IB Group 3 · Individuals and Societies
Global Politics
2026 syllabus · First assessment 2026
Core concepts plus three thematic studies. Each note is tied to the prescribed content the guide sets out for that theme.
◇. Core topics: Understanding power and global politics
The overarching framework of the subject, the actors and systems of global politics and the four key concepts that thread through every theme: power, sovereignty, legitimacy and interdependence.
CT.1 — Framing global politics
Stakeholders and actors — The individuals and groups that shape political issues, and the difference between an actor (has the agency/means to exercise power) and a stakeholder (affected, but may lack that agency).
Systems, structures and dynamics — How the structure and dynamics of a political system regulate the interactions and possible courses of action of political actors.
Legal frameworks, norms and institutions — The rules, norms and institutions, formal organizations and the wider social structures of rules and norms alike, that shape and constrain political behaviour.
CT.2 — Power in global politics
Defining power — Contested definitions of power: the ability to effect change, and power seen as a relationship among actors rather than a possession.
Classifications of power — The prescribed types of power, hard, soft and smart; structural and relational; economic, political, social and cultural; and power to, power over, power with.
Evaluating the power classifications — The advantages and limitations of the power typologies as tools for analysing real-world cases.
CT.3 — Sovereignty in global politics
Nature of state sovereignty — Traditional and modern notions, the sources of sovereignty, and the internal and external dimensions of state sovereignty.
Challenges to state sovereignty — How global interdependence, external interference, supranationality, intervention and non-state actors challenge sovereign authority.
CT.4 — Legitimacy in global politics
Sources of state and government legitimacy — Where states and governments derive the recognised right to rule, and the distinction between state legitimacy and the legitimacy of a particular government.
Challenges to legitimacy — The internal and external challenges that can erode state and government legitimacy.
Legitimacy of non-state actors — How non-state actors gain legitimacy, through representation, interaction, ability and efficacy.
Legitimation and loss of legitimacy — How legitimacy is gained, strengthened, reduced or lost through the actions and interactions of political actors.
CT.5 — Interdependence in global politics
Global governance and international law — Government vs governance, national vs international law, and the sources of international law.
The UN: structure, roles and functions — The UN Charter, the General Assembly and the Security Council, and the roles of key UN bodies.
Achievements and limitations of the UN — Evaluating what the UN has achieved and where it is constrained.
Cooperation and competition between actors — IGOs and non-state actors in global governance: treaties, collective security, strategic alliances and economic cooperation.
CT.6 — Theoretical perspectives in global politics
Theories, models and frameworks — How theories and analytical frameworks are used to organise, explain, predict and prescribe in global politics.
Bias and limitations of theories — The successes and limitations of theoretical models when applied to real-world cases.
§. Thematic study: Rights and justice
The nature, protection and contestation of rights and justice, from the contested meanings of rights, liberty and equality to the frameworks that codify them and the debates that politicise them.
RJ.1 — Contested meanings
Contested meanings: rights, justice, liberty, equality — The debated meanings of rights, justice (political and social), liberty and equality, including the distinction between equality and equity.
RJ.2 — Interactions of stakeholders and actors
Stakeholders and actors in rights and justice — The states, IGOs, regional tribunals, civil-society organizations and affected groups that shape rights and justice.
RJ.3 — Nature, practice and study
Codification, protection and frameworks — How rights are codified, protected and monitored, and the international and regional frameworks, the UN system and the 1948 UDHR.
World norms and responses to violations — The development of world norms (including R2P) and the responses to violations of rights and perceived injustices.
RJ.4 — Debates on rights and justice
Diverse standards and politicization — Universalism vs cultural relativism, and the politicization of rights and justice.
Individual vs collective rights — Contested claims on individual and collective rights.
⬡. Thematic study: Development and sustainability
The competing meanings, measures and pathways of development and sustainability, the actors involved, the factors that shape them, and the debates over globalization and sustainable development.
DS.1 — Contested meanings
Contested meanings: development, sustainability, poverty, inequality — The debated meanings and multiple dimensions of development, sustainability, poverty and inequality.
DS.2 — Interactions of stakeholders and actors
Stakeholders and actors in development — Governments and agencies, grassroots civil society, IGOs and international financial institutions, affected groups, and TNCs/MNCs.
DS.3 — Nature, practice and study
Dimensions and assessment — Measuring development and sustainability, HDI, MPI, Gini and other indices, across their multiple dimensions.
Pathways, factors and links — Pathways towards development; the economic, environmental, political, social and institutional factors; and the links between development and sustainability.
DS.4 — Debates on development and sustainability
Globalization and development — Whether globalization narrows or widens inequality between and within states.
