Political Science

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The topics for this course differ each term. In spring 2024, the course focused on a close reading of selections from Niccolò Machiavelli’s major works. This course focuses on the major topics, ideas, problems, and authors of Western Political Philosophy and its history. The course introduces an advanced level of reading, analyzing, and deep understanding of key themes and concepts in the Western tradition of political philosophy. The course develops strong skills in critical reading, including describing and analyzing the conceptual framework of and the specific historiographical debates on some of the major texts in the field, in their historical and cultural context. The course also focuses on Machiavelli's historical background and influence. The course pays particularly detailed attention to the questions of power, violence, ontology’s relationship with politics, and Machiavelli’s reading of his classical and medieval sources.

This course introduces some major theories of international relations, providing students with a better understanding of world events and opportunities to critically engage with theories to assess their usefulness and limits. The course aims to equip students with intellectual tools with which they can better navigate themselves in the world as broadly informed and critically minded global citizens.  

This course examines human rights, their connection to the concept of citizenship, how and when they originated, and who their bearers are.

This  course explores the theoretical and practical intersections of filmmaking, social impact, and activism in international relations. It does so with a core focus on how filmmaking has been used to explore phenomena related to humanitarian issues globally, especially those linked to contexts of conflict, migration, and violence. Based on an interdisciplinary approach, the course delves into the rich scholarship of visuality across the social sciences, introducing that work both theoretically and practically in three main ways. First, the course engages with critical interdisciplinary perspectives on the role of visual media within contexts of violence through theoretical literature and audio-visual material. Second, it explores practical skills in visual research methodologies. As such, in this section of the course, students develop a short filmmaking project of their own. Workshop-format sessions are offered to develop the skills necessary to achieve this. Thematically, the course explores how filmmaking can illuminate questions concerning violence, humanitarianism, conflict, and migration in ways that connect local (i.e., Copenhagen) and global contexts. In addition, guest lectures inspire and connect students to experts in the field. Finally, the course reflects on broader questions, debates, and dilemmas that concern the use of filmmaking for social impact, activism, and/or political intervention. This ranges from the critical examination of storytelling techniques, ethical considerations, and the influence of the filmmakers situated gaze (i.e., positionality) on crafting visual narratives. The course engages these issues by collaboratively reflecting on the filmmaking project that each student develops in the preceding section of the course. Overall, this course provides a nuanced understanding of the transformative potential of filmmaking, alongside tools to navigate the many ethical challenges intrinsic to visual research.

This course offers a systematic review of international migration and refugee movements to, through, and from the Middle East and North Africa over the last decade. It addresses their trends, causes, and consequences for individuals and societies, and stresses the universality of international mobility determinants, as well as the specificity of the context in which they operate in the region.

This course examines how changes in early 20th century American domestic politics shaped the way American colonialism was imposed and practiced in the Philippines. The objective is to explore this topic from a comparative perspective (comparing the American and British empires) and looking at colonial state formation from the lens of the Gilded and Progressive Eras. The course also focuses on two powerful institutions – the police and the law. Finally, the course looks out the relationship between the Americans and Filipino elites and the larger society in terms of the former’s quest to gain the support of Filipinos.

Drawing from law, sociology of law, criminology, political science, and migration studies more generally, this multidisciplinary course provides a wholesome understanding of the many debates and dilemmas surrounding international migration and its management today. The course addresses a broad range of topics and themes, including the legal regulation and institutional management of migration; ordering through labels, terms, and categories; sovereignty, control, and externalization; citizenship and statelessness; securitization and criminalization of migration; smuggling, trafficking, and instrumentalization debates; as well as gendered, racial, and other aspects of migration and its management. It covers a combination of both canonical and newer academic texts in this area and draws additional insights from policy documents, reports, fiction literature, and films.

This is an introductory course to security studies. The first three weeks of the course provides an overview of the core theoretical models and research questions in security studies, and core actors in this field, such as state intelligence services, alliances, and regional organizations. The course then analyzes some of the most critical security challenges the world has faced in 2024:  cybersecurity, environmental change, global migration, energy security, and global health and epidemics such as COVID-19 or SARS. 

This course teaches students how to collect and handle date in a hands-on manner. The first few weeks of the course cover theoretical concepts through traditional lectures, but then the format shifts to a practical approach. Live coding demonstrations are used to guide students through the material, which can be followed in real-time. Python is the primary programming language used in staff-led lectures and classes, but students are also permitted to use R for their assignments if they prefer.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course introduces the most relevant conceptual and theoretical instruments for the study and analysis of social stratification and economic inequalities. The course develops the following competences: general competences (instrumental, interpersonal, and systemic): ability to analyze and synthesize different approaches to the study of inequality; a thorough understanding of basic conceptual frameworks of inequality research; familiarity with measurement and methods of examining inequalities and poverty; the ability to conduct research on income and wealth inequality using micro-data; the ability to write well-reasoned reflections in English on related topics; the ability to present orally; the ability to evaluate research on inequalities from sociology, demography, and economics; and familiarity with state-of the-art research in the field. The course is organized as follows: lectures introduce the core tenets of the discipline; and practical exercises and seminars provide occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises. The course modules include the philosophical debate on equality/inequality, K-concepts/debates in social stratification, and empirical analyses using R and R-studio, and data sets such as SHIW, LIS, ESS, SHARE.