Political Science

This course examines how people mobilize certain values to think and act while at the same time disagreeing over their definition, ranking, and translation into norms that organize the legal, social, and political world. The course uses political theory to provide concepts, principles, categories, and arguments to navigate through these conflicting normative aspirations. The course addresses questions of how to be coherent while having different values, beliefs, and practices; where to bridge the gap between ideal political principle and current institutions; whether there are acceptable trade-offs between conflicting values or conflicting interpretations of values; and why and how some values are politicized and weaponized.

The course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. Through the critical review of classical theories of capitalism, students discuss both fixed and invariant elements in the development of modern capitalism and what makes peculiar its contemporary forms. Students examine some of the most important concepts in present intellectual and political debate, such as globalization, financialization, etc. The course begins with a historical and theoretical framing of the question regarding the peculiarity of contemporary capitalism, briefly considering some of the most influential classical approaches to the study of capitalism. The course subsequently focuses on more recent debates and examines several proposals to conceptually grasp the specific capitalist formation that began to take shape in the early 1970s. Such concepts as flexible accumulation and late capitalism, the knowledge economy and neoliberalism, cognitive and postcolonial capitalism, Empire and postfordism, "racial capitalism" and feminist critique of political economy are critically discussed. The course then focuses on the so-called "platform capitalism." Taking platforms both as emerging business model and as a political form the course investigates their origins in the intertwined domains of logistics and digitization. It then focuses on the operations of some of the most important platforms - from Uber to Amazon, from Deliveroo to Airbnb - and discusses their implications both for the transformation of urban spaces and for labor (introducing such notions as "algorithmic management" and "digital labor"). In general, platforms are taken both as a specific research object and as a lens that allows discerning wider tendencies in the development of contemporary capitalism.

The six-week summer lab research program at National Taiwan University places students in various science, engineering and social science research labs and/or projects under the supervision of faculty. Students spend approximately 30 hours per week in lab activities.

This course introduces students to key theories and concepts of social justice and invites them to consider how these ideas apply to the real world public policy questions with which they are concerned. Drawing on a range of philosophical, sociological, and political perspectives, the course provides students with theoretical tools for understanding what social justice is and how public policy is formulated and enacted, and enables them to use these tools to critically engage with contemporary examples across a range of international contexts and public policy areas and to think creatively about alternative ways in which public policy issues might be conceived and addressed. 

The Australian National Internships Program provides students from any discipline with the opportunity to undertake a significant research project within a work place. Placements are in national institutions (e.g., government departments and agencies), peak industry bodies, large industry organizations, public policy-focused NGOs, or international organizations (e.g., embassies). As part of a real-world experience, students have the opportunity to work in an office environment, learn to prioritize tasks and deadlines, develop the skills to express themselves concisely and provide a succinct précis of a complex topic. Admission to this course is selective due to the high academic standards required to successfully complete the course. The research topic is agreed between the Intern and the placement and topics usually have a focus relevant to both the organization and the intern. Students attend workshops to assist with the write up of their report and enhance professional skills.