International Studies

The course investigates a variety of topics including the concept of global environmental governance, the development of institutions and norms governing the protection of the environment. It places special focus on key principles of international environmental law, multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), cooperation among States and the growing significance of non-State actors (subnational governments, nongovernmental organizations, business and corporations), and the diversity of regulatory approaches and related policy tools. The course includes guest lecturers who share their experience working in international institutions.

This interdisciplinary course provides a comprehensive introduction to energy security, touching upon economic markets, political strategy, and even technological developments. It introduces global trends in energy supply and demand, exchanges, and prices. It provides an overview of the diversity of measures taken to promote energy security, with a specific emphasis on the European Union and member states. Finally, the course considers scenarios for the future in the context of calls for an energy transition.

This course explores contemporary challenges in international relations such as polarization in contemporary democracies, peace and security, human rights, and geopolitical competition. It examines the impacts of these issues in various regions of the world. The exact topics and regions of focus vary by year depending on current events. This course is divided into four units and each unit is led by a different lecturer.

This course explores development and various aspects of development within the themes of migration and gender. The course also features two practitioners working in the field to advise on current field conditions and ongoing problems in the development world.

This course focuses on the intersection of technology, media, communication, and society. In light of its rapid growth and broad adoption, the internet has become both the medium and the target of military, political, social, and cultural conflicts. This course focuses on the technological, institutional, and political aspects of online conflict. Students will study this space by analyzing three interrelated dualities of internet design, regulation, and use. This class takes a broad look at cybersecurity as a core issue in an information society. Students develop analytical thinking about the role of technology design, regulation, and use in contemporary conflict.

The course covers the topic of emotions in international relations. In the first part, students discuss the definition of emotions, the social and political dimensions of emotions, and group and collective emotions. In the second part, students learn about emotions in intergroup conflicts. The course discusses the role of emotions (such as hatred and threat) in fueling conflicts, as well as the role of emotions (such as empathy and collective guilt) in conflict resolution. In the last part of the course, students learn about the role of emotions in collective reactions to global threats, such as climate change and rise of populism. In particular, the course discusses the role of emotions in mobilization of collective actions in a globalizing world. Course graded on P/NP basis only. 

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. At the end of the course, students are able to: identify and critically analyze the major research traditions and theories in the study of collective violence; distinguish the major forms of collective violence, identifying the causes and dynamics; link theory with empirical analysis on the subject of collective violence. The course examines different types of collective violence, including violence occurring in civil wars, instances of state repression, mafia and gang violence. The course is divided in three sections. The first section explores classic types of “political violence” (such as civil wars, revolutions, and terrorism) looking at their origins and dynamics. The second section deals with violence perpetrated by states (such as repressions and genocides) and violence that occurs within states that does not challenge their existence or regime (such as that perpetrated by organized crime and gangs). The third section looks at the organizations that “produce” violence, and namely at insurgent and mafia groups, discussing their emergence, their internal functioning, their relations with violence, and their demise.