Political Science

The substantive content of this course changes each year depending on topical issues and is taught by experts on the issue itself or on particular approaches/methods from amongst permanent and postdoctoral staff. Students learn substantive information about the topic itself but perhaps more importantly they acquire the generic skills to analyze any phenomenon: how to place it within a larger context, where to look for information about context, the types of variables (whether social, economic, cultural, or political) to consider when analyzing the phenomenon, how to identify wider theories and concepts to analyze the phenomenon and how to acquire evidence that would support one theoretical interpretation over another.

 This course provides an introduction to key concepts in environmental policy and politics and their relations to globalization

This course investigates how states and international actors have responded to new security challenges in response to the speed and scale of climate change, and how their different understandings of the climate-security nexus might shape global responses to climate change. It relies on an innovative theoretical approach spanning traditional security, human security, and existential security that helps to capture the complex dynamics of emerging approaches to dealing with security in the Anthropocene. By comparing how different framings of climate security impact various policy sectors, the course assesses the barriers and opportunities for addressing global climate security.

This course deals with the empirical reality, theory, and current governance problems of development, poverty, and inequality. Specifically, throughout the course students investigate the influence of colonialism, state capacity, regime type, war and conflict, accountability, social structures, and corruption on development. This course engages with both economic theory regarding development and political science research that highlights the challenges to implementing the policies that would lead to economic development. Students take these theories and use to them to then think about and develop research-informed policies that promote development.

This course introduces students to the politics, governance, and ethics of sustainability and examines major current global challenges divided into economic, political, and environmental issues. Climate change is only one of many environmental issues facing  the planet, but due to its importance and overwhelming impact, it is given the main focus of this course. The course not only looks at the science behind and consequences of global warming, but also studies the two pillars of the global climate governance: the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). The analysis of the UNFCCC process further leads the course to review the Paris Agreement from 2015. The course discusses how effective it can be in dealing with one of the biggest threats of the 21st century and whether it can still achieve its goal of limiting global warming to “well below 2°C/1.5°C”. A special session is devoted to technological, political, social, and economic solutions to environmental issues. 

The course explores questions such as do people – as purported by some – need to replace capitalism and stop economic growth in order to prevent further environmental destruction? Or is there a way to move towards a “green growth," and utilize the benefits of the free market to increase environmental protection? This discussion leads the course to the question of what the future will look like. Will people continue to cross planetary boundaries and endanger the capability of different ecosystems? Or will the 21st century witness a major shift away from fossil fuels and environmental destruction to a more sustainable economy? The discussions in the class are complemented by at least two field trips and possibly a visit of a guest speaker.  

This course examines the Spanish political system including its problems and evolutionary trends. Topics include: Spain's transition to democracy; policy-making in democratic Spain; territorial organization of the state; Spain and the EU;  elections; the Spanish party system; Catalan political institutions; Catalan nationalism.

This course introduces students to the key texts, arguments, and controversies in European political thought from ancient Greece to the end of the 17th century. This is based on the close reading of classic and complex texts, situated in their broader intellectual and historical context. A single canonical thinker – such as Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes or Locke – will typically be central to each week’s teaching, but these thinkers are read in relation to the political environments that shaped them and the debates in which they participated. Where possible these key thinkers are considered alongside the work of other thinkers as well as other relevant primary texts. Students explore the early development of key ideas and issues – such as kingship, natural rights’, republicanism, and the relationship between church and state – that have formed, and continue to form, the conceptual bedrock of Western social and political debate. 

This course offers an introduction to key issues of contemporary politics in Japan and South Korea, covering the politics and economic development of Post-WWII Japan and Post-Korean War South Korea. Themes include: How were the contemporary political systems established in Japan and South Korea? How have these systems changed over time? What are the impacts of political institutions on the political and economic development in the two countries? How do social actors and political and economic institutions interact with each other? What are the foreign policymaking strategies in the two countries?