Political Science

This course is the first of a two-semester integrated course. This course aims to establish the basic knowledge of political science and give a preliminary and detailed introduction to important political concepts. This course will assign different English readers according to the progress of the course. Students are requested to read according to the progress of the course and participate in the discussion during the class.

This course examines French society through the lens of social justice in three main areas: economic, social, and political. Through various authentic materials and linguistic activities, it introduces the main French historical, administrative, social, and political foundations to facilitate the understanding of the themes presented in this course and better decipher the national and local reality. Guest speakers include experts and actors in these areas.

The course discusses the role of cultural policy in the age of platform giants and how the digital media ecology of major platforms creates inter-dependencies with other platforms, established cultural institutions, legacy media, public service institutions, digital creators, and users. The course begins with a discussion on the platform society and how the notion of digital cultural politics relates to cultural, media, and communication policy, as well as the internet and cultural industries. It lays the foundations from the perspective of dominant platforms and platform providers, with a specific focus on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, and YouTube. The second part of the course looks at the inter-dependencies that these platforms generate between themselves and cultural institutions, analyzing cultural institution’s use of platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. The third part of the course focuses on data politics, user rights ethics, and discrimination. The final part of the course is composed of a day-long workshop where students work on themes and topics of their own choice as part of their final project. This course is taken in conjunction with the course Cultural Policy – Theory, Method & Analysis (HMKK03611U), a compulsory but non-credit-bearing course that provides students with adequate tools to conduct research within the field of cultural policy, with an emphasis on the relationship between theoretical framework, methodological design, and analysis. 

This course introduces the current state of political economy. It discusses the theoretical models of voting, electoral competition, interest group politics, non-democratic politics, and political transition. The course provides an understanding of the main theoretical models and the recent empirical research testing these models.