Political Science

The Model United Nations (MUN) seminar is an interactive course developed by Geneva International Model United Nations (GIMUN). MUN is the simulation of a United Nations committee or agency, where each participant represents a State or organization and advances their policies as they debate contemporary global issues. The course is divided in two parts: theoretical and practical. In the first part of the semester, a new theoretical element of MUN is studied every week in the form of a traditional lesson with obligatory readings. In the second part of the semester, a contemporary global issue is debated every week in mini-simulations led by groups of four students. The course covers a variety of subject matter including international law, environment, and development. Students learn about the United Nation (UN) system and government foreign policy, while training in public speaking, research, negotiation, and diplomacy.

This course explores the processes shaping urban development in contemporary London and the challenges facing its role as a global city is the face of economic, social, and environmental challenges. Drawing on ideas, perspectives and approaches from social science and urban design, the course critically examines how London is responding to these urban development challenges through a sequence of related topics.

This course traces the central features of the development of US-China relations from the end of imperial China to the present, including analysis of current issues and problems. The course provides a survey of the rise of China from the decline of the Qing dynasty to the triumph of Deng Xiaoping's ''Reform and Opening to the Outside World.'' It discusses the rise of China's neighbors, including Japan, Southeast Asia, and South Asia, as viewed from the perspective of the foreign policy interests of China and the US.

This course examines contemporary theories of justice such as those of Sen, Rawls, and Dworkin in the light of the distinction between theory and practice that we inherit from Aristotle. Of particular interest are those approaches to modern political problems that combine the unique insights that emerge from a sensitivity to conceptual history with the unquestionable moral progress that is owed to the ethical outlook of modern democracy.

This course examines approaches to public administration in order to gain a better understanding of how government is exercised today. Topics include: processes of power in an open society; political participation, citizen representation, and government processes; management of political transitions; comparative experiences of political regimes; public administration in the process of globalization; imperatives of good governance and environment responsibility.