Political Science

This is a graduate level course that is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course is designed to explore the frontiers of interaction between politics and markets. It addresses the factors underlying cross national variation in economic performance and income inequality by investigating the ways in which the international economy affects state autonomy, the welfare state and the politics of income redistribution. The course is structured around two key questions: to what extent do differences in institutional settings shape fundamentally different models of democratic capitalism; what is the role of institutions, firms and labor unions in determining the different arrangements in capitalist countries. This course examines cross-national evolution and variation in welfare states in industrialized countries and especially in Europe. Topics covered include: a comparison of the political economy of welfare states; differences in welfare state models; the extent to which differences in institutional settings, coalition politics, and economics shape fundamentally different models of welfare states. The methodology is comparative with a focus on theoretical models.

The course consists of two themes that are derived from connected dimensions of the relations between the exercise of state power and various identities and forms of organization in society in different regions in the global south: i) democracy, ii) political identities. The course discusses both these themes in relation to economic and social development. The first theme discusses forms of political rule and introduces different explanations of democracy and authoritarian rule. The theme also discusses theories of how these forms of political rule are related to levels of development. The second theme discusses how different political identities are connected to the organization of political institutions. This theme pays special attention to the question of how national identities are linked to other political identities based on gender, class, ethnicity, and religion, how identities affect and are affected by the organization of state institutions, and how this in turn is linked to issues of conflict and stability.

This course introduces the politics, history and international relations of modern South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka). The course emphasizes communal (i.e., ethno-religious) conflict. The course covers colonialism and the independence struggle; partition; development; communalism and secularism, and the international politics of South Asia since independence. 

This course explores the relations between international politics and international relations; perspectives on international political/economic relations; the post-war economic order and its impact on African countries; globalization and the developing world.