Political Science

The extensive independent study field research paper produced by the student is both the centerpiece of the intern's professional engagement and the culmination of the academic achievements of the semester. During the preparatory session, IFE teaches the methodological guidelines and principles to which students are expected to adhere in the development of their written research. Students work individually with a research advisor from their field. The first task is to identify a topic, following guidelines established by IFE for research topic choice. The subject must be tied in a useful and complementary way to the student-intern's responsibilities, as well as to the core concerns of the host organization. The research question should be designed to draw as much as possible on resources available to the intern via the internship (data, documents, interviews, observations, seminars and the like). Students begin to focus on this project after the first 2-3 weeks on the internship. Each internship agreement signed with an organization makes explicit mention of this program requirement, and this is the culminating element of their semester. Once the topic is identified, students meet individually, as regularly as they wish, with their IFE research advisor to generate a research question from the topic, develop an outline, identify sources and research methods, and discuss drafts submitted by the student. The research advisor also helps students prepare for the oral defense of their work which takes place a month before the end of the program and the due date of the paper. The purpose of this exercise is to help students evaluate their progress and diagnose the weak points in their outline and arguments. Rather than an extraneous burden added to the intern's other duties, the field research project grows out of the internship through a useful and rewarding synergy of internship and research. The Field Study and Internship model results in well-trained student-interns fully engaged in mission-driven internships in their field, while exploring a critical problem guided by an experienced research advisor.

The course examines how Europe (the EU, in particular) and Spain have responded to social inequalities, global pandemic pressures, gender inequality, migrations, nationalism(s), climate change, and sustainability. It provides a critical overview of these current challenges at the transnational, regional and national level. The course combines analytical tools and categories stemming from political science, international relations, economics, European Integration studies, public policies analysis and development economics.

This course offers a study of current political systems dynamics, the main political and electoral behavior issues, and the role of political culture, values, and ideologies in democracies. The course is divided into the following thematic blocks: political culture, values, and ideologies; political participation and elections; public policy and administration.

This course provides an introductory, holistic overview and understanding of North Korean political, ideological, cultural, and economic structures. The course will analyze principles governing these structures and their relationship to the everyday lives of its citizens and to the country's foreign relations with neighboring countries.

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 provides an overview of labor market policies, highlighting the main areas of intervention and the beneficiaries: employment protection legislation, income support, promotion of job opportunities and training, and employment services. A comparative analysis of the evolution of labor policy regimes will be carried out with particular reference to current demographic, social, and economic challenges, considering the influence of politics on labor market policies. At the end of the course the students are able to: have a knowledge of the main areas of intervention of labor market policies and their beneficiaries; identify and compare the different labor policy regimes; gain an expertise as regards to the definition and planning of active and passive labor market policies; recognize the current characteristics of the labor market and the employment system, the emerging risks and the related needs in terms of labor market policies; and interpret the influence of politics in labor market policies. The course adopts an iterative approach between theoretical debates and the analysis of cases and empirical examples, also based on current events and trends, and aims at integrating in a transversal way a focus on the gender aspects of the issues addressed.

This course introduces contemporary Sino-Japanese relations, enhancing one's understanding of the dynamics between the two countries over the decades. The course first presents the broad view of bilateral relations and its structure within the historical perspective, and then examines more thoroughly the key issues in China-Japan relations. The course wraps up with a view at China-Japan relations in the regional perspective. 

Classes are organized as interactive lectures. One or two sessions in the course are dedicated to a debate simulation on a territorial dispute between China and Japan.

This course accompanies the build up to the 2024 United States election, election night, and its aftermath by offering a lecture series with different speakers from the Department of Political Science, other departments at the University of Oslo, and from outside the university. Besides the question of who will most likely succeed in the presidential election, the course introduces the way in which presidential elections work, the role of other electoral races that take place in parallel (e.g. for members of Congress), how the election will shape U.S. politics, and what impact the election will have on different policy fields both in the United States and globally.

This course provides a detailed examination of the various conflicts that have beset Iraq since 1980, covering the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War; the 1990-91 Gulf War; the 2003 war; the post-2003 civil war, and the conflict with the so-called Islamic State (ISIS). The aim is to examine these conflicts holistically, considering not only their military and political dimensions – absolutely central as these are to an understanding of Iraq's modern history and politics – but also to look at the economic sources and impacts of the conflict, the social and religious dynamics, and the regional setting and implications of them. The course broadly follows a chronological line in looking at these conflicts, since to a large extent these conflicts stem from previous ones, but the discussion and analysis is also interspersed with theoretical discussions about conflict and with the examination of films, documentaries, and other audiovisual narratives about modern Iraq.

This is course provides a critical overview of over-arching themes and agendas in war, migration, and health. This includes building understanding of how war and migration affect population and critical assessment of how health systems in Europe respond to population movements. In doing so the course highlights issues of how health is conceptualized in theory and practice, the power relations and inequalities involved within and between key health populations, actors, and institutions, and the key health challenges before and after war.