Political Science

This course introduces students to scholarly debates about contemporary Russia. It develops a comprehensive analytical toolkit required for understanding the various patterns and dynamics in Russian politics, state, and society. The course is motivated by the growing prominence of "the Russian challenge" issue in contemporary global political debates and is structured around a series of questions that allow for exploring commonly used explanatory variables as well as key issue areas structuring public and scholarly debates on Russia.  

This course introduces the major concepts, approaches, themes, and topics of inquiry in the field of comparative politics. The course is designed to relate specific theories and relevant case studies and/or empirical evidence. The first part of the course focuses on the broad theme of comparative government and the second on violent processes of political change. DP requirements: Tutorial attendance is compulsory and students who attend fewer than 85% of the tutorials will not be allowed to write the final examination. In addition, completion of all written assignments, essays and tests are a requirement for a DP. Assessment: Coursework counts 50%; final two-hour examination counts 50%. Course entry requirements: POL1004F and POL1005S or with special permission from the Head of Department.

The course is divided in two parts. The first part of the course focuses on the concept of security applied to different sectors and case studies. Human security, food security, migration, health security, environmental security, and the protection of cultural heritage in conflict zones are analyzed through the prism of political theory and critical security studies, based on contemporary case studies. The main objective of this module is to enable students to develop analytical and critical skills in the field of security studies. The second part focuses on exploring key phenomena of cooperation and conflict among and within states and their determinants, such as inter and intra-state wars, terrorism, military alliances, and military coups, adopting a strictly quantitative perspective. 

This class seeks to understand public opinion: how Japanese and Americans think -- about themselves, their politics and the world -- and how those attitudes, collectively expressed, influence electoral and policy outcomes. It is organized into three parts. The first poses four questions about the concept and meaning of “public opinion", examined from Euro-American and Confucian-Japanese perspectives, and looks at theories that seek to explain how the public processes information; arrives at judgments and expresses themselves. The second part examines how public opinion is measured, emphasizing how individuals respond (and do not) to surveys as well as discussing how to critically evaluate poll-related information in the media. The final part examines public opinion on domestic and international affairs, allowing the class to compare Japanese and American self- and other-images: patriotism, nationalism and immigration; postures toward security policy and China; social values and trust; and attitudes toward democracy.

This course examines human experience as a source of truth, knowledge, and belief about war. Representations of human experiences of war play a significant role in human culture and society, often defining social memories and collective understandings of war. As such, this course examines how human experience is transmitted and interpreted via historical sources as well as cultural objects such as films, novels, and video games. It also engages students with key social, political, and moral arguments about the representation of war experience in the media, museums, monuments, and commemoration rituals. 

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This course analyzes different aspects of global political networks in the context of entangled history. The main focus of this course concerns visions of international order after empire in the twentieth century. The five modules deal with: 1) Framing Global Visions; 2) Colonial and post-colonial networks; 3) Nationalism, self-determination and world-making; 4) International institutions; 5) International and Global Ideologies.

The first part of the course concerns an introduction to the category of the ‘global’ in historical studies in order to provide an analytical framework to ideologies and ideas of world order. The second module of the course focuses on colonial and post-colonial networks through migration, economics, and law. The third module discusses nationalist and federalist visions for global order, analyzing the relations between nationalist movements and international political spaces. The topic of the fourth module is the idea of international institutions in the twentieth century.

At the end of the course, students have acquired an understanding of the concept of entangled history centered around global political networks. Students also have familiarity with the ways in which global visions have emerged in the twentieth century, and with their critiques. Students will have gained knowledge of the ways that influential ideas and ideologies have shaped historical events and processes on global scale. Students will have identified the relevance of different traditions of global thinking including internationalist, liberal, anti-imperialist, and federal approaches. On successful completion of this module, students will be expected to have constructed a solid theoretical framework within which specific research interests could be developed.

This course offers students the opportunity to consider the nuances of American politics. Working across broad themes of democracy, inclusion, exclusion and power, the course provides a detailed examination of American politics.

This course explores the theory and practice of modern British politics. It familiarizes students with the ways in which British democracy has evolved, how it operates today and some of the challenges that confront it. Students gain knowledge of the of the political system and learn about how and why the system operates in the way it does, as well as the quality of contemporary democratic governance. 

This course examines China’s changing international relationships in Asia and beyond through frameworks and concepts in the international relations literature. Part I sets out the context, Part II examines some of the main approaches in international relations, while Part III applies these to questions of regionalism in East Asia, maritime politics, and the Belt and Road Initiative.

This course provides an introduction to the comparative politics of the US and the UK.  Attention is given to similarities as well as differences, and the course uses comparative analysis to throw light on the political systems in both countries.  Occasional reference is made to other countries. The course is structured around four themes: ideologies and foundations, institutions, political actors, and policy.