Political Science

This course is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on government and politics: the EU as a political system; the Council, the Commission, and the Parliament in the policy process; Court of Justice and judicial politics; public opinion and EP elections; parties and Europe, and interest representation. The second part includes public policy: the policy-making process, policy implementation, the single market, social and environmental policies, budgetary policies, EMU, migration policies, and external relations policies.

Covid-19 is an infectious disease caused by a type of virus, manifesting itself in individual human beings; but the covid-19 pandemic is not just a health issue, but a social and economic phenomenon. This course explores the economics and politics of the covid-19 pandemic and the policy response (health-related, economic and social) in the UK and other countries. It does not cover specific medical or scientific aspects of covid-19 as a disease, but beyond that discusses a wide range of topics relating both to the direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic. There is a particular focus on how and why policy decisions were taken; and on the longer-term implications. 

This course provides an introduction to the study of politics in contemporary Africa. It focuses on the historical dynamics of state formation since the establishment of colonial rule and on the relations between state and society, as well as current debates on politics and the state in Africa. The course is structured both chronologically and thematically. It begins with the legacies of colonial rule and moves on to the formation of one-party states in the Cold War context, the crisis of modernization and the implementation of neo-liberal policies, the post-1990 democratization dynamics and their consequences, civil wars and the "failure" of the State in the 1990s, and the current rhetoric of "Africa Rising." The course is comprised of a weekly lecture as well as a course complement, which provides an opportunity to explore some themes more in depth.

This course provides a study of main approaches and theories of international relations, and the evolution, processes, structures, problems and challenges of the contemporary global order. Other topics covered include: the international system (actors, structure, dynamics of cooperation and conflice), and the problems, dynamics and challenges on the international agenda (world governance, global terrorism, the international economic system, power and information society).

Democracy is a core concept of politics and we pretend to understand it. However, to be frank, do we really know democracy? The course focuses on some of the most important theories of democracy that have been present since the birth of the term. The goal of the course is to provide students with theoretical musculature to think further about democracy. Topics include democratic principles, right to vote, direct and formative democracy, accountability and representation, constitutionalism, and forms of democratic government.