Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po)

This course provides an introduction to financial economics. The course starts with a brief discussion of the functions of financial systems and a description of existing financial assets, financial intermediaries, and markets. The first part of the course deals with the time value of money and its applications, notably the pricing of risk-free bonds and the capital budgeting decisions by firms. The second part then introduces the notions of risky assets, risky returns, and risk aversion, and highlights the benefits of diversification. It presents the foundations of portfolio theory, explains the standard models of equity risk premia, and highlights some of their important applications. The last part discusses the efficient market hypothesis and the contending theories of behavioral finance.

This course offers an introduction to the study of comparative politics. It addresses some of the discipline's most important questions: Why are some countries democratic, while others are not? Does democracy improve the well-being of its citizens? Do elections identify the general will? Are constitutional courts necessary to enforce the constitution? Does democracy help combat economic inequality? Do social networks accentuate political polarization? The course approaches these questions in a scientific way, introducing the main difficulties researchers face when studying politics. Can we identify causal relationships in politics? Which units of analysis need to be compared in order to draw meaningful conclusions? In doing so, the course examines how science is always about comparison, but understanding which comparisons are relevant and which are not requires a lot of consideration.

This course provides a social history of the ideas that radically questioned the construction of modern states in Europe and the world and the social and economic order that underlies them. It places these ideas in their context while highlighting their internal logic, from the revolutions of the 17th and 18th centuries to contemporary popular uprisings. In particular, the course focuses on the way in which these ideas are articulated in ideologies, carried by collective actors, based on knowledge that is both scholarly and profane and aimed at hegemony. It analyzes how these ideas circulate between different social and national spaces and are received and retranslated there.

This course provides an exploratory analysis of gender and inequality studies through the disciplines of political science, economics, and history. The first part is dedicated to the description of socioeconomic inequalities between men and women in a variety of dimensions. Evaluations of public policies which focus on family life and professional life are presented. The second part focuses on the wealth and complexity of expressions and words used to talk about inequality. The course then looks at the manner in which inequality between the sexes is political. Lastly, a historical approach of the feminist movements rounds out the analysis.

This course studies two major components of political, social, and cultural life in France in the age of democracy. The development of public media lends to ideological debates and participates in the forming of public opinion as well as reflecting it. Mass media, diversified in the 20th century, accompanies the changes in French society. Between freedom of tone and public control, media is a player in political and social crises that France has seen. In the era of television and internet, the new media has strengthened its role in the forming of public opinion.

This interdisciplinary course, which draws on social psychology, political and social theory, and sociology, explores what it is to live in a multicultural world where identities are in flux. The first part of the course introduces the main debates of one of the most dynamic areas of contemporary inquiry: multiculturalism, diversity, and gender. It explores how categories of difference (race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, and sexuality) are complex and interrelated. It considers the theoretical underpinnings of multiculturalism to explore the normative as well as pragmatic arguments for and against it. The concept of culture is explored in depth by drawing on sociological studies that try to help better understand cultural differences. The course then considers the question of intercultural dialogue and how it can be used as a resource to facilitate communication between different cultural groups. The second part of the course considers actual cross-cultural case studies to explore how states have developed diverse policies related to cultural pluralism. It also explores how gender and other categories of difference interact with modern institutions in contemporary society. Throughout, the course analyzes various ways of looking at power and political culture in modern societies with the objective of developing the ability to think critically about mechanisms for change. Students read relevant texts from a wide diversity of literature. Each session focuses on a particular theme and includes a student presentation that communicates and argues persuasively one's viewpoint on a topic.