Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po)

This course provides an introduction to the statistical and econometric theory underlying surveys and counterfactual policy evaluations. Doing so, it sharpens critical appraisal of the very many surveys and policy evaluations found in public discourse, as data-driven evaluations of public policies are becoming commonly used to help societies choose how to organize unemployment insurance, the provisions of health care and education, etc. This course uses mathematical notation and proofs and engages with mathematically formalized material.

This course studies Robert Dahl's DEMOCRACY AND ITS CRITICS, a modern classic of democratic theory, to develop the ability to think about democracy in a critical and informed way. It considers how the concepts presented in the work frame issues facing contemporary democracy. Through deep reading, the course provides an opportunity to understand every aspect of and engage in a dialogue with this modern classic to discover its full richness.

This course examines the stakes of microfinance development in developing countries, as well as in Europe. It analyzes the links between financial inclusion and poverty reduction. The course addresses specific needs of targeted populations, the specifics of financial and non-financial services offered to these populations, and the challenges of the stakeholders who gravitate towards microfinance institutions (public donors, investment funds, regulators, rating agencies). Issues of social performance and impact are analyzed to identify best practices and discuss controversial issues.

This course introduces the range of historical, political, and cultural frameworks that define the region of the Balkans. Guided by critical geopolitics and critical heritage studies, it maps the turning points and minor stories that make this region. The mapping exercise provides an opportunity to use multi-scalar and multi-temporal approaches and explore territories, practices, events, and communities from the mid-19th century to contemporary initiatives such as the Open Balkans. The course investigates the discrepancies between dynamics around the making of a region, and the spatial entanglements in the culturally and historically charged urban heritage sites. Through these places, it examines spatial categories, borders as part of everyday life, notions of politics of the past, heritage as a tool of geopolitics, and the democratic potential of heritage.

This workshop is for advanced level students (C1-C2). It helps with oral expression and understanding in an academic context. Content focuses on presentations, summaries, and writing academic papers.

This class has an innovative approach to European institutions and politics. Unlike a theoretical university presentation, the class provides students, regardless of whether they have extensive knowledge of the subject, with a concrete overview of the daily functioning of European institutions and true ratios of power between all the stakeholders involved. Using numerous enlightening examples, some of which are unknown by the general public and the media, the aim of the course is to challenge misconceptions and preconceived ideas about Europe and to help students form their own points of view. It may occasionally call upon external speakers to debate with students and share their experience.

This course reflects on the foundations and modalities of the advent of political modernity in the 19th century. It traces the major stages in the evolution of Europe and its imperial extensions, from the democratic revolutions of the end of the 18th century to the advent of the era of the masses at the beginning of the 20th century. Topics include the emergence of currents of thought such as liberalism, conservatism, and socialism; the changes in the instruments of mobilization, violent (wars, revolutions) or peaceful (civil society, electoral processes); the affirmation of nation states and the persistence of empires. Particular attention is paid to the place claimed and obtained by women in political society. The course also questions the place of Europe in the world and evokes the processes of political modernization (and its limits) on the other continents.

This course examines contemporary theories of justice such as those of Sen, Rawls, and Dworkin in the light of the distinction between theory and practice that we inherit from Aristotle. Of particular interest are those approaches to modern political problems that combine the unique insights that emerge from a sensitivity to conceptual history with the unquestionable moral progress that is owed to the ethical outlook of modern democracy.