Political Science

This course focuses on economic policy and the welfare state in Denmark through international comparison and examples from other developed countries. It covers classic welfare state topics as well as more recent themes and challenges to modern welfare states, focusing especially on the expenditure side of government. The course has an emphasis on recent empirical research on policy issues, and a focus on how to take theory to the data, critically evaluate the validity of empirical designs, and account for policy implications of research results. Each topic looks at economic facts and status quo policies in Denmark and elsewhere, works with the theoretical framework and economic reasoning behind these policies, discusses empirical evidence and evaluations of “what works” in terms of policy in that area, and covers views from the public debate. The course provides an academic foundation for thinking about different policy questions; an understanding of policy in an applied context and as part of the political system and the public debate; an overview of contemporary economic issues related to the welfare state and public sector in Denmark and other developed countries; and an opportunity for students to think as economists about these issues and account for potential challenges, trade-offs, and solutions in an academic way.

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 gives students a general overview and understanding of the international and European criminological debate concerning border control and a detailed knowledge of key topics and key scholars in the field. Students are expected to be able to combine their knowledge of different contexts and disciplinary approaches when analyzing border policies. Students acquire the competencies and knowledge necessary to analyze critically the contemporary policies of border control in different contexts, also in view of possible fields of work and research: border police, the role and functioning of administrative detention and deportation, the international relations of the externalization of borders, the use of criminal law in border control. 

The course presents the contemporary debate in the field known as "border criminology". At the end of the course, students are expected to be able to analyze the mechanisms of power subtending the processes of illegalization, detention, deportation, refusal, and criminalization of migrants. The perspective developed in the course embraces a critical approach and considers law, policies, and discourses as entrenched factors in driving the mechanisms of border control. The focus of the analysis is the European context, analyzed through comparative perspective as much as possible. Special attention is given to the intersection of race, class, and gender in the law-making and law-enforcement activities. Not only is the securitization of border taken into account, but also the more recently emerged “humanitarian control” is considered as an object of possible criminological enquiry.

Lectures first introduce the students to the critical perspective in criminology and to the main topics of the theoretical debate of border criminology. It then provides an introduction to the theoretical key concepts in border criminology, and especially the question of punishment, the nature of borders, and the transnational perspective we aim to adopt in the course, with an attention to the possibility of transforming borders from below. Then, the lectures investigate the different countries in Europe where one can observe the mechanisms of border control, highlighting the variety of cases. Each of them is discussed through empirical and theoretical researches carried out in different contexts.

This course provides an introduction to American government, covering fundamentals of the U.S. government, such as foundations, institutions, and organizations. Beginning with its Constitutional foundations, the course examines the system of federalism, civil rights, and liberties. It also explores the interactions among the three separate branches of government and discusses the U.S. election system as well as how the electorate responds to and fits into the American system of government. The course also studies the role of informal institutions such as media, political parties, and interest groups. 

This course covers politics and strategy in UN peacekeeping (UNPK) operations. To do this, the lecture relies on the works of Prussian officer and philosopher Carl von Clausewitz. The course mobilizes Clausewitzian concepts like the “means and ends”, “trinity”, “fog”, “friction”, "center of gravity” to examine their effects on the politics of UN peace operations. One assumption of this course is that UN Peacekeeping is often undertaken when it is not the appropriate instrument of policy. One of the problems of UN Peacekeeping operations is that they are not guided by a clear strategy. This problem can be traced to the political processes leading to their creation. The general objective of the course is to provide the intellectual tools to analyze more critically how UNPK is organized. The theories used to examine UNPK are mostly Realism (Classical, Structural), Liberalism, and Constructivism. The course focuses on critiquing but not rejecting UNPK. The goal is rather to try to fix the political and strategic problems surrounding this militaro-diplomatic tool invented between 1945 and 1956.

This course is structured in two parts, theoretical and practical, and examines the diverging ontological, epistemological, and political frameworks to resolve the biosphere crisis to the human habitability of planet Earth. The first part of the course compares post-dualist approaches (advocating the abandonment of the society-nature distinction) with the theories that recognize a heuristic and epistemological value of the society-nature dualism. The second part of the course maps the range of policies, ideologies, and collective actions in response to the climate disaster: from neo-Malthusian eco-fascism defending a nationalist rootedness in the territory; to the liberal eco-modernism of green growth; as well as the socialist project of a Green New Deal and the agroecological peasant movement, La Via Campesina.

This course is a study of the ideology, politics, and social systems of Catalonia and the Catalan people within Spain and greater Europe. It discusses the interaction between various legal systems, the various political parties and interest groups, and the evolution of communication. Topics include: historical evolutions in law and civil rights in Spain, comparison between common law and civil law, the Catalonian parliament, European elections, Spanish university culture, and the mass media in Spain.