Political Science

This course is a study of the role, action, and organizational structure of international organizations. It begins with discussion of the various classifications of international organizations and their role in contemporary international society. Topics include: relationship models in international society; current challenges in relationship models; international organizations as subjects of international law; participation in international organizations; the organic structure; acts of international organizations; international responsibility of international organizations.

The course discusses political institutions and systems of power in indigenous societies of the Americas. Topics include: power in pre-Hispanic societies-- economic and social aspects, ideology and power, centralized states, and expansionist states; transformations of indigenous power and leadership in modern America; power in hunting and gathering societies; traditional power systems in agricultural and pastoral societies; indigenous power and leadership in contemporary America.

This course offers a study of comparative politics. Topics include: political regimes; political institutions; comparative political dynamics; the welfare state.  

This course introduces the Sahel region, whose strategic importance is expected to rise in the next decades. Located between the Maghreb and the Gulf of Guinea, the Sahel region is at the crossroads of many strategic issues. The course analyzes security threats (socioeconomic difficulties, cross-border trafficking, ethnic tensions, etc.) and terrorist threats as a result of the numerous cross-border and rural spaces characterized by a security vacuum that contributes to criminal and terrorist groups' activities. It examines the states’ structural weaknesses and political tensions that have jeopardized the region’s stability, as well as the rapid demographic growth and urbanization that could lead to new socioeconomic prospects or increased instability.

Is the West in decline and what are the main emerging powers? Are we heading toward a new world order or even great power conflict? These are some of the big questions students seek to answer in this course.

This course examines contemporary politics and government. It deals with the nature of politics and its study, and how the study of politics differs from doing politics. Students examine the long spread of democracy (and some of its recent reversals) and the nature of representation, and they look at left and right in contemporary politics, and the challenges posed by populist parties. The course also deals with institutions which are found across different democracies. The course has both conceptual and empirical elements. The empirical elements of the course focus on consolidated democracies (countries which have been democracies for thirty years or more), and more particularly on English speaking democracies. 

Over the last decades, public decision making has developed from a traditional hierarchical model to managerialist approaches (New Public Management) and more recently to the public governance paradigm. This latter approach emphasizes the involvement and engagement of stakeholders different in nature and interests in order to create shared value and to reach sustainable goals. This paradigm aims to generate better-informed and long-lasting solutions through inclusive and dynamic decision-making processes. Being able to design, implement, and manage public policies consistent with this paradigm is increasingly relevant for all involved stakeholders, including public, private, and non-profit organizations. This course offers the understanding of the complexity of decision-making processes in the public sector, with a focus on implications due to different governance models, multiple stakeholders, and public-private relations. The course provides tools, competences, and skills in order to understand, critically discuss, and to design public (as well as collaborative) governance models and decision-making processes to support strategic choices of public interest and/or relevance. The course uses formal lectures and a mix of class discussions (involving practitioners who share concrete public governance examples with the class), case studies, incidents, and simulations.