Political Science

This multidisciplinary course considers equality, discrimination, affirmative action, and multiculturalism within the specific context of the U.S. experience. This experience is characterized by three structural features that Alexis de Tocqueville famously identified: the passion for equality, the salience of racial divisions, and the judicialization of politics. Elaborating upon those intuitions, the course relies extensively on history (that of ethno-racial and religious minorities since the early nineteenth century), law (through a thorough analysis of some of the key Supreme Court decisions in this area), political science (through the study of the emergence, development, and partial decline of race-conscious policies such as affirmative action and the redistricting designed to increase the number of Black and Hispanic elected representatives), and political philosophy (by discussing theories of social justice and equality, notably those of John Rawls, Ronald Dworkin, and Michael Walzer).

This course examines the various human rights responses under international law to mass atrocities committed in communities around the world (a field known as transitional justice); the development of transitional justice and how it operates within the broader peace-building field; the historical development of transitional justice, the various justice processes that may be employed, and how they operate in theory as well as practice; societies in transition in contemporary settings and the applicable laws and legal processes.

This course explores major theoretical and empirical issues in the field of international political economy (IPE). It focuses on several issue areas in IPE such as international trade, development, and international production networks (multinational corporations).

This course focuses on different body-political movements. Which bodies are excluded, suppressed, bequeathed, violated and how? Which resistances are formed against this? How do they organize themselves? What significance does corporality have in these resistances? For this purpose the course examines activist practice, as well as some theory. The course includes guest speakers (currently planned: "Sex Worker Action Group Berlin" and "Disabled and Crazy Celebration Pride Parade Berlin"), participatory observations, and opportunities to exchange knowledge, experiences, and different perspectives. This course includes a short review of topics covered during the first semester version of the course.

This course give a general understanding of Swedish political life, and to introduce students to political science research on various aspects of Swedish politics. The course covers the main features of vital political institutions, such as the constitution and the electoral system. This is accompanied by a discussion of political actors, such as parties, interest groups, and the relations between the state and society. In addition, the course addresses the orientation of public policy in certain areas, such as the construction of the welfare state, foreign policy and security policy.

The course focuses on the nature and purpose of international organizations as supra-national entities created by sovereign states for the management of their relations. It exposes students to the nature of the international organizations, types, features, organs, and their roles and importance and deals with the challenges that confront international organizations which inhibit their ability to achieve their aims. Students understand the nature and types of international organizations as well as their relevance to the management of the international system. Students identify and classify the international organizations according to their geographical spread and functional importance. The primary goal is to encourage students of International Politics to be able to understand why States decide to form organizations to assist them to manage relationships between and among them. Students interrogate the relevance of these organizations that serve as a vehicle of sustenance of global peace as well as obstacles that impede their functioning. They must be able to identify and explain the various types of international organizations and why they exist.

This course explores the foundations and components of social policy as an academic discipline and the historical relationship with social work. It examines the idea of social policy as a process, product, and intervention. This course discusses the historical process of social reform and the origins, development, and crisis of the welfare state.