Sustainable development and alternatives — The UN SDGs, critical views on sustainable development, and alternatives such as de-growth and regenerative approaches.
◈. Thematic study: Peace and conflict
The causes, conduct and resolution of conflict and the meaning of peace, from contested definitions of peace and violence to peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, and the debates over the use of force.
PC.1 — Contested meanings
Contested meanings: peace, conflict, violence, non-violence — Positive vs negative peace, latent vs overt conflict, direct/structural/cultural violence, and non-violence.
PC.2 — Interactions of stakeholders and actors
Parties, actors and third parties — Parties to conflict, violent and non-violent state and non-state actors, and third-party mediation, negotiation and intervention.
PC.3 — Nature, practice and study
Conflict dynamics, causes and types — Conflict dynamics (Galtung, positions–interests–needs), the causes of conflict, and inter-, intra-, non- and extra-state types.
Peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding — Making peace (negotiations and treaties), keeping peace, and building lasting peace through reconciliation and justice institutions.
PC.4 — Debates on peace and conflict
Justifications of violence — Cultural, legal and religious justifications for the use of violence in conflict.
Legitimacy of protest and peacebuilding effectiveness — The legitimacy of non-violent vs violent protest and the effectiveness of peacebuilding efforts.
★. Case studies
A bank of contemporary cases, each analysed three ways, an overview, how it ties to the core concepts (power, sovereignty, legitimacy, interdependence), and how it links to the thematic studies. Grouped by the theme each case speaks to most.
CS.1 — Global Financial Crisis (2007–09)
Overview — US subprime collapse and Lehman Brothers' failure froze global credit and triggered the deepest recession since the 1930s.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.2 — Colombia peace process
Overview — The 2016 government–FARC peace agreement, mediated with Norwegian and Cuban support, ending five decades of armed conflict.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.3 — Afghanistan and the Taliban
Overview — The Taliban's 2021 return to power, the collapse of Western peacebuilding, and the rollback of women's rights.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.4 — Gaza (Israel–Hamas)
Overview — Recurrent Israel–Hamas conflict over territory and identity, marked by ceasefires and a fragile negative peace.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.5 — India–Pakistan (Kashmir)
Overview — A long-running interstate rivalry over Kashmir between two nuclear-armed states.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.6 — Russia–Ukraine war
Overview — Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an interstate war and a direct challenge to sovereignty and the post-war order.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.7 — Syrian civil war
Overview — A multi-sided intrastate war since 2011, with humanitarian access repeatedly blocked at the UN Security Council.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.8 — Yemeni civil war
Overview — An intrastate war and humanitarian catastrophe, with internationally mediated truces.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.9 — Sudan (civil war and Darfur)
Overview — Overlapping conflicts including Darfur and the 2023 army–RSF war, a UN arms embargo, and the limits of humanitarian intervention.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.10 — Somalia
Overview — A protracted conflict involving al-Shabaab and long-term state fragility, a case of state collapse and non-state actors.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.11 — Mali (UN peacekeeping)
Overview — The UN MINUSMA mission and the challenges of peacekeeping amid insurgency and shifting alliances.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.12 — Haiti
Overview — State collapse, gang violence and overlapping external actors, a failed state and contested intervention.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.13 — South China Sea
Overview — Overlapping maritime and territorial claims, structural power, and the contested authority of international law (UNCLOS).
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.14 — Truth & Reconciliation Commissions (Gambia & Canada)
Overview — Post-conflict and post-injustice reconciliation through truth commissions in The Gambia and Canada.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.15 — Iraq and the US (2003)
Overview — The US-led invasion of Iraq, an extra-state intervention that raised questions of legitimacy and international law.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.16 — Third-party intervention & global governance
Overview — Third parties acting through global governance, arms embargoes, election observers (Kenya 2013) and trade restrictions (North Korea).
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.17 — Rohingya crisis (Myanmar)
Overview — Persecution of the Rohingya, NGO investigations, sanctions on the military, and the ICJ genocide case.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.18 — Uyghur persecution (China)
Overview — Alleged mass detention and forced labour of Uyghurs, and the international community’s constrained response.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.19 — International courts: ICJ & ICC
Overview — International justice in action, the ICJ (Gambia v Myanmar) and the ICC (Putin arrest warrant; Ntaganda conviction).
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.20 — South Africa water crisis
Overview — The right to water, its codification, and the limits of state capacity to deliver socio-economic rights.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.21 — CEDAW & women’s rights
Overview — The women’s-rights treaty and its politicization, widely ratified, yet inequality persists (e.g. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan).
