English

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course aims to provide an advanced understanding of the types, the causes, and the dynamics of political and criminal violence. At the end of the course, students are familiar with classical and contemporary theories on the origins of political violence, with studies on the different forms of organized violence, and with current research on how violence is exercised. Students are also familiar with the major methodological debates in the study of violence.

The course examines different types of collective violence, including violence occurring in civil wars, instances of state repression, mafia, and gang violence. It explores the different “types” of violence, defining their main features and uncovering their rationale through a plurality of approaches. Ultimately, the class provides the theoretical and empirical tools to study violence in its relations with political order(s). The course is divided in two sections. The first section – conducted through frontal lectures – explores classic types of “political violence” (such as civil wars, revolutions and terrorism) looking at their origins and dynamics, then looks second section deals with violence perpetrated by states (such as repressions and genocides) and violence that occurs within states that does not challenge their existence or regime (such as that perpetrated by organized crime and gangs). The second section – run as a seminar in which students present and discuss the assigned material – looks at the organizations that “produce” violence, and namely at insurgent and mafia groups, analyzing their emergence, their internal functioning, and their relations with violence.

This course introduces the economic analysis of environmental and natural resource issues using modern applied microeconomic methods. The course explores how economic principles can be applied to understand environmental problems, evaluate policy solutions, and analyze the sustainable use of natural resources. The course emphasizes applying economic theory to real-world policy questions, developing skills in policy analysis and evaluation, and exploring the intersection of economics and environmental stewardship. 

The first few weeks of the course covers classical topics in environmental and natural resources economics. The remainder of the semester focuses on contemporary issues such as environmental justice, climate change, sustainable development, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), and carbon neutralization economics with global applications. 

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This course focuses on the nature and peculiar aspects of law, in particular its relationship with history; the traditional areas of private law, as well as the system, the founding categories and the historical evolution of Roman private law (VIII century BC - VI century AD). Students will be capable to understand the main issues and effects concerning the interpretation of ancient legal sources. The course is divided into two parts. The first part takes into consideration the principle stages of Roman legal history from the Law of the Twelve Tablets to the epoch of Justinian. The second part takes into consideration the fundamental institutions of Roman private law.

Students will gain a thorough grounding in the life cycle of stars. Students learn to describe the stages of nucleosynthesis in stars; calculate the equations of hydrostatic equilibrium; use the equations of energy transport to calculate basic properties of stars; describe in detail the evolutionary stages different classes of stars are thought to go through; and describe in detail the end stages of the life cycle of a star and the different types of stellar remnants.

This course introduces students to North Indian music, in particular, the art of tabla, North Indian drum. This hands-on course covers the techniques of playing tabla and also covers the principles of tala (measured rhythmic count) system, along with notation and various traditional compositions.

This course develops students’ knowledge and understanding of international business. It provides a deep contextualization of contemporary issues and debates within international business. The course explores how the world economy is changing and how international businesses are deeply embedded in a complex web of multi-scaler, multi-form and a multi-causal series of relationships. Drawing on theoretical constructs from a variety of perspectives and disciplines, the course aids the students’ understanding of why and how businesses internationalize, and what happens as a consequence of these complex processes. The course also explains globalization, trade theory and the role businesses can play in alleviating poverty. 

This course introduces students to empirically-based findings of comparative politics and public policy, through a cross-national, cross-temporal approach of case studies of some of the world’s major political units. In doing so, it examines several important empirical and theoretical puzzles including, but not limited to:

(1) What accounts for variance in terms of the extent and quality of governance; 

(2) How and why do different political regime types produce different outcomes such as better or worse socio-economic levels; 

(3) Are some sets of political regimes better at holding political elites accountable?  

(4) What accounts for variance in terms of some political elites leading their countries into costly wars, and others delivering peace and prosperity? 

The goal of the course is to provide the field’s best generalized answers to these questions as well as to facilitate the development of one’s own conclusions. 

This course explores sociocultural, legal and political framings and debates around what constitutes drugs -licit (e.g., alcohol, caffeine) and illicit substances- (e.g., cannabis, cocaine), factors that facilitate drug availability and use in society, drug policies, policing and control, drug-related intoxication and pleasure, drug use and crime, etc., situating these and other related themes within the local and broader societal contexts. It critically examines the nature, extent and impact of drug supply and drug taking and intoxication in Irish society and internationally and how each society responds and reacts to alcohol and other drug taking and those who take legal and illegal drugs/substances.

This course examines popular media texts, genres, audiences and industries and reflects on how they influence our notions of self and society. It draws on case studies from a range of popular media, from film and television to comics, games, popular music, social media and advertising.