Political Science

This course is designed to introduce students to the systematic study of international political economy (IPE). It attempts to address major IPE theoretical approaches and issues within the field such as trade, finance, and capital movement. 

With the different food crisis and increased protectionism, agriculture is coming back in the policy makers' agendas. Food security, food sovereignty, and sustainability are now central to the debate. This course provides an understanding of the main challenges facing the world food markets. It introduces the basis of agricultural economics and policy with a particular focus on the European Common Agricultural Policy. The role of international institutions and trade liberalization is also discussed, in particular concerning developing countries. Agricultural specificities in the WTO and regional negotiations are detailed. Finally, policy evaluation tools are briefly presented, based on some examples.

This course places social media, fake news, and artificial intelligence at the heart of debates on political dysfunction and instability. Students explore how populist leaders use communication strategies, how global powers deploy public diplomacy to advance their interests, and the role of communication and propaganda in modern warfare. Through diverse theoretical approaches and global case studies, students critically examine how media shapes political power, cultural narratives, and globalization. The course also investigates how popular culture – films, TV and video games – reflects and influences political moments, offering new insights into contemporary crises. 

This course provides a key understanding of the historical and ideological foundations of the Islamic Republic’s revolutionary regime and its foreign policy. From the Iranian Revolution in 1979, a turning point in Middle Eastern and global contemporary politics, it overviews the deep changes in the ideological and political landscapes resulting from the establishment of the Islamic Republic: the impact on political Islam, the regional equilibrium, Iran's place in the international community, and the reactivation of rivalries and confessional tensions with neighboring countries. The study of the Iranian political and religious model through a multidisciplinary perspective helps to understand the immediate consequences of the Revolution, its longer-terms effects, and the regional reaction.

This course provides a critical view of global issues that are ubiquitous, but often overlooked or simplified in public debate. It is based on rich illustrations to understand the profound interdependence of social, environmental, economic, and security issues internationally. Topics covered include: conflicts and security; global inequalities; environmental problems or the "return of the sacred"; the diversification of the actors on the world stage; re-geopoliticization of the world; the transformations of the international system; from economic governance or the search for lost regulation; environment and International Relations. This course mobilizes contributions from other perspectives from sociology, political theory, economics, human geography, and global and comparative history.

This course examines the process by which government agencies select certain values as policy goals, focus on particular dimensions of complex social problems, and formulate policy solutions. Key concepts and theories are examined along with systematic discussion of relevant cases.