International Studies

This course explores key social science concepts like integration and cooperation of particular relevance for analyzing specific development problems in Latin America and Iberia such as poverty, inequality, unemployment, rural stagnation, and regional relations among different Latin American countries, integration politics, panamericanism, and globalization.

Given the continuously growing impact of the European Union on business, attention to politics is warranted in international business studies. At the same time, governance in the EU is far from straightforward, as it is based on a very complex mixture of political principles, structures, and institutions. This course looks at the wider institutional environment of the firm and provides background for doing business in Europe.  This course is a good option for students aspiring to work for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or business practitioners in Europe. A creative, multidisciplinary approach is taken, using original and challenging literature from the literature on international business, comparative politics, and comparative economic systems. The course material assists in understanding past and current changes in the broader European business & politics landscape.

This course offers a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the politics, economics, and foreign policy of major nations in East Asia. It explores how their prewar historical legacies continue to affect East Asian foreign relations. The course also analyzes the ways in which China, Japan, the two Koreas and Russia have attempted to meet the challenges of a globalized world economy and politics as well as the challenges of past history and security threats. The course also attaches great importance to the study of U.S. relations with these major countries in East Asia.

This course examines the influence of colonizer religions on countries in Africa and how these religions are used in political relationships between African countries, specifically Senegal, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, the Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria. It primarily focuses on Islam and Christianity but also includes indigenous religions found in various regions. Topics include missions and colonization, African Pentecostalism, political Islam and radical movements, and Islamo-Christian relations.

This course analyzes the major societal transformations triggered by globalization through transportation and telecommunications revolutions. It examines the effects that changing scales of economic and political activity and organization have had on the experiences and opportunities of both corporate and individual actors. The course provides an overview of the social transformations captured by the globalization concepts of networks and re-scaling, their impact on the citizens' experiences, patterns of consumption and identity, and, consequently, on the reception that these changes have among the population. 

The seminar provides insight in the political situation of various states such as Myanmar, Syria, and Ukraine, and analyzes reasons for flight and implications for the receiving states. It outlines opportunities and challenges for the integration of refugees and explores human rights, especially refugee rights in the world. Students define a research question and investigate reasons for refugee movements and the paths of forced migration (especially in the Mediterranean Sea). The course provides an international perspective on displacements in other parts of the world (especially Southeast Asia, the European Union, and West Africa). It discusses these questions with experts and active NGO members in an open atmosphere to analyze and consider the situation of refugees today.