France

This course begins by discussing the notion of “international community,” the Middle East, and how this part of the world has always been described as dominated by external actors. It examines how, since the Iraqi quagmire, the United States as the other actors of the “international community” seem to be unable to prevent a regional tilt towards a sense of chaos conveyed by the failure of the “Arab springs,” the crumbling of the modern States and borders, the growing autonomy of the local actors, and the emergence of new transnational non-State actors such as al-Qaeda and more recently the Islamic State. The course considers the actors' identities, the current situation of crises more and more threatening for international security (particularly for the European Union), and highlights key points of understanding.

This course shows that Africa is a productive laboratory for students and researchers in international relations and security studies as the region gathers some of the most enduring interlinked political rivalries within the international system. It challenges and sometimes clarifies powerful concepts developed by the field (hegemonic stability, regional security complex, failed states, small state, sovereignty). It contrasts arguments that international relations focuses on the politics of powerful states and that, as a consequence, there is an African exceptionalism which explains the field’s inability to accurately address African experiences. The course examines how Africa has often been neglected by the different theoretical approaches to international relations and more generally by the discipline, demonstrating that the Horn of Africa is pertinent not only for area specialists but also constitutes a remarkable ground for fieldwork and theory-testing of both old and new approaches. 

This course focuses on speech act theories, language behavior, context of speech in conversation, and transmission of meaning in regards to the grammatical and lexical knowledge of the listener and speaker. It considers how language acquires meaning in context and discusses formal models to explain how these meanings are conveyed between cooperative interlocutors. The course focuses on exploring a range of theoretical and experimental research on topics in pragmatics, applies these concepts to word learning, and introduces notable researchers who have made contributions to this area.

This course offers an introduction to gender studies, extending to the study of feminist and queer theories, women's and LGBTQI+ movements, and masculinities. The course explores critical questions concerning gender in society while introducing key issues, questions, and debates in gender studies scholarship. It develops a gender prism to conduct gender analysis in a range of spheres, including political institutions, the labor market, healthcare systems, and media, cutting across various disciplines such as law, political science, sociology, and economics. Additionally, it provides the necessary critical tools to evaluate and participate in contemporary policy debates, such as same-sex marriage, surrogacy, and #metoo. The course provides a solid foundation in gender studies to be able to analyze gender dynamics in various contexts and engage thoughtfully in ongoing discussions about gender-related issues and contemporary debates.

Based on an exploration of visual and literary culture, this course addresses the place of women photographers and writers in the history of art; the expression of gender stereotypes in literary production and visual culture; and the deconstruction of these clichés by a new generation of artists, favoring a female gaze.

This course studies European democratic developments in the twentieth century by considering the fluctuating nature of democracy as a fundamentally historical phenomenon, whose reputation has been judged in changing ways over time. It develops a historically grounded and argued understanding of the question of changes in democracy.

This course explores the many ways in which inequalities and class relations shape people's lives, their ways of seeing the world, the way institutions function, and collective mobilizations. It begins by recalling the main terms of the theoretical debate on social classes, demonstrating the originality of sociological approaches. It then considers the international dimension of the question of social class, and ways of classifying and being classified in social space. The course then focuses on the relationship between social classes and questions of work, education, culture, and politics. Finally, it examines the bourgeoisie and the "middle classes," as well as how class is interwoven with social relations of gender and race, in an intersectional approach.

This course focuses on the performance of European firms according to essential external users such as investors and “analysts." It deals with a specific angle of analysis - the financial aspects of the performance - viewed from users like shareholders, bankers, creditors, customer unions, and tax authorities. Comparability of financial information through the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is a key issue in an international environment. Taking a user perspective throughout, whether discussing reporting principles or in the practice of financial analysis, this course is divided in two parts: identifying the financial information provided in the IFRS system, and examining the analysts’ views on this information? The course covers international and comparative accounting, performance indicators, methods for measuring the success of a firm, and evaluation methods for company financing policy. It also discusses comparative differences in international practices, as doing business with European companies requires the ability to analyze the information they provide. Other topics covered include how investors and analysts view the information that companies provide, what they see as its strengths and weaknesses, what information really matters to them and what they all but disregard, and finally, how they estimate the company’s performance through the information provided in IFRS.

This course involves the writing and analysis of screenplays. It discusses the fundamentals involved in writing a film and explores how to analyze a screenplay to build a working vocabulary for communication in the film industry.

This course offers students the methodological foundations to undertake research related to the study of political elites or any other relevant group using secondary data. The course also allows the student to get acquainted with the production of primary data. The approach is multimethodological, and it focuses on the study of political elites. All the sessions include a lecture, but they can also include practical sessions using computers. The first part of the course is devoted to qualitative methodologies, while the remaining part deals with more quantitative approaches to research in political science. The sessions are designed for students who have no prior knowledge and/or background in data analysis or research methods.