France

This course introduces Soviet and post-Soviet politics and external policies, with a special emphasis on domestic developments in Russia and Ukraine, and the impact on Moscow's foreign behavior. The key paradigm is the close interaction between internal and external factors. The course addresses the building and unbuilding of an empire: from the Tsarist empire to the USSR; the fall of the USSR to the consolidation of new independent republics in Europe; Gorbachev and Yeltsin's reforms to Putin's authoritarianism; and partnership to confrontation with Western countries. Topics also include Russia's wars: Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, and Ukraine; the major issues of democracy versus autocracy; Russian post-Soviet identity; European security; economic challenges; Russia-West relations; and the future of Ukraine and Russia. 

This course examines the politicization manifested in works of fiction and the political effects of the creation and the use of artwork. Incorporating an international and comparative dimension, it explores censorship, politics, mobilization, and conflicts within the art world. The course studies several aesthetic registers including cinema, television, literature, and painting to examine the tension present in various worlds of art, between artistic recognition and the politicization of works and creators. It explores the mechanisms of this tension as well as the practices and forms of action and creation through which artists engage and see their creations become objects of disruption.

This course begins with the emergence of capitalism and industrialization in Europe, particularly in England, as opposed to countries like China. The first part of the course reviews and discusses the main theses that relates to given chapters in the theory of economic growth: trade and market integration, property rights and wage labor, institutions and state-building, finance, and colonialism. The second part of the course analyzes Western capitalism at its height and how it structured a new, integrated, global economy. This course also covers the issue of late industrialization and economic catch-up in the emerging economies at that time, such as Germany, before moving into the global goods and capital markets, colonization and imperialism, and the underlying fault-lines at work during the First Global Era that surfaced in the years immediately before and after World War I.

The course investigates a variety of topics including the concept of global environmental governance, the development of institutions and norms governing the protection of the environment. It places special focus on key principles of international environmental law, multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), cooperation among States and the growing significance of non-State actors (subnational governments, nongovernmental organizations, business and corporations), and the diversity of regulatory approaches and related policy tools. The course includes guest lecturers who share their experience working in international institutions.

This interdisciplinary course provides a comprehensive introduction to energy security, touching upon economic markets, political strategy, and even technological developments. It introduces global trends in energy supply and demand, exchanges, and prices. It provides an overview of the diversity of measures taken to promote energy security, with a specific emphasis on the European Union and member states. Finally, the course considers scenarios for the future in the context of calls for an energy transition.

This course introduces classical music and the first quality of a good musician: knowing how to listen. In addition to acquiring a broader musical culture, the course develops listening, concentration, and analytical skills. By means of key works from the repertoire, the main forms of Western classical music are approached, from the Baroque age to contemporary music. The course also discusses the many ways of playing the orchestra. This diversity constitutes a veritable musical laboratory, but also a social one. In this regard, the orchestra is a valuable tool for better understanding what “the collective” entails: knowing how to listen to others in order to play better together. Students give an individual presentation of an analysis of a work of their choice, share listening comments, and complete a group project based on symphonic or lyrical music (concert report or recording), musicians (portraits, interviews), or concert halls (reportage), and is produced using various media: musical, literary, photographic, theatrical, digital (video, audio recording), et cetera.