Political Science

This course focuses on the topic of negotiations and conflict resolution in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict from 1977 through the present. It is divided into three parts. First, the course examines the general theoretical framework for explaining and understanding negotiations in international relations. In addition, students study the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the main issues and patterns of negotiations. Second, the course addresses several case-studies of successes and failures of negotiations between Israel and its several Arab neighbors including Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the Palestinians. In this context, the students understand the failure of the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. Finally, in the last part of the course, students conduct a simulation and present their papers and research.

This course offers analysis and discussion of the actors, institutions, and selected policy areas of contemporary politics in the UK. Students are given an overview of features that are characteristic of British politics, perceived within a broader comparative perspective. Context is added through lectures devoted to three specific periods – those of ‘Thatcherism’ (1980s), New Labour (1997-2010), and Conservative hegemony in the era of Brexit (2010s). Particular attention is devoted to theories and concepts from political science, such as the Westminster model, the majoritarian electoral system, and the union state.

This course explores the relations between Latin America and Spain in the post-colonial period. It begins with the insurrection in the Indies (El Grito de Dolores) and the criollo war against Napoleonic Spain in 1810 and ends with the present-day migratory movement from Spain to Latin America due to the economic crisis. It critically examines the cultural practices, literary productions, political concerns and economic relations of the newly formed Spanish American nations and Spain from the beginning of the independence in order to provide an understanding of the historical relations between “de-colonized” Latin American nations and “non-imperial” Spain, as well as of contemporary political and cultural relations. The course discusses “the Black and White legends” of Imperial Spain and subsequent sessions focus on the post-colonial period. Drawing examples from a variety of political issues, economic relations, cultural practices and literary texts, it looks at the dynamics of these “Hispanic Transatlantic” relationships characterized by a continuous fluctuation of both a merger of and antagonism between the cultures of the modern Spanish American nations and that of Spain. Special attention is given to issues of cultural displacement as well as to the role of linguistic, religious, and cultural affinities that bring these nations together.

The course analyzes contemporary Chinese politics and international relations, focusing on historical background, economic and socio-cultural dynamics.  

China's return to regional and global prominence has profound implications for understanding the future evolution of the international system but also how states engage with a non-Western superpower. This course examines the international relations of China from 1949 to present. It highlights the changing and enduring characteristics of China's foreign policy through investigating the role the Party (CCP), the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Red aristocrats have on foreign policy in the region and globally. This course also looks at China's newer initiatives such as the Belt Road Initiative (BRI) to glean a better understanding of China's vision of itself on the world stage. 

The course explores the work of key thinkers who focus on the politics of modernity, with a three part division based on society, the state and the economy. It looks at writers such as Smith, Ricardo, Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Spencer, Keynes, Polanyi and Hayek, and their influence on issues that continue to dominate political debate in the current era, including class, the state, social and political movements, and national identity.

Social justice has long been at the heart of 'development' – alongside economic growth, environmental sustainability and accountable governance. Further, these other goals are often regarded as instrumental to justice: growth enables surplus for redistribution; sustainability ensures fairness to future generations; and accountability promotes more equitable shares. Rather than debate ‘social justice’ in abstract terms, this course engages with embedded, ethnographic perspectives: why does injustice prevail; why do inequalities persist; why are states violent; how do people come to resist and mobilize for change; engage with the state; or turn to violent opposition? In listening to people’s perspectives, understanding their beliefs and desires, the course also introduces the anthropological approach to development at large.