Political Science

This course presents key aspects of contemporary French culture and civilization. The course examines topics including those pertinent to the functions of French society, such as political parties and unions, the idea of public service (teaching, health, transportation, etc.), the French population and culture, French values, and French media.

This course interrogates issues from the perspective of Political Theory and examines the extent to which we are moving to a post-liberal world. Primarily, the course explores whether the claim that we are moving towards a post-liberal world is true. Encompassed within this interrogation, the course looks at real-world political problems and trends that make this trajectory possible, as well as what form a post-liberal world might take, and whether this is desirable. Students are encouraged to argue critically as to whether a post-liberal world is desirable or not and explore the ways through which this might be prevented. This culminates in a critical analysis of how liberal theory could be re-imagined or justified to respond to modern world issues.

Recent decades have witnessed China’s rapid growth and its massive infrastructure finance in the developing world. This brought a new round of discussion on what development is. How should we understand development policy in the context of a changing world order? This course provides students with the historical, political, economic, and institutional context to understand international development policy. The course aims to give students exposure to on- going policy debates on international development as well as the conceptual and theoretical framework to understand development issues. The course allows students to discuss and explore China’s changing role in international development and its impact on regional and international orders. Topics to be covered include (but not limited to): history of development, industrialization, poverty reduction, aid and development finance, energy and environment, international development institutions, South-South cooperation, and China and global development order.

In this course, students develop a wide and deep understanding of contemporary Africa, drawing on the multi-disciplinary approach of African Studies. Students learn about the historical roots of modern phenomenon on the continent and situate these within a wider global context. They develop expertise about particular countries and regions as well as on particular themes, depending on the focus of the course for the year. The substantive content of the course changes each year depending on topical issues and is taught by experts on the issue itself or on particular approaches/methods from amongst permanent and postdoctoral staff. 

This course discusses the problems and challenges inherent in the analytical framework of studying social movements and transnational actors (TNAs). It examines contemporary struggles covering diverse social mobilizations based in different parts of the world. This course explores differences and commonalities in selected fields of social justic struggles.

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to analytic political theory from the 1970s to the present day, with a focus on leading liberal theorists and their critics. It does so via a discussion of normative theorising around key topics and themes, and shows how these theories bear on various applied questions. 

This course introduces fundamental concepts in the field of political sociology and examines how social policies work today. It explores how the dynamics between the State, the market, and society have undergone significant transformations which have reshaped the concept and operation of European welfare states. The course explains the structure and changes of the European welfare states as well as the evolution of the main social policies in Spain and Catalonia in the last three decades.

The focus of this course is twofold: firstly, to study the nature of representations and the impact they have on our society through philosophy, cinema, literature, and art; and secondly, to develop a critical analysis of the image through aesthetics, political theories, cultural studies, and the philosophy of humor. It analyzes different scenarios of the image in order to circumscribe its "field of action," in particular, to understand the motives behind the objects of the representation, the impact on the spectators, and the socio-political consequences that they generate. The course discusses how technology facilitates the spread of images in our society and mirrors, to a certain extent, our way of life. It considers how, as means of communication, images convey our personal and public experiences on a daily basis, captivate our attention, influence our perception of the world, and, if images are to be considered representations, contain aesthetic and political components. 

This course analyzes U.S. foreign policy, primarily through the prism of American military power. It provides an overview of the major issues at stake regarding U.S. international action in a fragmented world. The course is divided into three main parts, each of which addresses specific questions. The first part focuses on the evolution of U.S. foreign policy, from the end of the Second World War to the post-9/11 period. The second part examines U.S. international strategy in its ideological dimension, through the major debates that surround it. Finally, the last part looks at the practice of American foreign policy and its major geopolitical challenges, particularly with regards to Russia, the Middle East, and China.