Political Science

How have global forces shaped Africa’s states and economies—and how will today’s shifting world order define its future? In this course, students explore the evolution of contemporary Africa, examining the uneven trajectories of nations and regions through the lens of geography, history, geopolitics, and global markets. Students trace Africa’s place in the global system from the colonial era to Cold War developmentalism, to the neoliberal “Washington Consensus,” and the “Africa Rising” narrative driven by China’s ascent. Finally, students contemplate today’s tectonic shifts in global geopolitics and the current polycrisis of climate, geopolitics, and deglobalization. Through scholarly readings, policy reports, films, debates, and case studies, students critically engage with these pressing issues, gaining a deeper understanding of Africa’s past, present, and possible futures—while also better understanding the global economic and political shifts since the 1950s.

This interdisciplinary seminar explores the temporal and territorial entanglements in Brazil and Argentina since their consolidation as nation-states in the first third of the 19th century until contemporary times. Some of the materials worked with, in addition to theoretical texts, are films, short stories, political and aesthetic manifestos, and architectural and urban projects. The course analyzes and discusses political, social, aesthetical, and literary expressions that, in a variety of ways, address and/or develop what is one of the critical issues in the discursive construction around these countries: the apparent need to narratively connect the present moment to a colonial and pre-colonial past and a future to come, not rarely using fiction as a methodology. The comparative focus on these two countries, in addition to being widely used in the Humanities in specific studies on each country, is justified by the way in which the issues to be explored in the course occur in their similarities and differences, shedding light on the constructions of time and space in what are the two most extensive countries in South America, not only individually but in relation to each other. Furthermore, the methodological and theoretical foundation developed throughout the semester helps consider temporal and spatial issues in other contexts within Latin America and, generally, the Global South. An intermediate knowledge of Latin America's political and social contexts is recommended but not mandatory.

This course develops students' understanding of contentious politics in international relations and comparative politics by looking at how conflict spreads. A range of advanced topics are covered, with a primary focus on how diffusion and spatial dynamics affect the empirical study of international war, democracy, autocracy, and civil war. This course goes beyond traditional theories of international relations by offering a network perspective on contentious politics. In addition, this course asks students to develop theory and use statistical software to plot networks, predicting dynamics of diffusion, and designing informed policy decisions based on those insights.

This course introduces students to the study of foreign policy. As a sub-field of International Relations, Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) concentrates on decision making and how international, domestic, and individual pressures shape the actions states take. The course focuses on explaining and understanding the process of foreign policy decision making, the foreign policy instruments available to policy makers, and the differing strategies that states employ in achieving their aims. Students learn about major concepts and theoretical approaches that help explain why and how states and foreign policy makers behave the way that they do.

This course examines how individuals, communities, societies, and states address legacies of violence and atrocity. The course considers how best to commemorate and memorialize the experience of victims and survivors. The course opens by introducing the legal, political, and philosophical dimensions of key concepts of war, crime, atrocity, and genocide, on the one hand, and the theory and practice of transitional justice on the other. In the first half of the course, students look at key mechanisms of transitional justice – trials, truth, and reconciliation commissions and reparations, drawing on a set of empirical cases including former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Cambodia. In the second half, students look at some emerging areas of transitional justice practice, and the potential for transformative approaches using the arts and education and in relation to gender, and memorialization. Finally, the course addresses the question of what works, and how we measure success in transitional justice, drawing implications for policy and research.

This policy oriented course focuses on the European Union's security and defense politics. With the re-election of Donald Trump, questions on how the EU is going to defend itself are high on the political agendas. How well is the EU prepared to take on more responsibility? To answer the question, the course looks at how the EU addresses security and defense policy issues and identify difficulties in the evolution of the EU's security and defense policy. It covers the functioning of the EU's security and defense policy; examines the concepts of security; introduces the different tools of the EU's security and defense policy and the key issues of deeper EU integration. In addition, the course develops presentation and writing skills, ability to understand public documents, research on open source, and work in teams.

This course illuminates the landscape of counter-revolutionary efforts in the Middle East and North Africa region and the restoration—or reconfiguration—of autocracy through notable cases of human rights violations. Each session focuses on one emblematic case study in a different country; and from there, reconstructs the recent trajectory of said country, examining how the national power structure was reshuffled, in line with geopolitical transformations and to the detriment of human rights aspirations.

This course explores the relationships between science, war, and the prevention of war. It places military and security technologies within social, political, and historical contexts. The course emphasizes 20th and 21st centuries and weapons usually designated as "unconventional" or "weapons of mass destruction." In addition to thinking about how science, technology, and warfare have shaped each other, the course considers the changing role of the scientist in relation to the state. It also considers broader themes, such as arms control, disarmament, ethics, and popular culture in relation to war.

This course provides the conceptual keys and analytical frameworks essential to better understand the main contemporary international issues. It explores, from a political sciences perspective, three classic themes of international relations: the diversity of actors on the international scene; the transformation of conflict and security; and the challenges posed by globalization. This is not an introductory course, as the approach is firmly focused on a selection of topical issues and the scientific debates they raise.

This course explores different perspectives of contemporary democracy. The original investigations and categories of political science, those developed by Greek civilization, are proposed as a category of analysis. The course then reviews the construction of democracy; its corruption, and its demagogic implementation in contemporary regime.