Norway

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is a computer system designed to collect, manage, edit, analyze and present spatial information. This course introduces the basic concepts and methods in mapping, spatial analysis, and GIS that enable students to make use of GIS software to study social phenomena. The following concepts are covered: an introduction to cartography and GIS; map design and visualization; map projections and spatial representations; GIS project design and implementation; collection and management of spatial data; spatial analysis and statistics; network analysis; qualitative GIS; uncertainty and how to deal with it; and open source data and software. A series of seminar exercises enables students to make practical use of GIS with hands-on experience. Throughout the course, students learn how to develop spatial research questions and how to conduct spatial analysis using ESRI ArcGIS Pro software and different open-source alternatives. A group project integrates the concepts covered in the lectures with experience from the seminars to explore a current research question.

The course introduces the Norwegian education system within its Nordic context. It provides a thorough understanding of all relevant components of the Norwegian education system. In addition, it introduces the notion of "the Nordic model," how it affects Norwegian education, as well as how it relates to the European idea and other educational models. The course covers both formal and informal institutional practices in education, and address questions about the ideas of democracy, inclusion and exclusion, the role of knowledge and expertise, the public and private dimension, lifelong learning, and access.

The end of communist rule in former Eastern Europe was widely seen as the culmination of the third wave of democratization. However, the ‘revolutions’ of 1989 were not uniform processes: the starting points were different, the trajectories were different, and so were the outcomes. Some countries never progressed beyond hybrid regimes, while others became liberal democracies and joined the European Union – and some of these are now backsliding on democracy. This course combines insights into specific cases (Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia) with a comparative take on some key issues in contemporary Central and Eastern Europe. Some of the questions raised in this course are: How do support for democracy, satisfaction with democracy, and political trust vary across the region? Why did some countries successfully complete the transition from communism to democracy, while others got stuck in a half-way house? What is democratic backsliding in theory and practice, and how can it be reversed? How do oligarchs and grand corruption affect politics and democracy in the post-communist region? What roles do Russia and the European Union play? How does populism in general and radical right populism in particular play out in the region?

The Enlightenment marks for many the birth of the Modern Age and evokes ideals of religious tolerance, political emancipation, and human betterment. But how were such ideals expressed and what were their limits? This is a course about European thought from the end of the seventeenth century up until the time of the French Revolution. The course reads a number of primary texts from different parts of eighteenth-century Europe, texts that articulate different conceptions of humanity, society, and the state, about religion and the church, commerce, and the economy. This course also discusses the impact history of the Enlightenment and its uses in contemporary debates.