Political Science

The course provides a study of the contemporary Chinese political system. Topics include the people's congress system, electoral system, state administrative system, civil service system, national regional autonomy system, system of special administrative region, communist party's leadership system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation system. It analyzes the systems’ origins, composition, operation, and development.

This advanced course examines the political economy of East Asia. It treats East Asia as a political-economic space beyond the boundaries of individual countries, and pays equal attention to the past and the present. The course covers a wide range of topics, including the silk road, the tributary system, the circulation of money, the political economy of colonialism, migration and diaspora, the adoption of modern state system, the developmental state, regional production networks, East Asian regionalism, and the rise of China.

This course examines a number of areas in Singapore's domestic politics. Topics include key determinants of Singapore's politics, key structural-functional aspects of Singapore's domestic politics, the extent to which nation building has taken place in Singapore, and the key challenges facing Singapore and its future domestic politics. The course also studies issues related to nation building, state-society relations, and the likely nature of future developments and challenges. 

This course examines the institutions and processes of Canadian government.

This course belongs to the field of intelligence studies. It introduces the main actors of American intelligence (agencies, National Interest Exception, National Safety Council, etc.) from their origins (most notably the birth of the CIA in 1947) until today. This is done through a historical analysis of the period, the actors, and the international context. Special attention is devoted to the impact of intelligence agencies in the conduct of United States foreign policy. Finally, the course introduces the main concepts of the intelligence world, such as clandestine actions, counterespionage, technological innovation, relationship between the decision maker and the intelligence agency, and inter-service cooperation. In so doing, it highlights the challenges that American, and more broadly Western, agencies continue to face today.

Exploring French political history since 1870, this course presents the history of the French republican system during the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Republics. It explains how this political regime gradually stabilized and became synonymous with democracy. The lectures focus on the successive constitutions and their application, while also enabling students to discover the main political figures of the period, the presidents and the political leaders for instance, and to understand the great moments of crises and of progress. The course also focuses on France during the two World Wars and the colonial crisis, underlining the effects of these events on the government.