Political Science

The purpose of this course is to make diplomacy a practical process, to help students understand the mechanisms and institutions, processes and means, norms and skills to achieve foreign policy, to understand the practices of foreign-related institutions and international organizations, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, embassies and consulates abroad, local foreign affairs, foreign economy, and foreign publicity, and to carry out case simulations in close connection with diplomatic hot spots, to help students master the policy tools and operational skills of diplomatic practice.

This course introduces students to the main theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of foreign policy widely conceived. Foreign policy analysis (FPA) is a field of inquiry that aims to understand and explain how foreign policy is made and who shapes it, but is also interested in outcomes, their impact and the assessment of performance. Theories of international relations are relevant to FPA to understand pressures and opportunities arising from the international system, but states are not seen as unitary bodies that respond in the same way, but they differ amongst each other and comprise contradictory forces and competing actors. FPA investigates the interplay between systemic, national and sub-national factors, actors and processes, including bureaucracies, public opinion and individual decision-makers. FPA pays significant attention to decision-making processes and their outcomes, including group dynamics, leadership styles, and cognitive theories. The first part of the course is conceptual, theoretical and methodological, while the second part compares and contrasts the foreign policies of selected countries to understand national idiosyncrasies as well as common features and factors that shape foreign policy-making.

This course defines the scope of public administration in terms of its structures, functions, sectors, and institutions. Topics include basic concepts used in public administration including authority, organization, bureaucracy, accountability, meritocracy, representation, ethics, professionalism, leadership, and decision making. The course also examines major approaches in public administration and its distinction from private sector administration. 

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.