Political Science

This course explores the concepts of nation and identity in modern France via its cultural, political, and intellectual history. It examines key ideas developed by some of the most influential modern French thinkers. Each week students consider a handful of central ideas, contained in short slogans or quotations, which is then developed more fully in accompanying texts. Students discuss the ideas developed in these texts, relating them to broader course questions and to their own experience in contemporary Paris.

This course explores the history of the United States from the end of World War I to the present day. It is made up of four thematic sections which focus on: the state and political development; gender and sexuality; the US and the world; and race and ethnicity. Throughout, students focus on historiographical questions that occupy scholars and interrogate change and continuity in political and social ideology during the 20th and 21st centuries. As the course progresses students develop a keen understanding of the interconnected nature of these overarching themes in American life and use this to assess particular events or thematic issues in their broader context. By the end of the course, students have a solid factual understanding of the United States since 1920, a critical understanding of the historical processes that have shaped the country over the past hundred years, and the ability to construct more nuanced analyses of the US past and present.

Border officials shoot, detain, deport, and/or deny essential services to millions of migrants annually. In this course, students consider when states have a right to control who enters and remains in their territory, and what rights individuals have to migrate. 

This course examines institutional dimensions of the important economic and regional international organizations and their roles in world and regional politics. lecture topics include international organizations as actors in world politics; the united nations system; the World Trade organization; rise of regionalism; Asian regionalism; European Union as a model for regionalism; NAFTA and Pan American regionalism; African regionalism; and Eurasian regionalism. Assessment: midterm exam, final report, participation and attendance.

This course helps students grasp fundamental notions of French society today by studying the roots and the development of the main institutions and concepts of French political life. It contributes to the overall purpose of the IFE preparatory session, which is to equip students to participate as fully as possible in French professional life and social and political discussion. The course establishes a thorough familiarity with the politically and institutionally constitutive elements of contemporary France by examining how history shaped institutions and outlooks which in turn shape France today. This includes an understanding of the interactions between the political/institutional sphere and social structures. It also discusses France’s role in the world, perceived and real, past and present. Students become familiar with the mainstays of French academic literature on these subjects. The course is taught in two parts, or “modules”, the first one focusing on the foundations and structures of the French State and the second on the French State in a European and international context from a historical perspective. As a survey for non-specialists, the course adopts a hybrid chronological-thematic approach to looking at the major notions of the state and the nation, since the Revolution. Founding principles, the rapid institutional developments of the 19th century, the effects of 20th century upheavals, and other themes are treated in turn.