Political Science

This course examines a broad range of American cultural production (including short stories, essays, journalism, poetry, music, films, theater, and television shows) and historical precursors focused on the issue of economic inequality and the impact these have had on culture. Topics covered include: Hamilton and Jefferson-- two visions of America; the Gilded Age and the industrial jungle; the progressive era; the Great Depression; economics of race in the United States.

The course offers a practical analysis of the role of accountability and transparency for the stability of post-conflict transitions and reconstructions. The observations from field researchers are analyzed in this course as one of the few elements that give tangible measurements of the corruption that occurs in post-conflict settings. Students contribute to the content of the course in several sessions and are asked to generate a model to conceptualize the notion of accountability and transparency. Both practical experiences from the field and theoretic approaches are used to structure the class. This course provides students with the opportunity to obtain experience in creating and refining policy.

Since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, global finance was pushed to the fore of the political agenda. The course surveys the transformations underpinning the rise of global finance from the point of view of political science. The course is divided in three parts. The first part observes the historic transformations of the financial sphere. The second part addresses various characteristics of the modern financial market: the role of ideas, banking practices as well as the role of regulators and central banks. Finally, the third part looks at financial crises and regulative reforms. Topics covered include: the Gold Standard; the Bretton Woods system; deregulation and capital control; financialization and the rise of global finance; the role of economic ideas; banking practices; credit agencies; regulation and regulators ; general theory of crises; the 1998 East-Asian Financial crisis; the 2008 Global Financial crisis; post-crisis regulation; finance and society.

This course considers key themes in modern and contemporary political thought. It uses primary texts to address topics such as sovereignty, democracy, fascism, liberalism, human rights, politics and religion, violence, and political identity. Authors may include Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Kant, Nietzsche, Marx, J.S. Mill, Tocqueville, Rawls, Arendt, Schmitt, and Foucault.

This course provides students with a framework for understanding how political campaigns are conducted at the national and state levels in the United States. The course covers the major factors impacting elections including, the process, the rules, the media coverage, the money, outside interests, the advertising, the strategizing, the data, the field work, all within the context of the 2008 and 2016 elections. From the start of the primary season through the general election, 2016 was one of the most exciting years in American campaign history. The trajectory of the candidacy of Donald Trump defied all expectations and seemingly upended the prevailing assumptions about how to run a successful campaign. Trump's ultimate ascendancy to the presidency necessitates reexamination of many of those assumptions, but as is seen in this class, most of them continue to hold true. In each class the professor reviews that week's readings from “Campaigns and Elections”. For the first half of the semester, each class features group presentations of that week's readings from “Game Change”. For the second half of the semester, each class features group presentations of that week's readings from “The Victory Lab”.

This course introduces students to the history, politics, and government of the Russian Federation. It is divided into four parts. It begins with an introduction to history of Russia but focuses more specifically on the origins, structure and development of the USSR. It also examines the reasons behind its collapse, particularly the impact of Gorbachev's perestroika. This part of the course is designed to increase students' knowledge about the ideas, influences, and forces that have shaped contemporary Russia politics and foreign policy specifically. In the second part, the focus turns towards contemporary Russian politics. It examines how the state works i.e. party systems, civil society and human rights, democratization in theory and practice, the media as well as the nature of post communism, political culture and Russian nationalism. The third part of the course provides an overview of Russia‘s foreign policy and examines the way Russia manages the current insecurity and instability in the Russian and post-Soviet space, with reference to the North Caucasus and Chechnya, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. Finally, the course explores Russia's role in the international system including its relations with other global actors such as the US, EU, China and the BRICS in general as well as Russia‘s role in international crises, among them the Arab Spring, Syria, and Iran.

This course explores the problem of ethics and its political implications in the context of war. It raises the question of what "ethics" might mean in the context of war by bringing together theoretical arguments and case studies. This involves examining traditional notions of ethics such as just war thinking, more recent critiques of the notion of "ethics" and indeed versions of ethics that are evident in soldiers' views of their role. Throughout the course, students compare these arguments to ethical questions that have arisen in relation to selected wars. Topics include the challenges of researching war and ethics; the idea of "just war"; ethics and responsibility; the "Good War" and the barbarity of warfare; the politics of targeting; "collateral damage" and the politics of counting; and refusing to fight.

This is a graduate level course that is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course focuses on the changing nature of democracy in Europe, mainly as a consequence of the rise of populism, in its various forms. The course offers an in-depth analysis of the concept of populism and the correct use of the term as well as an analysis of the meaning of the term Euroscepticism and the rise of the phenomenon. The course is articulated in three main parts. The first part offers an introduction to European politics, with special attention to democracy and political parties as the agents of representation. The second focuses on the changing nature of democracy at the nation-state level and at the EU level. This part includes guest speaker contributions. The third and final part is devoted to student presentations on pre-approved selected topics. Assessment is based on a midterm exam with multiple choice and essay questions (40%), the final essay and its presentation in class (40%) as well as class participation (20%).