English

This course draws on several biographies of Hitler, and of those close to him, to study important episodes in his personal and political career. The course discusses his childhood, his experience of war and peace, and his accumulation of power, first in the Nazi party, next in the German parliament, then in Europe. The course studies his role in the sequences of events which culminated in the anschluss, or annexation, of Austria and in the Munich agreement. The course confronts the inadequacy of biography in relation to his personal responsibility for the war and for the holocaust. And the course sees that even the circumstances of his death gave rise to a debate over the role of government in the spread of news and other knowledge, and which reappeared in a different aspect when historians came to edit his autobiography, Mein Kampf, seventy years later. The course consists of a broad outline of German history from unification in 1871 to defeat in 1945, and of the enduring significance of Hitler in the study of the humanities.

This course provides an introduction to jazz music and its history. Assigned readings focus on the music’s history; lectures attempt to bring that history to life, using examples from a wide range of sound recordings and film footage. The course devotes particular attention to the complex dynamic between change and continuity as the music developed over the course of the twentieth century, but also explores how jazz influenced and interacted with other musical forms. Although the emphasis will be on American jazz, the course will also consider jazz produced in other cultural contexts, including Japan.

This introduction to Earth Systems Science examines the key interactions between the different spheres of planet Earth: the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and the anthroposphere. In particular, students develop an understanding of the holistic view and thinking about interconnections and interrelationships in the earth’s systems and subsystems. This course highlights key concepts shaping Earth Systems Science, such as sustainability, planetary boundaries and safe operating spaces.

Foreign policy analysis (FPA) seeks to better understand how the foreign policy of a state is formulated not only by government actors but also other stakeholders. These can be domestic players, such as political parties, politicians, government ministers, foreign and defense ministries, but also the economic sector, think-tanks, and non-state actors, or outside actors such as intergovernmental organizations (EU, ASEAN, NATO, or the World Bank), or governments and leaders of other countries. One focus is the decision-making process within governments, domestic and international constraints, the drafting process of foreign policies, their implementation, and their public defense against domestic or international critique.

This course is intended for students who have not taken any other courses in academic writing as this course provides the basic knowledge and skills required to produce written academic work in your field of study. Students learn to use the most important grammatical structures of English appropriately and expand their vocabulary and register required in formal academic writing in your subject. Some attention is paid to the mechanics of academic writing in English (structure, punctuation, referencing).

This course introduces the theory of social networks and social capital, and how social networks may affect individual achievement. To analyze individual as well as interorganizational networks, the course introduces related cutting-edge strategic management theories and social network analysis tools such as UCInet and/or Netminer.