Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po)

This course provides a critical overview of the functioning of intergovernmental organizations, with a specific focus on their relevance, role, and contribution in the face of a shifting global landscape. Through a series of case studies and scenarios, it introduces the broad notion of multilateralism and how to identify legal issues, analyze problems, and formulate an informed perspective on intergovernmental organizations.

The focus of this course is twofold: firstly, to study the nature of representations and the impact they have on our society through philosophy, cinema, literature, and art; and secondly, to develop a critical analysis of the image through aesthetics, political theories, cultural studies, and the philosophy of humor. It analyzes different scenarios of the image in order to circumscribe its "field of action," in particular, to understand the motives behind the objects of the representation, the impact on the spectators, and the socio-political consequences that they generate. The course discusses how technology facilitates the spread of images in our society and mirrors, to a certain extent, our way of life. It considers how, as means of communication, images convey our personal and public experiences on a daily basis, captivate our attention, influence our perception of the world, and, if images are to be considered representations, contain aesthetic and political components. 

This course analyzes U.S. foreign policy, primarily through the prism of American military power. It provides an overview of the major issues at stake regarding U.S. international action in a fragmented world. The course is divided into three main parts, each of which addresses specific questions. The first part focuses on the evolution of U.S. foreign policy, from the end of the Second World War to the post-9/11 period. The second part examines U.S. international strategy in its ideological dimension, through the major debates that surround it. Finally, the last part looks at the practice of American foreign policy and its major geopolitical challenges, particularly with regards to Russia, the Middle East, and China.

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.