Political Science

Most states are small by one or another measure. But what exactly is a small state, and to what extent does size matter for the conduct of international affairs? How can small states influence international relations? This course uses the lens of this category of small states to critically think about key concepts in political science, such as sovereignty, independence/dependence, security, and power. It first introduces the concept of small states, its historical development, and the field of small state studies. It then discusses common characteristics and challenges of, as well as the heterogeneity among, small and microstates, and finally turns to specific issues of importance to small states, including their role in international organizations such as the United Nations or the European Union; security and defense; climate change; or economic development.

This course offers a study of international relations and trends in the evolution and development of events and processes of global and national significance. It examines the most probable courses of action as well as their implications and consequences. Based on this, students generate, design, and propose timely and appropriate measures, policies and actions.

The course equips students with the skills necessary to understand, critically assess, and undertake the research design process relevant to their degree. Students gain a good grasp of the behavioral assumptions in social science research, knowledge of a range of data collection methods (and how to assess the appropriateness of each), as well as the steps within a successful research project design. More specifically students learn how to choose a topic, formulate a research question and hypotheses, select cases, navigate measurement issues, and undertake a range of data collection methods.

The fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe brought democracy to the region for the first time in over forty years. Academics now had a new wave of democratization and intense political change to study. This provided scholars with an almost unique opportunity to apply existing methods of political analysis to newly established democratic states. Even so, no country can escape its past and previous experience and structures can continue to exert an influence long after they have been officially swept away. Now, after more than two decades of democratic rule in the region institutions and practices have been established and are ripe for study. What can existing theories of party development, electoral behavior and executive-legislative relations tell us about politics in Central and Eastern Europe? Have the specific democratic trajectories of countries in the region generated new or modified theories for political science? Are there similarities in comparative political developments across the region that lead us to believe there is a peculiarly "Central and East European political science"?

This course provides the fundamental keys to understanding the geopolitics of the Persian Gulf region. It offers an overview of the region through a double prism: economy and strategy. It demonstrates how fundamental this region is to global energy flows and, hence, how many powers seek to control the Persian Gulf. The course also includes a simulation module for international negotiations to allow a more practical approach of the subject and its stakes, as well as practice international negotiations, public speaking, and to solicit the knowledge acquired in the course. In view of the breadth of the theme and the area covered, the teaching involves many disciplines, such as history, geography, economics, and international law, with a predominance of international relations and strategic studies.

This course examines the dynamics of political economy in the contemporary Middle East. There is a focus on how political actors and social forces influence, and in turn are influenced, by political economy structures and development strategies. In particular, the effects of state institutions, international actors, social classes, and new groups such as private sector businesspeople are assessed, and their roles considered in the context of political economy theoretical approaches. Particular case studies focus on recent trends in the region, especially: the growth of Islamic models of economic development; the processes and outcomes of economic reform; the impacts of globalization and foreign penetration of the region; and the ways in which new industries and technologies are shaping the political economies of the region.

This course introduces the European Union's political system from a comparative political science perspective. The course provides an in-depth understanding of how the EU's political system operates. It delves into different policy areas, examining both rapid and gradual European integration. Additionally, it analyzes citizens' attitudes towards Europe and the impact of the integration process on national actors like political parties. The course considers each institution's role in the EU's political system, theorizes why and when specific institutions gained more power in the EU, discusses reasons behind varying levels of integration in different policy areas, and evaluates the impact of the EU system on member states' party systems and their citizens.

In this course, students study postcolonial regions in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. The course discusses questions such as: what makes a region; who makes a region; how has the experience of colonialism shaped the region; what are the models of regional cooperation and integration, and whose models are they; and how do regions interact with postcolonial global structures and dynamics? Students are encouraged to compare different regional experiences and draw from this breadth of knowledge to critically evaluate the concepts and theories discussed in class.

This course discusses the evolution of terrorism from the 20th century to the present day, through an analysis of international relations that specifies the characteristics of terrorist movements and groups, the nature of their demands, and the threats they pose. The triple dimension - local, regional, and international - is at the heart of the analysis of the motivations and logics behind the operationalization of this radical form of political violence. The gradual development of the fight against terrorism in terms of repression, criminal law and the judiciary enable reflection on the democratic governance of anti-terrorist policies and their impact on our individual freedoms.