Political Science

This course is designed to help students to deepen their understanding of key concepts in security studies and then apply them to real world situations. Students will be provided with a series of case studies from the post 1945 era and contemporary conflicts to develop their knowledge of concepts and theories introduced in this course. 

This course covers global social problems and policies and develops competencies to respond to human needs emerging from interdependence between countries and societies. It introduces the broad field of global social policy by analyzing theory, social policy change, and social policy outcomes. Structurally, the course is divided in four parts. The first introduces classic social policy, discussing the main concepts and theories developed in the Western world during the 19th and 20th century. It also illustrates the main explanations proposed in the literature to investigate welfare state development and Esping-Andersen's welfare regime typologies (and the main critiques to his comparative framework). The second introduces social policy in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and East Asia. It combines a general understanding of welfare regimes in these continents with a more specific appraisal of some national case. The third highlights the main challenges (namely new social risks, family changes, economic crises) for welfare states in the Post-Fordist era and analyzes how different countries are coping with social change. The fourth and last part of the course considers welfare states as an independent variable: alternative welfare state configurations have different effects on redistribution and the economic competitive advantage of countries.

As a sui generis system or system of its own kind, the European Union has been the subject of research and scholarship since its founding days in the 1950s. Not only did it develop from the Coal and Steal Community into a fully-fledged economic and partially political union, it also attracted ever more members to join over time, which is specifically true today: Following Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the EU showed unprecedented unity in standing up against Putin and opening its membership door to Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia. In this course we focus on both developments: in the first part of the course, we examine they key historical stages to understand how the EU became an ever-deeper Union and learn about European integration theory, which can explain the deepening of integration to us. What does the EU regulate and how can we explain the expansion of competences under EU rule? The second part of the course covers different perspectives on the widening of EU integration – why, if at all, should the European Union enlarge? How does widening affect the deepening of EU integration? And how can EU integration support/impede the democracy and security of its candidate countries? Overall, the course combines perspectives on how the EU became what is it with discussions on the potential new Member States in order to allows students to understand the implications of new EU integration.

As a core course in the department’s program on East Asian studies, this graduate-level course, conducted fully in English, explores various dimensions of the political, economic, and social developments of the People’s Republic of China since 1979. In addition to familiarizing the students with the empirical evidence and relevant methodology of such developments, this course also introduces the theoretical evolution/debates both in China studies and authoritarianism in comparative politics. An extended goal of this course is to prepare the students for delving into new research topics and conducting independent field research in China in the future. Students have to finish all the required readings and be prepared for heavy class participation before each class meeting. Lectures by the instructors where necessary play a supplementary role only.

This course examines the processes of political and social changes and their impact on economic institutions and processes. Topics include: how to make collective decisions for a group of individuals with heterogeneous needs and preferences; typical failures of different voting rule; designing a voting rule that makes rational decisions and satisfies some minimal democratic requirement; how governments and electoral competition work; why economic competition and electoral competition are so different in nature; the role and influence of interest groups in the political process.

This course examines the long-term perspectives of environmental and climate change policies in France and Japan, considering historical developments, current challenges, and future prospects. It engages with a range of sources in French, English, and Japanese to develop a comprehensive understanding of the policies, strategies, and frameworks implemented in the context of environmental and climate change.  The course provides an opportunity to develop one's ability to analyze and compare the approaches and effectiveness of environmental and climate change policies between France and Japan.

This course will be essentially taught in English and, depending on the students' proficiency level in French, will use some or many documents in French. 

*This course has been offered as an optional summer intensive course at Hitotsubashi, meaning that the course meets for only one week after the UCEAP program end dates. 

This course is designed to provide students with a fundamental understanding of international political theories while engaging them in practical analysis of political scenarios using data science methodologies. While no prior knowledge of data science is required, a certain level of information literacy is expected to assimilate and interpret data-driven insights effectively.

This course provides fundamental knowledge of media history in Japan and Asia from the late 19th century to the early 21st century, discussing the historical process of the transformation of relations between media, governments and peoples. The focus is to promote historical understanding and analysis of media development with influences in political process.

The European Union is an important actor when it comes to law-making. While this often appears to be very abstract, it does impact our lives as European citizens very much, also on the national level. In 2021, the European Commission opened a series of citizen-led debates, the Conference on the Future of Europe. These meetings, taking place in various formats, allowed citizens from all over Europe to share their ideas and provide suggestions on how to improve their future in Europe. This seminar will offer students the opportunity to investigate this process more closely, its results, achievements and implications for all inhabitants of European member states. Connecting them in a better was with EU institutions is crucial considering that European elections will take place in May 2024 and that Eurosceptical voices are rising in many European societies. At the end of the seminar, students will have fostered their background on theoretical perspectives to critically analyze Europeanization, integration and multi-level governance, including institutional, feminist and sociological approaches.

Students complete a total of 100-120 hours of research and meet regularly with an advisor to complete an academically rigorous, ethically sound, and culturally appropriate research project and final research paper. The course provides an opportunity to conduct ethical research; analyze primary and secondary source materials; extrapolate relevant content; make contributions to current research; exchange ideas with professionals in prospective fields; develop a scholarly research paper with a defensible argument, supported by evidence and accurate citations; and suggest additional research to be conducted in prospective fields. The research project must be approved by the CIEE Center Director and the student's home school IRB committee. Assessment is based on a research paper that evidences the proposed project, including a literature review, an explanation of the methodology, and suggestions for future research. In addition, students present their findings in a presentation to a panel of academics for feedback and keep a well-documented journal of field notes and findings.