International Studies

This course provides an overview of the decision-making process under the Fifth Republic and introduces the various components of the French Army and the strategic environment within which France's action takes place (European Union, NATO, UN).  It then examines security evolutions and considers the place of nuclear dissuasion and the technological revolution on the battlefield. The second part of the course is dedicated to the analysis of the French military interventions since 2001: from Afghanistan to Iraq, to the Ivory Coast, the Central African Republic, Libya, Syria, and Sahel; the diversity of the French Army's theaters of operation showcases various key concepts: power, strategy, French Africa, common spaces, the responsibility to protect (R2P), et cetera.

This course introduces theoretical, analytical, and critical-reflexive approaches to cultural and creative industries (CCI) in an international perspective, emphasizing the field’s global implications on cultural, commercial, and media-specific transformations. The course covers various manifestations of CCIs from across the world, how they are structured and function within particular (trans)national contexts, and the production and circulation of cultural artifacts at varying geographic scales. The course examines the characteristics and components of several ‘models’ of CCI practices and interrogates topical issues in CCI research, such as structural challenges in the international division of cultural labor, and national and transnational CCI strategies. This course includes an excursion to a (European) metropolis with visits to relevant CCI organizations as well as related academic and research institutions to gain insights on how CCI practice and research are conducted in a different cultural and socio-political setting.

The course offers a multidisciplinary approach to international migration, its causes and consequences, and the challenges it presents to policy makers. Questions examined in the course include: Why has migration become one of the defining issues of the 21st century? How can one explain differences in national policy responses and their limited effectiveness? What role can international cooperation play in migration management? Why do immigrants do particular kinds of work? What are the problems of migrant integration? Has multiculturalism failed as an integration model?

This course introduces the politics, history and international relations of modern South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka). The course emphasizes communal (i.e., ethno-religious) conflict. The course covers colonialism and the independence struggle; partition; development; communalism and secularism, and the international politics of South Asia since independence. 

This course explores the relations between international politics and international relations; perspectives on international political/economic relations; the post-war economic order and its impact on African countries; globalization and the developing world.

This course examines the organization, structure, and performance of the economy of mainland China. It focuses on the institutional structure of the economy on the micro level, on the changing economic system including the roles of planning and markets, on government economic strategy and policies, and on outcomes with respect to industrialization, the distribution of activity among sectors, economic growth, income distribution, and welfare. The pre-reform period receives attention in its own right, but especially as it influences developments in the market-oriented reform period since 1978. Topics covered include rural and urban development, industrial strategy and planning, economic reform, agriculture, industry, and international trade and investment.

By examining the development of international political theory, from the Ancient Greeks to the present, the course explores and criticizes theories and arguments that have been offered to defend or challenge the power of political communities and explain the sources and varieties of conflict and cooperation that can occur within and beyond political communities. The course examines the ideas of great political thinkers from Thucydides, Machiavelli, and Hobbes to Kant, Hegel, and Marx as well as the use to which these arguments have been put in the world of politics and international relations by contemporary thinkers. These thinkers and the concepts they identify and use will provide us with a window into the structures that shape much international politics such as states’ rights and international humanitarian obligations; the nature and status of international law, and the prospects for global democracy and democratization.

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This course introduces students to the study of world politics from both theoretical and historical perspectives. First, it critically examines major theoretical approaches in the field of International Relations and applies them to a wide range of past and present world events. The central aim of the course is to help students think critically about international politics. Key topics include wars, ethnic conflicts, international trade and finance, globalization, nuclear proliferation, climate change, terrorism, pandemic, and other issues of global significance.  

Berlin is an inspiring metropolis, a place of attraction for creative people and art and culture professionals from Germany and all over the world. Artists of all kinds, designers (including fashion), and technology experts are just as much a part of it as publishers, galleries, the music industry, or the film industry. Berlin is a focal mirror, a projection surface and a platform for a "creative class" (Richard Florida) and at the same time an urban-cultural incubator of a new lifestyle, of creative working practices of aesthetic capitalism. This seminar provides an overview of the creative industries in Berlin - their diverse fields, individual industries and players, and their self-image.