France

This course offers an in-depth exploration of the sociology of radical left parties, analyzing their historical trajectory, the evolution of their organizational strategies, and their impact on the contemporary political landscape. It examines how these often marginalized parties have managed to gain power in various socio-historical contexts, as well as the dynamics that led them to occupy dominant political positions, only to often return to more marginal roles. Throughout the different sessions, the course addresses the social, organizational, and ideological foundations of the radical left, studying their relationships with protest movements as well as with extreme and moderate left, centrist, and right-wing political parties. The course also covers the contemporary challenges faced by the radical left, including the environmental crisis and the management of national economies that are deeply integrated into international financial markets. By examining concrete examples of parties that gained power in the early 21st century in Europe and Latin America, the course considers the reasons for their rise, and, in many cases, their return to the margins of power.

Humanity is facing an unprecedented ecological crisis for which it is the main driving force. Although globally, people report high levels of concern for climate change and a high willingness to act, this concern is often not reflected in people's actual behavior. What can explain this gap between people's reported desire to protect the environment and the lack of collective action around the environmental crises? This course explores the many factors that can act as barriers to climate action, such as people's tendency to favor short-term outcomes over long-term outcomes, the tension between seeking a high social status and reducing one's carbon footprint, the feeling that it may be too late to act, or the feeling that taking action is only worth it if others are also taking action.

This course focuses on urban capitalism, understood as the link between a mode of production and a mode of relationship to space that are now dominant in the 21st century. On the one hand, space is a support for economic activities: contemporary restructurings of capitalism lead to socio-spatial dynamics (metropolization, gentrification, etc.). On the other hand, capitalism transforms cities through the production of real estate and infrastructure, now connected to the financial markets. Finally, the course questions the socio-spatial inequalities and crises associated with urban capitalism, as well as the resistance to it. At the crossroads of political economy, urban sociology and economic geography, the course familiarizes students with research on this topic through various media (scientific texts, documentaries, fieldwork). 

This course considers the issues of the contemporary world, in the light of the historical experiences of the last century and the current century. It is based on political history in the broadest sense, including social and cultural, economic and environmental issues, and informed by the work of other social sciences. The angle adopted focuses on the tensions between the quest for equality, the persistence and reconstruction of hierarchies, and the vigor of emancipation movements. These themes are addressed at the level of individuals, groups and states, in both domestic and international contexts, in close connection with the issues of violence, wars, and conflicts that punctuated the “short twentieth century”. Particular attention is paid to the global dimension of these phenomena, in the so-called “North” and “South” countries, before and after decolonization. The methodology emphasizes the reading and analysis of primary historical sources.

This course explores, giving them voice, how aboriginal Americans (also named First Nations, Tribal groups, Indigenous People, or Native-Americans) relentlessly attempted to “unsettle” their land and exposed the connectedness between violence to the earth and violence towards them. Far from feeding the trope of the “Indians in harmony with nature,” this course examines how their demand to preserve the ecological integrity of the land has been an act of political resistance. It develops a historical perspective on the specificity of Indigenous environmentalism in the United States, for the “healing” of land, non-human life and natural resources has been inherently tied to the ongoing land grabbing and exploitation of their territories. Ranging from History to Anthropology, Native-American Studies and Environmental History, this class historicize indigenous vulnerabilities to extreme weather, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and pollution from manufacturing and resource extraction. It engages in weekly conversations to unpack the ongoing struggle that indigenous and black communities have fought for the preservation of the right to bury their dead, breathe, and survive.

Revolutions, revolts, social unrest, strikes, modern street demonstrations and violent episodes are commonplace in the French historical landscape. On the other hand, the French political “laboratory” is remarkable by the number and the diversity of its institutional experiments through political regimes as opposed as Monarchy, Parliamentary Republic, Presidential Republic and even “Empire”' (under the Bonaparte). What is the most relevant feature: Revolution or Reform? People's Power in the streets or Elected assemblies? Popular voice or a sense of compromise driven by official institutions? Where Democracy ought to be situated: on the top of Barricades or within the routine of State-run policies? This course offers an historical journey through the multiple episodes of the French “instability”, from the Revolution of 1789 to our time. The course is open to all students and does not require prior knowledge with French political history.

This course provides a transnational and comparative overview of Jewish life in postwar France and the United States. These two countries emerged as home to the largest Jewish populations in the world outside of the State of Israel after 1945. Despite important differences between them, both France and the United States are built on a rational, voluntaristic and ethnically neutral concept of citizenship. In the postwar years, both countries have also become more diverse in real social terms and also more open to the idea that heritage communities should claim their rightful place in the public sphere. Throughout, the course examines the various ways in which multiculturalism in the larger sense and Jewish difference in particular have been conceptualized and experienced in these two national settings, considering both similarities and differences between the United States and France.

This course introduces different types of electoral systems, including the main categories of majoritarian, proportional, and mixed systems, and highlighting the significant variety of rules within each. Additionally, it explores how electoral systems are not neutral: they can influence the behavior of voters and parties, and can shape the quality of political representation (e.g., representation of women, degree of congruence between citizens' preferences and government decisions). Finally, the course considers current debates on electoral system reforms, and new electoral systems that propose to improve democratic representation.

This course helps master the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI agents for data collection, analysis, and visualization. The curriculum goes beyond traditional data analysis by teaching students how to extract hidden patterns and uncover semantic meanings from dynamically built corpora. This approach enables students to gather insights and design results that can only be achieved with the assistance of AI tools. The course develops an understanding of both the capabilities and limitations of AI tools in research contexts and explores how AI tools can enhance our understanding of social phenomena and examine the strengths and limitations of AI-assisted research. Through hands-on projects, students investigate these questions using real-world data from various sources such as climate negotiations reports, parliamentary speeches, social media discourses, etc. Additionally, the course develop a methodological toolbox by generating an analysis pipeline with the assistance of AI. The course goes over fundamental concepts in Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing and culminates in a student-led investigation project. Working in groups, students develop their own research protocol, collect and analyze data using AI tools, and present their findings in the form of a website. Each student also produces an individual reflective essay on their experience with AI-assisted research.

This course considers the issues of the contemporary world, in the light of the historical experiences of the last century and the current century. It is based on political history in the broadest sense, including economic, social, and cultural issues, and informed by the work of other social sciences. The privileged angle for approaching these two centuries is that of modernities, the discussions that this concept brings with it, and the issues that it covers: around the nation, violence, democracy, the welfare state, the environment, for example. Particular attention is paid to the conflicts that have arisen between different conceptions of modernity throughout the century. The approach is global, with particular attention to colonial and post-colonial contexts.