Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po)

This course introduces theoretical approaches and methodological tools to analyze the role of the European Union as a global actor across policy areas and over time. It investigates the legal, political, and economic determinants of European Union "actorness" in domains such as trade, environmental protection, promotion of human rights, and civilian and military assistance. Considering the current geopolitical context, the course discusses the extent to which the war in Ukraine shapes EU foreign policy. It identifies the main conceptualizations of the European Union as a power and the main actors involved in EU foreign policy, and covers the central features of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP). The course includes an opportunity to analyze a case study concerning EU external action using the theoretical and methodological elements seen in class.

This course explores the transformations of East-Central Europe after the fall of state socialism in 1989. Rather than providing a simple transition story of marketization and democratization, the course looks at multiple and ambiguous paths taken, understanding the history of neoliberalism and postsocialist transformation as global, intertwined phenomena. From the dominance of the markets and persisting inequalities to the rise of illiberal politics, racism, and nationalist tensions, these transformations have shaped the whole of Europe and the world. The course examines several issues of contemporary East-Central Europe and the world, including the region's position towards the West, the legacy of Communism, memory and decolonization, the formation of capitalism and its impacts, human rights, the links between nation and race, and the fate of liberal democracies.

From their very beginnings, cinema and then television have taken hold of French history. These productions for both the small and the big screen are the fruit of artistic and aesthetic choices, as well as the bearers of a certain historical perception. Sometimes taking a stand in debates about history and memory, they reflect the past as much as the context in which they were made. This course demonstrates how the history of France has been perceived in works of fiction broadcast on the big and small screens. It also looks at how these works contribute to social and memorial issues.

This course explores the theory and practice of market design. Economists study market mechanisms, and are also involved in the design of markets. Key examples include auctions to sell electricity, radio spectrum, or procurement contracts; mechanisms to sell internet advertising; online marketplaces; algorithms to match candidates to jobs, students to schools, or allocate courses to students; organ exchange systems. The field of market design studies how to choose the rules of mechanisms that solve such allocation problems, or how to organize successful marketplaces. It builds on the tools of game theory and mechanism design. This course explains the underlying theory in an intuitive way, and discusses actual designs. The goal is to understand why some market institutions succeed and other fail. The course is based on lectures to expose the theory, and class discussion of applications.

This course covers the history, theories, institutions, and policies of economic development. It begins by considering development from classical Western perspectives (liberalism, neoliberalism, and the Washington Consensus), burgeoning Eastern perspectives (the “East Asian model,” the Beijing Consensus), as well as various heterodox traditions (postcolonialism, Marxism). The course then explores the doers of development in today's global economy and international system: the Bretton Woods and multilateral institutions, the private sector and private philanthropists, as well as individual countries such as the United States and China. Finally, the course dives deep into the particular problems and policies that define global development in low-income countries today: how they meet their domestic energy needs and attain a clean energy transition; how they meet their domestic food needs and maximize their agricultural export revenues; how they build the infrastructure they require for their rapidly growing populations and economies; and how they attract or create good jobs and high wages to ensure stable and equitable growth.