Germany

Economic and especially wealth inequality in the US is rising, along with the number of and power exerted by billionaires, multibillionaires, and multinational enterprises (MNEs). While taxes count as one key instrument to reduce inequalities, the most affluent individuals and corporations seem to make use of multiple pathways to circumvent their tax obligations and thereby harm the redistributive effect of taxation. In this seminar, students will become familiar with general economic and sociological theories on tax evasion and avoidance, and challenge the view of tax havens as Caribbean island paradises, where the rich and famous store their money. We will discuss ways in which tax evasion works, the impact of tax havens on regional and global inequality, historical developments of tax havens, and economic approaches to measure tax evasion. Students are expected to have knowledge or the willingness to learn basic sociological as well as economic concepts and theories such as tradeoffs, opportunity costs, and expected utility theory. 

In this course we will explore the relationships between people, nature and space as well as the production and use of open space (e.g., changing interpretation and usage patterns in relation to the city and open space or the change in living, work and leisure) against the background of social development. Particular emphasis is placed on gender as an analytical category for spatial concepts and spatial actions as well the consideration of the interaction between theory and practice. That also includes current trends in spatial development.
 

The goal of this course is to enable students to apply the main instruments of impact assessment and mitigation in practical planning situations based on fundamental knowledge provided in the bachelor's degree program; to gain expertise about the contents and planning processes of instruments such as the German Impact Mitigation Regulation, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), EU Habitat Regulations Assessment (HRA) and Protected Species Assessment, as well as U.S.-American Wetland Mitigation and Endangered Species Mitigation; to recognize environmental and social needs and plan accordingly, and to identify interfaces with natural and social sciences; to apply planning instruments both in domestic as well international arenas; to judge the different instruments in their effectiveness and know how to generate appropriate research when needed and to identify and formulate research approaches for the further development of planning instruments, and; to identify and analyze aspects of gender mainstreaming in planning processes.

This seminar provides students with a comprehensive insight into the evolution of language, encompassing both biological and cultural changes. We will explore thought-provoking questions based on language evolution theories, such as the distinctions between human and animal communication and the reasons behind humans' ability to acquire a vast vocabulary compared to our closest ancestors. Through an exploration of neurocognitive experimental research and incorporating insights from artificial neurocomputational modeling, we will investigate the underlying mechanisms in the human mind and brain that govern language processing, usage, and evolution. Additionally, we will place particular emphasis on linguistic pragmatics, a sub-discipline that examines language as a tool of communication in social contexts, drawing upon foundational concepts from analytical philosophy and linguistic pragmatic models. Throughout these discussions, we will explore factors such as social interaction, turn-taking, and the establishment of common ground. Furthermore, there will be planned visits to the electroencephalography (EEG) laboratory to provide hands-on experience with neurocognitive experiments, as well as a visit to the aphasia therapy center of the Brain Language Unit at the Freie Universität Berlin.

This course provides an analysis of EU law relating to migration. The module is divided into six parts. The first part covers the law relating to the free movement of EU citizens and their families. The course then explores the entry of non-EU (third country) nationals and aspects of the external borders control. The third part analyzes the legal migration of third country nationals including long-term residents, economic migrants and family members. Then, the course focuses on the Common European Asylum System. The fifth part deals with issues of irregular migration. Finally, the course examines the role of human rights provisions for the EU Immigration and Asylum Law. The main textbook for this course will be European Migration Law (2nd edition, Intersentia, 2014) by Pieter Boeles, Maarten den Heijer, Gerrie Lodder, Kees Wouters, although materials will also be used from the other assigned textbooks. Lectures will be enriched with articles and court decisions.

Drawing is closely linked to seeing; the line records perception. This free drawing seminar focuses on the joy of working with lines. It's not about exact depiction, but about experimenting with the line, with different drawing materials and formats, and the search for exciting image compositions. In practical exercises, we sharpen the eye and try out various experimental forms of expression. We examine questions about line, materiality, composition as well as figure and space. 

Perhaps no single art movement within Western modernism is as constitutive and contested as cubism. While the artists under this label introduced crucial new paradigms for artistic production, they did so in ways deeply entangled with violent histories of European imperialism and colonialism. Accordingly, this seminar pursues three primary tasks. First, students develop a working understanding of cubism as it first unfolded in Paris between the years 1906 and 1917. Next, the seminar critically examines prominent theoretical models for interpreting cubist practices, among them formalism, social art history, structuralist semiotics, feminist critique, and postcolonial theory. Finally, the course turns to artists who both engaged with cubism—including Sonia Delaunay, Diego Rivera, Tarsila do Amaral, Wifredo Lam, and Faith Ringgold—and challenged its foundational tenets, premises, and exclusions.

The sense of agency, the feeling of control over our voluntary actions and their outcomes, stands as a fundamental aspect of the human experience. It represents the inherent phenomenology accompanying one of the most pivotal capacities possessed by living organisms: the ability to effect change in our environments through purposeful, goal-directed behaviour — the very essence of being an agent. Consequently, it comes as no surprise that cognitive scientists from diverse domains have dedicated substantial efforts towards unraveling the underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms that shape this intriguing phenomenon. In this seminar, (1) we will cover the classic papers that have laid the foundation for sense of agency research in experimental psychology, (2) we will discuss and critically evaluate different models and measures of the sense of agency, (3) we will go over sense of agency research involving multiple agents (joint agency and social agency), (4) and finally, we will discuss sense of agency and AI (“synthetic agency”).

In 1951, six European countries signed the Treaty of Paris to form the European Coal and Steel Community that laid the foundation for what is known today as the European Union (EU). Since its humble beginnings, the EU has played a crucial role in the political and economic development of Europe and the globe and has evolved into an ‘ever closer union’ of currently 27 member states that have pooled their sovereignty to a historically unprecedented degree. Today, the EU constitutes one of the most complex and intriguing political and economic systems in the world, and as the European integration process remains in flux, the EU remains a moving target for those who study it. This course focuses on the scientific study of the EU and EU politics. It offers you the opportunity to deepen your knowledge of the EU’s institutional actors and decision-making procedures, to actively analyze EU politics and policy-making, and to find answers to the various theoretical and empirical questions that are raised by the EU’s existence and developments. To provide you with a more tangible feel for the EU and the problems of EU policy-making and to make your learning experience as interactive as possible, the course complements regular class meetings with simulations of the Council of the European Union.