Political Science

This course examines the ecological and social crises we are currently experiencing as a result of the pandemic and climate change.

This course begins with instruction on debating technique, and then continues with participation in formal debates of a series of important issues affecting the world today. The course also studies examples of great speeches and great debates of the past. 

This course provides a first approximation to the study of Latin American politics, encompassing a wide range of topics in international relations and comparative politics. Although intended as a survey of main political science debates, the course also imparts basic knowledge about the culture, geography, and history of the region. It therefore follows a chronological ordering of topics to answer questions such as (1) How did colonial history shape politics in the region? (2) How did current national states form and consolidate? (3) How did political regimes and political parties evolve in two centuries of independent history? (4) Why is Latin America, simultaneously the most peaceful region considering international violence, and the most violent at the domestic level? (5) Which are the main challenges to political stability, economic growth, and development? The spirit of the course is  to identify how Latin America can contribute to broader theories as well. 

This course introduces students to the institutions and politics of the United States. It offers a thorough grounding in the empirical and theoretical literature on American politics, and requires students to evaluate that literature critically through seminar discussion and oral presentations, two pieces of assessed coursework, and an unseen examination. Starting by building up students’ basic historical knowledge of the development of American politics, the course covers the Constitution, Congress, the Presidency and federal bureaucracy, separation of powers, federalism and state governments, the Supreme Court, elections, political parties and interest groups. 

Embracing voice, music, theatre, poem and visual arts, opera can be considered as a “total” art form. It is endlessly reinvented by a changing society, which it also contributes to shape. Sometimes forbearing political events (some uprisings started in opera houses), often used as propaganda by the rulers of the time (from Louis XIV to Hitler and many others), opera entertains a unique relationship with the political power. During the Age of Enlightenment, opera became at times a vector of subtle social criticism and political utopia. Today, contemporary issues such as the #metoo movement can find their ways into opera staging, not without controversy. This course proposes a cross-thematic journey into opera, power, and politics (history, sociology, and philosophy are also called upon when relevant) from Monteverdi to Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, John Adams and many others, confronting musical works with the dynamics of power. The course examines various video extracts from operas as a basis for discussion and to foster the development of a personal critical perspective on the complex relationship between opera and power.

Through an analysis of their health policies, this seminar examines the philosophical, historical, and political conceptions underlying the organization of health systems in France and the United States. It looks at the actions of governmental and local actors through decentralization or devolution; health systems and social coverage financing; the impact of political and media debates reflected in the texts, from the Social Security financing bills to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act instituting "Obamacare”; hospital governance; the management of care, technical, and organizational projects in hospitals; and the reality of daily life management and crises.

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.