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.22 — NATO intervention in Libya
Overview — The 2011 R2P-based intervention, its human-rights justification, and the destabilization that followed.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.23 — Child soldiers (DRC & Boko Haram)
Overview — The use of child soldiers by violent non-state actors and the response of rights institutions.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.24 — Indigenous land claims (Brazil & Canada)
Overview — Indigenous land rights in Brazil (development pressure) and Canada (reconciliation).
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.25 — Regional human-rights courts
Overview — Regional courts enforcing rights, Hirst v UK (European), Ally Rajabu v Tanzania (African), López Mendoza v Venezuela (Inter-American).
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.26 — Contested understandings of rights
Overview — How rights are understood differently across contexts, Sharia law, honour killings, and LGBTQ+ rights in Uganda.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.27 — Vulnerable groups
Overview — Marginalized groups and rights, homelessness in India and climate displacement in Kiribati.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.28 — Amazon & workers’ rights
Overview — A multinational corporation as a rights actor, labour conditions and union disputes at Amazon.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.29 — Germany’s hate-speech laws
Overview — State monitoring and regulation of rights, Germany’s restrictions on Nazi and hate speech.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.30 — US–Venezuela
Overview — Human-rights arguments used to justify economic sanctions, the politicization of rights.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.31 — Israel & the BDS movement
Overview — Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, a transnational non-violent protest movement and debates over its legitimacy.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.32 — DR Congo, conflict minerals
Overview — MNC supply chains and mineral wealth funding armed groups, resource exploitation and non-state conflict.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.33 — Gulf migrant labour
Overview — The kafala system and migrant labour behind Gulf economic development, structural violence and rights.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.34 — India, development vs sustainability
Overview — A fast-growing economy balancing poverty reduction, sustainability pressures and regenerative agriculture.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.35 — Zambia, dependency & debt
Overview — Commodity dependence and debt as an illustration of dependency theory.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.36 — Development pathways (Egypt, Norway, Uruguay)
Overview — Contrasting dimensions of development, Egypt’s reliance on unsustainable income, Norway’s social development, Uruguay’s political development.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.37 — Costa Rica, environmental sustainability
Overview — A model of environmental sustainability, reforestation and renewable energy.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.38 — BRICS
Overview — Partnerships between emerging economies as an alternative axis of development cooperation.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.39 — Factors affecting development
Overview — How political, cultural, legal and social factors shape development, North Korea, China, Singapore, corruption in Africa, Afghanistan.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.40 — China, economic development
Overview — China's rapid economic development model and the contested meaning of ‘development’.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.41 — Bangladesh, climate, garments & microfinance
Overview — A World Bank climate-resilience project, the garment industry in global supply chains, and microfinance.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.42 — Saudi Arabia, power asymmetries
Overview — Oil wealth, power asymmetries and their effect on development and rights.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.43 — Unsustainable systems: fossil fuels & palm oil
Overview — Fossil-fuel economies and the palm-oil industry as examples of unsustainable systems and practices.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.44 — MNCs in development
Overview — MNCs as development actors, Samsung's jobs in Vietnam and corporate lobbying of the global plastics treaty.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.45 — International institutions in development
Overview — IFIs and IGOs in development, the WTO and Global South farmers, IMF austerity in Greece, and UNICEF/IRC.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
CS.46 — Nigeria, resource curse
Overview — Oil wealth as a ‘resource curse’, abundant resources yet constrained development.
Ties to core concepts
Links to thematic studies
▲. Higher level, the HL recommendation, HL extension & Paper 3
The HL-only additions on top of the common syllabus: the recommendation you add to the engagement project, the HL extension on global political challenges, and Paper 3. Shown only in HL mode.
HL.1 — The HL recommendation
What the recommendation is — The extra requirement HL adds to the engagement project, an advisable, evidenced course of action to address your chosen political issue.
Writing a strong recommendation — Tips: make it specific and actionable, anchor it to your analysis, evidence every claim, and weigh feasibility and trade-offs.
HL.2 — HL extension: global political challenges
What the HL extension is — The ~80 hours of independent research into global political challenges, ≥2 topic areas and ≥2 case studies, that Paper 3 assesses.
The eight topic areas — Borders, environment, equality, health, identity, poverty, security and technology, overlapping areas, studied through the links between them.
Structuring your inquiry — The two ways in, and the guiding lines of inquiry (background/data · causes, impacts & responses · reflection) that structure research and Paper 3.
HL.3 — Paper 3
Paper 3 format — HL-only, stimulus-based, 30% of the grade: the Q1–Q3 structure, including the recommendation question.
Paper 3 strategy & tips — Prepare around the guiding inquiries, manage timing, become the expert on your own cases, plan then respond, and know the markscheme.
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