Political Science

In this course students explore the history, structure, and functions of the UN, developing an understanding of how international politics has influenced the operations of the UN over time, how the UN has itself influenced the shape and direction of international politics, and how the UN has contributed to the development and direction of international politics and international justice.

Experiments in economics have generated new insights into how people behave. Together with earlier psychological work, they have spawned a new field in economics: behavioral economics. This course is concerned with how the insights from this new field contribute to some key debates and issues in political economy. 

The course reflects upon theorizing of international relations from a variety of cosmological perspectives. 

This course explores the basic conceptual tools and competing theoretical arguments within the academic field of International Relations, which try to explain the nature, scope, and degree of success of various regional cooperation schemes. The course is divided into three sections: The first section outlines the key concepts and theoretical arguments. The second section explores, using these concepts, the nature and fortunes of regional cooperation in Europe, Asia, Latin American, and Africa. The third section focuses specifically on the challenges and various examples of regional cooperation in the Middle East.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now widely used, usually in the form of machine learning, in a broad range of applications including finance, healthcare, law, and social care, as well as playing a role in the arts and humanities as a tool to explore culture. This course introduces students to the issues raised by the development and deployment of AI. The content focuses on providing information and raising debate about the known and predicted effects of artificial intelligence on culture and society.

This course mainly focuses on the China's development in terms of economy, politics and society after 1987's revolution. Lecture topics include the structure of Chinese Communists Party; organization of Chinese government; rural reforms in China; primary-level democracy in China; SOE reform; relationship between Mainland China and Taiwan; development of private economy; industrial upgrading and factory of the world; land finance and investment by the local government; and establishment of social security system. Assessment: participation in class (10%), midterm report (20%), midterm exam(30%) and final exam (40%).

Using Jerusalem as a case study, this course analyzes the politics of planning when municipal management is complicated by religious and ethnic conflict. The course sheds light on issues of urban planning from a comparative perspective, which examines Jerusalem vis-a-vis Belfast, Nicosia, and Johannesburg; a historical perspective, which explores political and urban developments in the 20th century; and a planning perspective, which examines political, governmental, and municipal policies and policy making.