Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po)

This course covers gender issues such as employment discrimination, sexual harassment, and reproductive rights. The course explores how feminist legal theory has questioned the way the law is constructed and applied according to certain stereotypical views of sexual identity and the roles of women. The seminar also investigates how queer theory has influenced the legal field by rejecting traditional gender identities which do not fully encompass the issues that concern the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual population. Students use a comparative perspective to consider what can be learned from these different legal standpoints as we encounter changes in family law and employment law, how queer theory influences gender law, and what might be new ways to consider legal concepts such as consent, personal autonomy, and discrimination.

This is an advanced C1 level French language course for students who have completed a minimum of four semesters of university level French and also have had experience in a francophone context (educational, professional, or touristic) that enables them to be comfortable communicating orally and in writing. The course focuses on the four competencies of spoken expression, written expression, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension. The spoken expression section masters providing clear, detailed descriptions on complex subjects, integrating related themes, developing particular points, and concluding in an appropriate manner; expressing oneself fluently and spontaneously without searching for words; using language flexibly and effectively for social and professional purposes; and expressing ideas and opinions with precision and relating statements to those of one's interlocutors. The written expression section practices expressing oneself in clear and well-structured text and present one's own point of view; writing about complex subjects in a letter, essay, or report, highlighting what the important points; and adopting a style appropriate to the intended reader. The listening comprehension section focuses on understanding a long speech even if it is not clearly structured and the connections are only implicit, and understanding TV programs and films with minimal effort. The reading comprehension section practices understand long and complex texts, both factual and literary, appreciating differences of style, and understanding specialized articles and long technical instructions even when not related to one's field.

This course examines some fundamental questions about the nature of war and conflicts in international politics. It covers the following topics: whether war is part of human nature or a social invention; if democracies are less prone to fight than authoritarian regimes; whether war is an unavoidable consequence of anarchy, and if so, the role of human agency; what factors contribute to conflict among nations and how these factors have changed over time; if the nuclear shadow is back in our contemporary international security; has the window of humanitarian operations been closed; and whether we can speak of “new wars” in the 21st century. The course uses an interdisciplinary perspective, incorporating insights from political science, anthropology, psychology, and history to better understand our current international environment.

This course introduces the main concepts of modern labor economics. It covers the relation between labor market and other markets. The course combines microeconomic and macroeconomic analytical tools to analyze how society develops, allocates, and rewards human resources. It then studies a wide range of labor-related issues with special emphasis on empirical evidence in the literature and the evidence reported by government agencies and policy makers. The basic data analytic tools are introduced and discussed at length. Topics of focus include the theory of human capital, labor supply, labor demand, the life-cycle model, immigration and migration, and the role of unions.

This course discusses a classical issue for international relations and political theory: the ethics of war. It exemplifies the role of norms in warfare and discusses the major dilemmas that face armies, politicians, and civilians throughout history, with a specific focus on contemporary challenges. Its focus is mainly interdisciplinary as it brings together moral and political philosophy, international law, and international relations. By analyzing case studies, it addresses the legitimacy of resorting to war, discusses the coherence of certain rationales and principles justifying the use of force both legally and morally, and explores future challenges of the field (cyberwar, artificial intelligence). Ultimately, the course provides the concepts and references students can deploy to build their own argument on justice and war.

This course introduces the Anglo-Saxon economic model as it exists in the United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and to a lesser extent in countries such as India, Singapore, and Hong Kong tied historically to the United Kingdom. It adopts a social sciences inquiry-led approach based on varying theoretical approaches to assessing how and why Anglo-Saxon countries have developed their economies in the way they have done. Case studies are primarily from the United Kingdom and United States, and the reading and sources will largely be based on these two countries. In the case of the United Kingdom, extensive reference shall be made to the United Kingdom's relationship with the European Union (EU) and the role of both in nurturing and promoting ideas associated with the Anglo-Saxon economic model; such as, in the case of the EU, the United Kingdom-led promotion of the Single Market (1986+). The course explores how the Single Market may have laid some of the foundations for the eventual electoral fall-out of Brexit in 2016. The first part of the course explores what the Anglo-Saxon economic model is and the second part assesses why this economic model has emerged and is branded and stereotyped in this way. The final part examines the effects of the Anglo-Saxon model on macroeconomic stability, equality and equality of opportunity, infrastructure, public sector investment, and the environment.

This course explores the field of study on the European Union's (EU) foreign policy with a focus on the relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the EU and the PRC in 1975, this set of bilateral relations has undergone different stages of interactions. This course concentrates on the time period beginning from 2013. The first part of the course introduces fundamental knowledge about EU foreign policy: an overview of the field of study in the literature and main actors and the coherence issue in EU foreign policy. The second part provides a brief historical overview of EU foreign policy towards the PRC before 2013. The third part examines EU foreign policy towards the PRC in the post-2013 timeframe through different dimensions: economic and trade, foreign and security, values and norms, and the EU facing United States-PRC strategic competition.