Political Science

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. 

In 2017 for the first time since World War II, a right-wing populist party entered the German Bundestag. What came as a massive shock to many political observers in Germany, was merely the expression of a trend stretching across industrialized countries for a couple of decades now: the return of the illiberal right. This course tries to find explanations for the success of the AfD and other right-wing movements or parties, with a specific focus on Germany and the East-West divide that less than 35 years ago still cut Europe and Germany in two halves. This looks for answers to questions such as: Why do people vote for right-wing populist parties? What lesson can the history of right-wing extremism offer for contemporary politics? Can the experience of forceful and rapid change among citizens of formerly Communist states explain the prominence of Illiberalism in Eastern Germany and, potentially, beyond? The course is divided into three parts, which deal with the past, present and future of Illiberalism respectively. For each part, the course undertakes an excursion within Berlin and discuss a Berlin-based movie to demonstrate how the traces of Illiberalism can be found throughout the city.

Contemporary International Relations refers to the span of time from about 70 years after the end of the Second World War to the present, that is, from 1945 to 2016. From the perspective of the history of international relations, this course introduces the evolution of international relations since World War II through the comprehensive use of a variety of materials, including declassified government archives. This course is divided into two parts, the Cold War and the post-Cold War, marked by the disintegration of the former Soviet Union in 1991. In terms of content, it involves three aspects: the evolution of great power relations characterized by the "Cold War" between the United States and the Soviet Union; the regional integration process with the EU as the main representative; the evolution of international mechanisms with global governance as the main expression.

The course provides a broad overview of how citizens, politicians, and the media interact across Western democracies during both electoral and governing periods. While the course covers key aspects of political communication in the United Kingdom, the focus is mostly on the differences that exist in media-politics relationships across the Western world.

Why and how do resource use and other human footprints generate international governance challenges – and in what ways does the globalization of the world economy affect such challenges? How important are international institutions for the management of the world's petroleum resources? What is meant by ‘regime effectiveness’ – and what conditions can explain success or failure in efforts to establish or strengthen international cooperative arrangements on natural resources and the environment? This course offers an introduction to important characteristics of international environmental and resource politics and provides tools for explaining differences in international negotiation processes and their outputs, outcomes and impacts. The roles and significance of international institutions are central, with special attention to processes of formation, change and interplay as well as various conditions that can affect their operation and effectiveness. The course provides insight into the roles transnational companies and environmental organizations play in international environmental and resource negotiations and how the positions and influences of main actors such as the USA, the EU, and China are affected by domestic political and economic conditions. The course demonstrates how broader scholarly debates, like those between realists, liberalists, and constructivists, can illuminate processes and outcomes in international environmental and resource politics.