France

This course considers the relationship between the noir genre and social criticism, particularly from the perspective of the Situationist International group which was active between 1957 and 1972. It compares texts from the Situationist International and several novels by Jean-Patrick Manchette, in particular Ô DINGOS! O CASTLES! (1972), one of the first novels of the writer, very marked by situationist themes (critique of architecture, play, merchandise); THE LITTLE BLUE OF THE WEST COAST (1976), which marks a shift towards a more perceptible formal research while continuing the critique of daily life alienated; and THE POSITION OF THE PRONE SHOOTER (1981), where social criticism seems to take a back seat in favor a return to the violent and very refined action novel.

This course in public economics analyzes the design of taxes and transfers. The first part of the course introduces key concepts in public economics. The second part is dedicated to the analysis of particular policies covering the environment and climate change, social insurance, redistribution, and capital and firms taxation. Course sessions include student presentations on actual policies in particular countries; for example, carbon taxes in Sweden, unemployment insurance in the United States, housing benefits in France, or corporate taxation in Germany.

This course investigates minorization, how it relates to categorization and differentiation, and to what extent minorization plays a role in mass violence and colonial situations. It introduces the concept of minorization, one of the fundamental questions in sociology for understanding the issues of today's society yet missing from the French university catalog, and its place in academic debate.

This course takes as its starting point the description of cultural places and moments in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, whose role in both the building and the representations of the global stage has increased and diversified since the late 1990s. It then focuses on contributing to the definition of power in those political entities and understanding their place on the global stage through the lenses of political sociology. 

Throughout the 20th century, the presence of the word "democracy" has become mandatory in political discourses. Politicians from the left and the right claim to speak in the name of democracy. At the same time there is a disagreement about what democracy actually is, and a feeling that democracy is in crisis or at risk. This is expressed in politics, in criticism of the model of liberal and representative democracy, in the demand for a "real" democracy, and in voting for "populist" parties. But the discussion also arises among intellectuals. In light of contemporary debate, this course introduces, develops, and critically debates some of the major theories of democracy in political thought – liberal, deliberative, radical – and the responses they offer to the current crisis of democracy.

The story of post-World War Two war crime trials was long told from a Western standpoint with attention mostly focused on a few highly publicized international trials. By contrast, in this course, the stress is on the transnational delivery of justice; the plurality of protagonists, including genocide/war survivors, involved in shaping it; the window into regime changes, evolving power hierarchies, and social and gender norms trials offer. The course builds upon a diversity of print, visual, and oral primary and secondary sources, including filmed trials and archival documents. It provides an opportunity to explore these complex sets of data as well as interact with former judicial investigators and scholars, invited as guest lecturers.

This course provides a first introduction to the field of political economy and the geopolitics of natural resources. It is based on rich literature from political philosophy, economics, comparative politics, and international relations. The period of analysis focuses on the post-war era and does not concentrate on any particular region. However, the specific characteristics of different regions or countries are discussed, including Latin America, Russia, Africa, and the Middle East and North Africa region.

This intermediate A2 level Russian language course focuses on the four skills of listening comprehension, spoken expression, reading comprehension, and written expression to enable students to use documentation in Russian and to practice the language in a non-specialized context. The listening comprehension section focuses on understanding sentences in simple, everyday situations and following short conversations on familiar topics. The spoken expression section allows for conversation in practical, simple, and predictable situations; holding a simple conversation; and summarizing a text. The reading comprehension section practices reading texts fluently and understanding the familiar elements. Finally, the written expression section provides an opportunity to compose a story. Some sessions may be devoted to Russian culture and civilization. In addition to the textbook, the course utilizes extracts from newspapers and other news media. The grammar and vocabulary learned enable students to form a descriptive and explanatory level of speech.

An annexed territory and the only colony of settlement in the French Empire, Algeria was officially a part of France, and its loss represents not only a dramatic territorial amputation (more than twice the size of metropolitan France) but also a traumatic symbolic and ideological shift. Long repressed, cloistered and today fragmented and manipulated, the painful and sensitive memories of the colonization of Algeria and the subsequent War of Independence have contributed to the construction of a deeply divided society in France. This course examines the multiple relations between Franco-Algerian history, memory, and minority identities as represented in contemporary France (Algerian immigrants and their "French" descendants, Sephardic Jews, Harkis, Pieds-Noirs, mixed-race individuals). Other groups of people living in France participated in the Algerian War, such as conscripts, professional soldiers, porteurs de valise (French who supported the Algerian nationalists), and all claim different and often conflicting histories. The course material consists of scholarly texts (articles from different disciplines), literature (three novels), and a few films. The course examines how these different resources elaborate memorial discourses carrying public claims of Franco-Algerian identity. The different minority stances often contradict the official French (and, incidentally, Algerian) narrative(s) while being in conflict with the State’s interest. Through interdisciplinary critical readings, this class studies in depths the concept of "representation" and its several meanings: the mental representation (memory of a historical trauma), artistic representation (literature, films), historical representation (conventional narratives and non-conventional approaches), and political representation (representativeness). The analysis of diverse forms of discursive practices about the French colonial past in Algeria, leading to contemporary processes of minority identifications and "community" dynamics in France, allows the class to deepen its understanding of current debates about “wars of memory” and “competitive victimhood” in French society, while reflecting upon issues of citizenship and possible ways to think of conflicted identities as a legacy of colonialism and immigration.

The course focuses on the scientific study of elections and voting behavior in modern democracies. It examines in detail the act of voting in contemporary democracies (mostly Western but also non-Western democracies). The topics covered include how voters form preferences for parties/candidates, how they translate these preferences into a vote (or an abstention), and how they react to electoral campaigns and the state of the economy. It also covers how parties decide upon their electoral program, and how this affects their electoral performance. The course develops skills to actively read, fully understand, and critically appraise the scientific literature on elections; mobilize and articulate this scientific literature on elections to form an informed judgement about the state of elections in contemporary democracies and analyze new elections; and independently catch up with the latest developments of the scientific literature about elections.