International Studies

The course examines energy in international relations in four parts. First, a brief overview of the history of hydrocarbons will familiarize students with how modern energy supplies developed in the past two centuries. During the first two sessions of the course, students also acquire conceptual and empirical understanding of energy value chains. Next, the course devotes three sessions to energy security as a key perspective in the studies of energy resources. After familiarizing students with the theoretical aspects of energy security, the focus is on several distinct cases examining both the supply and the demand-side of energy security on a global scale. Such cases include the energy dilemmas between energy-rich Russia/Eurasia and hydrocarbon-poor EU; the rising role of China and Asia in global energy demand and their pursuit of energy security; and the evolution of energy geopolitics between the oil-rich Persian Gulf region and the US. The third part of the course dedicates two sessions to the link between energy and development. The focus of the first session is on the literature examining the link between resource wealth and development, while the second session examines resource nationalism and its historical evolution. The fourth part looks at key challenges faced with respect to energy in a carbon-constrained world.

Combining political sociology, political thought, and international relations, this course focuses on certain aspects of modern political conflicts and particularly the institutions put into place to resolve them. It explores the difficulties that social sciences have when looking at the question of political violence and its causes, as well as the mechanisms of liberal and democratic regulation of conflict. The course also analyzes the modern international interventions after a violent political conflict, the dilemma of the actual intervention, the evolution of the rapport with political violence, and the formation of expertise post-conflict.

This course introduces key issues of pertinence in Maritime Security and geopolitics of the Sea. It demonstrates why the maritime domain is a space of great strategic interest, and how threats to security at sea have a real impact for states and people around the world. It explores a myriad of threats to security playing out at sea, while also looking at some of the mechanisms, tools, strategies, and key actors involved in addressing these challenges. Each part provides an overview of the issue it discusses and considers regional case studies as an illustration. The course utilizes a multidisciplinary perspective with interrelated considerations from very various fields of research (political science, international relations, social anthropology, political economy, international law, and history), as well as lessons learned from practitioners and policymakers, to develop a comprehensive and better informed understanding of debates and developments related to maritime security issues.

This course is tailor-made for International Asian Studies Programme (IASP) students who want to engage in a short-term project. Students taking this course are required to write a research paper on a topic in international studies under the supervision of an academic staff member.

This course introduces students to the field of cultural heritage diplomacy, including the meaning and positioning of culture, art, and heritage to the contemporary foreign policies of European member states, the European Union (European Parliament, European External Action Service, European Commission), the United States, and others. The course discusses several examples of cultural heritage diplomacy, including its practice in the Middle East and Central Asia. The course also explores the governance and international mobilization of heritage in the modern era and distinctions between heritage as diplomacy and in diplomacy in order to reframe ways in which heritage has played a role in nationalism, international relations, and globalization.

The course examines the current happenings and events that profoundly shape our lives for better or worse, exploring through different data sets and data approaches the ways in which the world is being reframed and reimagined. Students learn how different academic disciplines approach complex challenges and wicked problems, and how different theories, data and methods from these disciplines are used to understand the current, while mapping a path for the future. The course reflects on the causes and drivers of these challenges - the sparks that lead to global fires that change world outlooks and shake world orders.