Political Science

This course covers the main empirical methods used for causal inference in economics, political economy, political science and development: randomized controlled trials, natural experiments, instrumental variables, and regression discontinuity design. Students learn how to use these methods to address important questions in the social sciences. The emphasis is on applications and not on the derivation of estimators. Students study a large number of articles published in leading journals in economics and political science. Students consider the research question these articles address, how they address it, what data they use, and the strength and weaknesses of their approach. 

This advanced international relations course focuses on the European Union and its role on the international scene. It provides an overview of EU foreign policy in its variety. It addresses in particular the legal and policy framework of the EU external action providing an analysis of the competences and tools available to the EU to conduct its foreign policy, such as the conclusion of international agreements and the participation of the EU to other international organizations. The course also covers specific policies in which the EU plays an important role, such as Common Commercial Policy (CCP) and Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The interaction between the EU and other international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization is also studied. This course has a strong focus on EU law; prerequisite knowledge of EU government branches and EU law is recommended.

This course is to deepen students’ understanding not only of the substance of Irish politics, north and south, but also of the academic research that aims to interpret and understand it. The course covers the Irish governmental system, and politics in Northern Ireland.
 

This course is divided into two parts: the Cold War period and the Global Age. Part one focuses on international conflicts related to the Cold War and its effects. Part two focuses on globalization, international relations, and global risks.  

This course examines the concept of security and governance of security, and its application in different contexts and at different levels of analyses with a focus on developing societies, particularly Africa. It considers key theories and relates them to particular contexts. The course provides an intellectual and practical context to the notion of the security sector and the governance of security and develops and demonstrates knowledge, understanding, and skills to investigate the various ways through which "security" can be brought under "democratic governance."

This course examines the main techniques and theories for analyzing and understanding how governments make foreign policy decisions. It will be divided into two main interactive components. The first will be dedicated to surveying the leading theories on foreign policy decision-making to provide an avenue for addressing questions such as: What role do personalities play in the process? Does the bureaucracy have an impact? Where do questions of national identity and ambition fit in? How does the form of political regime - democratic or authoritarian - impact the decision-making process? What impact do external factors and structural constraints have on foreign policy decision-making? The second component will emphasize participation and application of the theories through the research and presentation of selected case studies.

This course deals with the French political and administrative system: the different local and national public institutions; relationships between the state and local authorities; and the democratic issue. It presents the various institutions involved: the European Union, states, regions, departments, inter-communalities, and municipalities. Its also explains the overall functioning of this system: role of the central state and the European Union, relations between local authorities, public-private cooperations. Finally, it introduces the main topics and issues which have been explored in recent years in the field of academic research about the French political and administrative system.

The course analyzes the main historical, political, and institutional developments in the evolution of the European Community/European Union from 1945 to circa 2000. Topics include the unique nature of the European Union polity, the origins & developments of European Integration from 1945 to circa 2000, the evolving role of key EC/EU institutions, key EU treaties, the enlargement process, and Ireland's membership of the EU. 

Liberalism aspires to the greatest possible freedom constrained only by a system of mutually compatible individual rights and the intrinsic value of individuals. Thus its core value is freedom, and its outlook individualist. Recently, liberalism has been challenged by a left-leaning “identity politics” that gives precedence to groups (especially understood in terms of race, religion, and sex/“gender”) over individuals; to “safe spaces” and the protection against alleged “psychological harms” and “offense” over freedom of speech; and to equality of outcome over equality of opportunity. The latter point is due to the fact that “identity politics” can only conceive of significant statistical group differences in terms of achievements in certain fields as the result of one group ”discriminating” against the other instead of as the natural effect of culturally (let alone biologically) mediated differences in average preferences and abilities playing themselves out in a free society. This course will critically evaluate the relative philosophical, moral, and political merits of liberalism as compared to “identity politics.”

This course looks at the ideas, issues, and actions that shape our contemporary world.  It asks how we understand the world, how we might understand it differently and why certain issues dominate global politics while others are ignored.  It also examines the capacity for people, organizations, and nations to co-operate in search of solutions to today’s pressing problems. In doing so, this course is broken up into two key sections: Global Visions; and Conflict and Co-operation. The first section looks at different approaches to thinking about international relations and world politics and introduces students to the key actors, agents, institutions and ideas that dominate the world today. The second section, ‘Crisis and Co-operation’ looks at the sources of international tensions, and the possibilities for global co-operation around major issues such as transnational conflict, international political economy, global environmental management, and human and social rights. In each theme this course examines the history of these major areas of contemporary international relations and the competing debates and agendas within them. It then focuses upon causes and consequences of a contemporary crisis and examines the possibilities of global co-operation in its resolution.