Humboldt University Berlin

This is a special studies course involving an internship with a corporate, public, governmental, or private organization, arranged with the Study Center Director or Liaison Officer. Specific internships vary each term and are described on a special study internship form for each student. A substantial paper or series of reports is required. Units vary depending on the contact hours and method of assessment. The internship may be taken during one or more terms but the units cannot exceed a total of 12.0 UC quarter units for the year.

This course explores various philosophical proposals that attempt to conceptually capture the activity of bullshitting and the mental state of those who engage in it. It addresses suggestions from the psychological debate related to the recipients of bullshit, focusing on the susceptibility to and the detection of bullshit. The focus of the seminar is on interdisciplinary discussion of the weekly seminar readings. Using Harry Frankfurt’s essay “On Bullshit,” questions include what is this phenomenon of misleading speech referred to as bullshit? How can bullshitting be distinguished from lying and deceiving? What are the bullshitter's goals? Who is particularly susceptible to falling for bullshit? And how can bullshit be recognized, exposed, or even overcome?

This course covers quantitative evaluation of public policies using regression-based evaluation methods to change students' perceptions of the world and causal claims that are made by others. The first part of the course provides students with an introduction to regression analysis, including Stata. The course then discusses various strategies to potentially overcome omitted variable biases and other forms of endogeneity, with a particular focus on panel data econometrics. Throughout, the focus of the course rests on identifying strategies that allow for causal interpretation rather than mathematical derivations of theoretical results. Econometric challenges are discussed in reference to real-world policy questions and the relevant literature. Assessment is based on a final exam, weekly exercises, and presentation and discussion of journal articles. The course has no formal prerequisites, but a familiarity with basic statistical concepts and calculus is useful. It is also recommended, although not required, that other courses covering econometrics are taken in parallel.

This seminar takes a deep dive into histories and theories of rubbish, discards and waste, from the proposition that to be human is to make waste, through to the claim that humans can 'design out waste' in order to survive. Questions include when and where does something become rubbish, and how can its value be transformed? What does it mean to waste something, and when does waste become ’toxic'? This course examines how the politics of waste and its (mis)management lie at the heart of contemporary debates concerning environmental degradation, social and economic injustice, and the planetary crisis humans face. 

This course examines the empirical evaluation of (human resource) management practices in organizations. A brief introduction provides an overview of the fundamentals of experimental economic research. Subsequently, empirical studies on the causal effects of HR practices on employee behavior are discussed. The course trains students how to use experimental economics for the evaluation of causal effects of management practices in organizations. Students read, analyze and discuss various studies from organizational economics and practice their critical reflection. The reading list of the course includes studies on topics such as monetary and non-monetary incentives, leadership instruments, teams, feedback, recruitment, training. Tutorials are integrated into the lectures and the aim of the tutorial is to deepen the contents discussed in the lecture.

This course examines different farm management and agribusiness management practices and approaches in the agricultural and horticultural sectors. Drawing from multidisciplinary perspectives, the course provides students with understanding of the key approaches, issues and themes relating to strategic management in agribusiness (theories, planning), organization theory (explanatory approaches, design principles), interorganizational coordination (cooperation, chain management), fundamentals of innovation and knowledge management, basics of information and knowledge management, and business ethics and corporate social responsibility.

This course examines the comparative analysis of women's roles in politics and the challenges they encounter in attaining positions of power within the political arena. The seminar is split into two parts. The first part explores various aspects of women's involvement in politics, such as the historical struggle for women's suffrage, the gender gap in voting behavior, ideology, and political involvement, and their variation across countries and time. The second part focuses on various aspects of women's representation in political institutions, including the challenges they face when seeking public office, their portrayal in the media, their impact on political decision-making, and the relationship between their presence and corruption. Additional topics include the entry of women into politics and the degree of this transformation varying across different countries and regions. Questions covered include: what factors underlie these variations? Why have some political systems successfully integrated women into politics while others lag behind? Do men and women approach politics differently in terms of understanding and engagement? Is there a disparity in political involvement and aspirations between genders? Additionally, how has media coverage affected female candidates? Furthermore, once in power, do women govern differently from men? 

This course discusses the evidence for the deepening crisis of the gap between Islamic countries and the rest of the world and how it has continuously widened since the 1970’s. Students explore potential causes, the Arab Spring, including Western colonialism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the relation between state and religion in Muslim countries, political and economic effects, effects on immigration, and the rise of religious fundamentalism.

There are two thoughts at the center of this class, which are to be challenged and clarified in discussion. The first thought is that all desire is somehow or other aimed at the good. The second thought is that all action is somehow or other subject to normative evaluation. The class challenges and clarifies these thoughts by close reading of parts of Plato's Republic and of contemporary texts. From Plato's Republic, the class focuses on the role of technical expertise (techne) in guiding action; on theory of the tripartite soul; and on the theory of desire and its objects. Students read contemporary works, especially by Christine Korsgaard, that deals with related themes and also touches on Plato's Republic. Students also read works by Rachel Barney, which is focused on the Republic and helps to forge a connection between Plato's text and these contemporary debates.