Political Science

This course introduces students to the structure of the British political system and the functioning of British politics in practice. Students start by exploring the social foundations of politics in the UK, looking at the roles of various national identities and of class, gender, and ethnicity. They also explore the main institutions and players in the UK system, setting these within a comparative context. Students seek to understand how the various parts of the system interact with each other in determining the character of the democratic process and the nature of policy outcomes.

This course focuses on how to: construct daily issues that the political system faces, design all kinds of possible solutions, evaluate and choose from the most feasible, efficient, and effective solution; to establish the environment with multiple unions and pave the way for rationalizing policies; to interpret, organize, and apply the abstract policies into concrete actions; to evaluate the ultimate production of the policies, and the potential impacts on the relevant facets of the political system,; and to make necessary policy changes to make space for the lasting survival of policy layout. Texts: Yongbo Lin, Shixian Zhang. THE EVALUATION OF THE TB POLICY CHANGE IN TAIWAN; Considine, M. MAKING PUBLIC POLICY; Dunn, W. N. 2004 PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS. Assessment: Participation (10%), midterm (40%), report (35%), journals (15%).

Over the course of the Cold War, the city of Berlin was frequently at the center of global tensions and a potential front line should the superpower rivalry descend into actual war. This course utilizes the city of Berlin as a laboratory in which to examine the origins, nature, and conclusion of the Cold War that defined international relations between 1945 and 1991. The Allied occupation of the city following the Nazi defeat is analyzed, along with the Berlin blockade and airlift that helped solidify the divisions between East and West. Next, the course examines the workers' uprising of 1953 that provoked a Soviet military response. The following sessions deal with the emigration crisis of the late 1950s that led the Soviets to first threaten a military takeover of the city and eventually to construct the Berlin Wall. Finally, the fall of the wall and the subsequent reunification of Berlin and Germany is analyzed. Field trips to important Cold War sites permit students to gain a deeper appreciation of how the Cold War changed Berlin, and how events in Berlin influenced the wider international struggle. In order to place the interests and goals of the superpowers in context, students also discuss the ways in which the Cold War rivalry affected Europe as a whole, as well as Asia and Latin America. Attention is given to the role of international organizations such as the United Nations in world affairs, and the changes brought about by the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. In this way, the roots of contemporary crises are examined. Students ain an understanding of the recent past, which will help equip them to evaluate the current and emerging international order.

This course introduces students to security policy and strategic thinking and to gives a thorough familiarity with the key concepts within this field. It combines theory and case studies and also covers the main actors and institutions in security governance (NATO, UN, US). The course opens with a theoretical focus on the scope of security studies and on approaches to its study. The scope then narrows to military security issues (security and defense proper), discussing the two types of conflicts, conventional and asymmetric. It seeks to streamline a theoretically focused approach to the empirical material, revisiting theory towards the end of the course. It also has a case on African conflicts and one on Norwegian security policy.