BASIC AND GENERAL COMPETENCES BASIC COMPETENCES CB1 Be able to show that they possess and comprehend facts and contents in an area of study which, based on a previous general secondary school level, have been extended to those included in advanced textbooks and in some aspects proceed from the most advanced studies in this area. CB2 ¿Be able to show that they have learned how to apply their knowledge professionally to their future jobs or tasks and that they possess the competences needed to develop and defend arguments and solve problems in that area of study. CB3 ¿ Be able to show that they are capable of collecting and interpreting the relevant data (normally within their area of study) needed for formulating judgments which require critical thought on social, scientific and ethical topics of relevance. CB4 ¿ Be able to show that they are able to transmit information, ideas, problems and solutions both to specialized and non-specialized publics. CB5 ¿ Be able to show that they have developed the learning skills required to perform further studies with a high degree of self-dependence. GENERAL COMPETENCES CG1 ¿ Understand social, political, legal and economic realities from a comparative perspective. CG3 ¿ Know quantitative and qualitative research techniques and possess the ability to choose which is most adequate to apply in the field of Social Sciences. CG4 ¿ Be able to manage information: identify, organize and analyze relevant information critically and systematically within the context of international relations. CG5 ¿ Be able to debate and formulate critical reasoning, using precise terminology and specialized resources, when analyzing international and global phenomena, employing both the concepts and knowledge from different disciplines as well as the methods of analysis, paradigms and concepts pertaining to the Social Sciences. CG6 ¿ Be able to apply scientific method to the economic, social and political questions of a global society; be able to formulate problems in this context, identify a possible explication or solution, and a method to contrast them by sensibly interpreting the data. OVERLAPPING COMPETENCES CT1 ¿ Acquire the capacity to communicate knowledge in oral and written form, both to specialized and to non-specialized publics. CT2 ¿ Acquire the capacity to establish good interpersonal communication and to work both in interdisciplinary and international teams. CT3 ¿ Acquire the capacity to organize and plan workloads, taking correct decisions based on the available information, collecting and interpreting relevant data in order to provide assessments in that area of study. CT4 ¿ Develop the motivation and capacity to perform independent continuous learning for life, with an endowment to adapt to change and new situations. SPECIFIC COMPETENCES CE8 ¿ Understand the structure of markets and the impact of public intervention on markets. CE9 ¿ Be familiar with and comprehend the relevance of technological change for economic and social development. CE10 ¿ Be able to discern the differentiating elements in international problems in accordance to the development stages of a country. CE13 ¿ Be familiar with the principles of cost-benefit analysis and its application to basic problems. CO2 Understand the most important macroeconomic risks in an international context LEARNING RESULTS · Applied knowledge to perform a multidisciplinary analysis of a country, the stability of its political, economic and social system within an international context. · Capacity to synthesize non-academic reference materials (newspapers, reports) for their presentation. · Capacity to choose indicators to describe political, social and economic environments. · Capacity to present complex information in graphical, written and oral form for both specialized and non-specialized audiences. · Knowledge applied to risk assessment.

Contents and use of country reports elaborated by private and public institutions. Structuring and conceptual framework of country reports: national and international context, actors and agents, strategy and objectives. Measurement and analysis of development and evaluation. Analysis of economic and political institutions and country risk: political institutions, political system, and political risk; security and public order; criminality and personal violence, institutional and police corruption, terrorism, guerrillas, etc.; economic structure, political economy and macroeconomic risks; banking and financial structure, monetary policy; financial and exchange risk. Social and demographic variables and their incidence on political and economic stability. International interactions, development, conflicts and crisis. Writing a country report.

Lectures: In the lectures we will discuss the readings and the critical evidence needed to test the main theories. Reduced lectures: Each week we will have presentations, debates based on the readings and discussions of the essays. Students will have to participate actively in class.