Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po)

This course provides an introduction to memory studies, an interdisciplinary field encompassing sociology, political science, anthropology, and history, among other disciplines. The course introduces the main theoretical concepts in memory studies and the historical development of different approaches while focusing on recent debates on the relationship between memory politics and contemporary political developments (the rise of populism; nostalgia in the post-socialist world; Brexit; tearing down of colonial statues; return of looted artifacts from the Global North). The course provides an understanding of the basic notions of memory and its relation to identity formation, both individual and collective; the role of memory in institutional politics through memorialization rituals; the importance of monuments; and the role of memory and nostalgia as sites of resistance in everyday politics of contemporary world. Through lectures, selected readings, media screenings, group discussions, and student presentations, the course provides insight into the importance of power interplays of different memory and history narratives and critically engages in understanding contemporary memory discourses.

This course investigates the evolution of relations between the United States and European states with a focus on the strategic and security-related dimensions of this relationship. It seeks to analyze the driving factors behind recent transatlantic crises and divergences and the implications for the future of international security. The first part of the course introduces several theoretical approaches to transatlantic relations based on the main International Relations schools of thought. The second part of the course applies these approaches to current challenges facing the transatlantic partnership, ranging from defense burden sharing to responding to Russia's assertiveness, from China's rise to crises in the Middle East and Africa.

This course teaches a technical mastery of photography, the journalistic narrative through images, and the critical reading of photojournalism published in the press. It studies fundamental technical concepts (focal lengths, diaphragm, speed, sensitivity), the narrative structure of a photojournalistic story, the deontological discussion of the photo taking, the critical reading of image making, and the basics of digital image processing. The course provides the skills to create, develop, and tell critical journalistic stories using photography as a means of expression.

This course focuses on sociological concepts and methods through the lens of the city. It applies sociological concepts to the city that can be seen while walking around, such as the city of buildings and people; and those less noticeable, such as the city of sentiments, conflict, traffic flows, bike messengers, sewage networks, asset prices and municipal taxation, and animals and nature. This course uses key sociological readings, case studies, and topics in the news to study the city as a complex space where buildings, people, animals, laws, policies, and international financial flows intersect to produce our lived experience. It focuses on close reading of texts, understanding the key argument of each text, and applying concepts to the real world; and covers the key strategies and skills of academic writing as students produce a research paper based on a city of their choice. The first part of the course explores foundational texts, while the rest of the course addresses specific questions related to housing markets, social policy, violence, drugs, environmental change, segregation, urban infrastructure, and urban regulations.
 

This course introduces the main principles of marketing and customer relationship management, and their impact on the current economic, social and technological environment. Topics include: marketing strategy; product marketing (strategic planning, the “4Ps”, product life cycle management); customer marketing (buying behaviors, customer life cycle, segmentation, targeting, positioning); qualitative, quantitative surveys; CRM principles; digital marketing, impact of Artificial intelligence on Marketing and CRM. These subjects are studied based on appropriate case studies such as L'Oréal (Marketing Strategy), Apple (new product launch), Procter & Gamble (how to promote non “differentiated” products), and Facebook.

This course addresses the call for the provincialization of Europe and the West, the decolonization of science, and the indigenization of national or regional social sciences. It covers the history of sociology from the mid-19th century onwards, including new insights into the hidden development of Southern sociology and a more critical vision about how the canonization at play in sociology still excludes minorities, women, and Southern sociologists.

From the patriotic tunes of the inter-war mandatory period to the underground music of the Arab Uprisings, Middle Eastern and North African popular music is deeply entangled with politics. Since the late nineteenth century, states and various social groups have attempted to channel the power of patriotic hymns and subversive songs. This course draws on the sociology and anthropology of culture to revisit the history of the region through music. It looks beyond periods of political upheaval to understand the everyday significance of musical practices in authoritarian, neoliberal, and postcolonial settings. Whether we understand it as a tightly knit web of meaning or as a soundwave that travels around and beyond the Middle East, popular music – its production, circulation, and consumption— tells a larger story about the making and remaking of identities and power relations in modern nation-states in the region.

This course focuses on the reading of classical texts in political theory and philosophy. It confronts foundational texts in the Western tradition (Plato, Hobbes, Tocqueville, Marx, Arendt, Foucault) to improve reading skills, better understand the history of political ideas, and develop views on current political events. The course provides an opportunity to practice the use of precise concepts and to develop stronger argumentations.