transformation of international political order, and of the character of international society.

The course will draw upon international theory, political geography and urban studies. It covers the emergence of global cities as part of a liberal world order, and explains their role in contemporary global governance. It examines challenges to the global city today, and assesses the future potential of global cities to evolve into more social just and environmentally sustainable forms, and to transform the nature of globalism.