Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po)

This course examines the problems and possibilities of peace operations conducted by the United Nations. From a small number of traditional peacekeeping missions (PK) throughout the Cold War that helped to bring peace and security to some war torn regions, to a huge growth in the number of peacekeeping missions undertaken by the UN in the early 1990s, just after the Cold War ended, that included aggressive humanitarian intervention, democracy building, and peacemaking among other goals, there is much to be learned from these numerous peace operations, each with elements of success and failure.

This interdisciplinary seminar explores the temporal and territorial entanglements in Brazil and Argentina since their consolidation as nation-states in the first third of the 19th century until contemporary times. Some of the materials worked with, in addition to theoretical texts, are films, short stories, political and aesthetic manifestos, and architectural and urban projects. The course analyzes and discusses political, social, aesthetical, and literary expressions that, in a variety of ways, address and/or develop what is one of the critical issues in the discursive construction around these countries: the apparent need to narratively connect the present moment to a colonial and pre-colonial past and a future to come, not rarely using fiction as a methodology. The comparative focus on these two countries, in addition to being widely used in the Humanities in specific studies on each country, is justified by the way in which the issues to be explored in the course occur in their similarities and differences, shedding light on the constructions of time and space in what are the two most extensive countries in South America, not only individually but in relation to each other. Furthermore, the methodological and theoretical foundation developed throughout the semester helps consider temporal and spatial issues in other contexts within Latin America and, generally, the Global South. An intermediate knowledge of Latin America's political and social contexts is recommended but not mandatory.

This course analyzes the major upheavals that have shaped the Middle East and North Africa's strategic landscape in the post-Cold War era. It is structured around three key modules. The first provides a chronological overview, from the 1990s "Unipolar Moment" to the collapse of the Syrian regime in December 2024. The second focuses on the persistence of authoritarianism, along with the violent backlash and counterrevolutions that followed the Arab Spring. The third examines U.S. foreign policy and the Global War on Terror. Special attention is given to the Proxy Wars and Culture Wars that will define the future of the region, to the shifting alliances within a context of competitive multipolarity, and to civil societies, literature, cinema, cultural and intellectual fault lines.

This policy oriented course focuses on the European Union's security and defense politics. With the re-election of Donald Trump, questions on how the EU is going to defend itself are high on the political agendas. How well is the EU prepared to take on more responsibility? To answer the question, the course looks at how the EU addresses security and defense policy issues and identify difficulties in the evolution of the EU's security and defense policy. It covers the functioning of the EU's security and defense policy; examines the concepts of security; introduces the different tools of the EU's security and defense policy and the key issues of deeper EU integration. In addition, the course develops presentation and writing skills, ability to understand public documents, research on open source, and work in teams.

This course illuminates the landscape of counter-revolutionary efforts in the Middle East and North Africa region and the restoration—or reconfiguration—of autocracy through notable cases of human rights violations. Each session focuses on one emblematic case study in a different country; and from there, reconstructs the recent trajectory of said country, examining how the national power structure was reshuffled, in line with geopolitical transformations and to the detriment of human rights aspirations.

This course analyzes how the issues related to LGBT+ populations give rise to power relations in and for space, between different actors and at different scales, from the local to the global. On the one hand, the course emphasizes the spatial dimension of the minority experience of LGBT+ people. On the other hand, it shows that the issues relating to this group are invested with multiple meanings by different actors, leading to an accentuation of the processes of opposition between “us” and “them”, between “here” and “there”. To this end, the course draws on several social science disciplines. In addition to providing knowledge about gender and sexuality, this course allows students to look at contemporary issues (urban spaces, migration, globalization, international relations, etc.) in a new light. It also introduces students to the research process in the social sciences. 

Although present for two thousand years in Gaul and then in France, Jews are like a “blind spot” in the national narrative. They are only sporadically mentioned in national history as persecuted (crusades, Dreyfus affair, Holocaust). Yet they have contributed to the construction of France at every period through their political, economic, religious, scientific, and cultural input. This course sheds light on more than 2000 years of this rich and eventful relationship, alternating phases of greatness, success, and integration followed by persecution and expulsion, then reconstruction. It is a national history but also a multiregional history, from the Comtat Venaissin to Provence, from Occitania to Alsace, Lorraine and Aquitaine, all the way to the fairs of Champagne and Paris. The course conducts a political reflection on the relationship of a minority constituted as a nation with the French state, and then on its successful integration. It examines the evolution of a religious minority in the very Catholic kingdom of France. Finally, the course addresses social, cultural, and economic history. It highlights the contribution of the Jews to France, but also of France to the Jews, and discovers the richness and diversity of the political, social, economic, scientific, cultural, and religious history of the Jews in France over the past 2000 years and their contribution to France's progress towards modernity.

International economic law is a branch of international law governing a number of economic phenomena, such as international trade and investment. The course focuses on the study of intergovernmental institutional frameworks covering the circulation of goods, services, capital, and labor. It discusses institutions such as the World Trade Organization, the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, and the Bretton Woods institutions. Furthermore, it introduces normative instruments such as the WTO Multilateral Trade Agreements (GATT, GATS, and TRIPS) and the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement negotiations. The course also explores the international regulation of capital and labor, as well as introduces the private governance of international economic relations.

As the main and most comprehensive undergraduate course on economic elites, this class is an introduction to several streams of cutting-edge sociological research on the latter. It presents and discusses the definition of economic elites in terms of organizational positions, wealth, multiple forms of capital and/or class. It explores the different quantitative approaches to describe and study national and transnational business elites, as well as their relations with other fractions of a larger power elite, using – among other methods – network and correspondence analyses. It also draws upon the many contributions of cultural sociology to the understanding of the meaning-making processes and the symbolic economy underlying the professional habitus, the morals, the consumption patterns and the philanthropic practices of these elites.

Why is it so difficult for the international community to agree on the governance of shared global domains? Why do efforts to address climate change constantly fall short? And why do Global Commons provide States with an opportunity to exploit finite resources, but impose few obligations to clean up the mess? The answers to some of those questions lie in the international frameworks established since WWII to govern "Global Commons" including Antarctica, Outer Space, the Deep Sea Bed, the High Seas, and the atmosphere, which provide freedom of access and use to all States, but few mechanisms for precaution and sustainability. These global commons are protected from claims of national sovereignty, and generally prohibit use of nuclear weapons in these spaces, serving a critical role in disarmament. This course examines contemporary issues in these five Global Commons at the intersection of international law, science, mining, telecommunications, security, and defense. Students learn how to navigate and apply the treaties governing each of the domains to contemporary issues while considering economic and political theory, such as Hardin's "Tragedy of the Commons," intergenerational equity and sustainability. By studying the governance of all five domains in the one semester, students gain high-level insight into what governance models work best and where regulatory gaps remain. Solutions are to be found in some domains that might be applied to others. Students have the opportunity to research one specific domain of their choosing for their written paper, and propose new regulation and policy in order to address international challenges. This equips students with the ability to advocate for change and support the global community in realizing the benefits of shared international spaces. Students develop an understanding of: the geopolitical history of the Antarctic Treaty (1959), the Outer Space Treaty (1967), the Sea Bed Treaty (1971) aka the Sea Bed Arms Control Treaty, the High Seas Treaty (2023) aka The Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC); the international framework governing activities in each of these five Global Commons; the application of ethics and theory to the governance of Global Commons; the application of principles in the relevant treaties to real-life case studies; the political forces shaping EU and international policy in these domains; the risk to global peace and security from arms races and over exploitation in these domains.