Political Science

This course is concerned with positive political economy and public choice theory applied to the study of political conflicts, democratic institutions, and public policy. The course covers the main tools for the study of public choice (rational decision-making theory, game theory, social choice theory) and a number of both theoretical and applied topics, including the empirical study of institutions. This course covers the main topics in positive political economy and institutional public choice. These include the aggregation of preferences; voting paradoxes and cycles; electoral competition and voting behavior; the problems of and solutions to collective action; welfare state and redistribution; the impact of information and mass media on voting behavior and public policy; the theory of coalitions, the behavior of committees and legislatures including agenda-setting and veto-player power; principal-agent problems in politics; models of bureaucracy.

This course provides an intellectual and philosophical perspective on political activity and the conduct of citizens and politicians. Topics include: ethics and politics; law and political power; freedom, equality, and fundamental rights; obedience to law and civil disobedience; political models-- democracy, nationalism, and cosmopolitanism.

Focusing on the interaction among public policy, public management, emerging information and communication technology, this course discusses various opportunities and challenges that government are faced with in the digital age, including policy making, government operation, public service delivery, public participation and administrative reform. The lectures put equal emphasis on both practices in China and global trends in research and practices.

With the development of wireless Internet technologies and the increasing usage of emerging networks, digital interconnection technology, artificial intelligence and big data technology in public management, public management and government operations are now facing unprecedented challenges and new development opportunities. This course introduces the evolution of innovation in government operations and public management, as well as the interaction between government operations, management, organizational behavior and innovation. This course will also discuss how the application and development of new technologies affect the followings: government operations, public information policies, public service innovation, administrative and institutional reforms, and the development of relevant laws and regulations.

The course is part of the Laurea Magistrale Program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by consent of the instructor. The course aims at developing an encompassing knowledge of the outcomes that social mobilizations have at the level of politics and policies. At the end of the course, students are able to: critically discuss the main approaches related to the outcomes of social mobilizations at the level of politics and policies; compare the political effects of social mobilizations across different countries and different territorial levels; and valuate specific cases of social mobilizations with regard to their intended and unintended political effects. The course focuses on both theories and practices related to the political effects of social mobilizations.

This course is a collaborative offering within the Department of International Politics and the Department of Diplomacy. Each week, one faculty member will deliver a lecture introducing, analyzing, and elaborating on the following topics:  

1. The current landscape of international relations and hotspot issues;  
2. The foreign policies of major world powers today;  
3. China’s current foreign relations and foreign policy.  

This course examines some of the most important concepts and ideas in political thinking, with particular attention to the major traditions of Western political thought from Machiavelli to 20th century political theory. Emphasis will be on such core concepts as sovereignty, power, liberty, democracy and equality, and how these concepts have framed political debates within the Western tradition. While some of the focus will be on the original form and contestation of these ideas in their historical context, there will be a strong emphasis on how these initial debates led into more recent, 20th century political thinking and problems. Attention will also be paid to how these concepts have been taken up in ideological formations, which include (but are not necessarily limited to) liberalism, Marxism, and conservatism.