Political Science

This course is designed to understand post-WWII Japanese foreign policy shaped by history and domestic and international politics. International systemic changes affect Japan's domestic socio-economic and political contexts that, in turn, influence its foreign policy options within the scope of the constitutional framework (“pacifism”). The defeat of Japan in WWII and the US occupation had generated the Japan-US alliance as the cornerstone of Japanese foreign policy (“bilateralism”); at the same time, Japan has become the ardent supporter of the international liberal order (“multilateralism”) led by the United States. The relative decline of the US economy and the rise of Japan as an economic power in the 1980s impacted both regional and international order; Japanese foreign policy then began to seek affirmative diplomacy in search of becoming a “normal” state. China's rise in the 2000s and the surge of nationalism and populism have eroded regional and international order.  Thus, this course examines Japan's major foreign policies from the end of WWII to the present.

In the spring of 2021 the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) began paying 122 people 1200€ a month, tax free, no strings attached, for three years. The study, which will compare their fortunes to those of a much larger group who also put their hand up to receive the money but were not among the lucky few, aims to contribute empirical evidence to the debate over the merits of a basic income. We will compare the idea of a basic income to other types of government benefits in cash and in kind, and engage with arguments for and against these different benefit types. We will analyze in detail the claim that a basic income would eliminate relative poverty and reduce income inequality by studying income inequality in Germany today. We will look at any data published by the German experiment, and compare its design to that of a two-year trial carried out in Finland in 2017–18. In this way the course will serve as an introduction to research methods in social policy. By the end of the semester you will have gained an overview of tax–transfer systems and of their role in reducing income inequality, and you will be in a position to engage in an informed way in debate over the promise of a basic income.

This course discusses some central empirical and theoretical questions in the field. It begins by examining classic comparative debates about the relationship between the development of states and nations on the one hand, and the rise of capitalism and democracy on the other. The course examines the impact that social cleavages have on parties, elections and other political institutions in a number of different countries. It also examines the strength and political impact of both labor movements and other important social movements. Additionally, the course examines why similar countries can develop very different social and economic policies. In addition students examine some of the founding writings of Marx and Weber and critically assess the use of political concepts. Throughout the course students consider some of the main theoretical approaches that are used in the study of political sociology.

This seminar provides students with an overview of international relations research with an emphasis on contending theoretical perspectives and some of the key empirical findings in the major issue areas of international politics. The readings include classics as well as more recent publications that illustrate ongoing areas of inquiry. The seminar’s primary purpose is to introduce and evaluate the main theories, arguments, and claims made and empirical findings produced by leading international relations scholars. Students also learn to identify interesting and important questions in the field, to think about ways in which research can be designed to get at these questions, and to ground their own research interests within the context of the broader theoretical and methodological issues in the field.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. This course introduces the analysis of conflicts and international interventions providing an overview of major theoretical approaches and empirical applications in those fields. The course deals with the conceptual and methodological tools provided by academic literature and applies such concepts and methods to analysis of major conflicts and experiences of international interventions. The course starts by introducing the major strands of research that analyzed conflict onset and dynamics. Then, an overview of scholarship on interventions is presented and discussed. Finally, 6 seminars are devoted to the application of theories to the analysis of wars (and interventions) in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Cambodia, Colombia, the Sahel region, and Syria.

This course examines the rise of risk-based policy-making and risk regulation for scientific, technological, and environmental developments. Students explore definitions of risk and the terminology for risk governance, (changing) perceptions and attitudes to risk in public and private organizations, as well as established and new approaches to managing and regulating risk. These issues are explored through a number of deep dive case studies and sessions from several fields: healthcare and pharmaceutical (including Covid-19), the environment and climate change, digital technologies and cyber-physical systems, and food safety. Particular attention is paid to addressing uncertainty and ambiguity, and what good governance of uncertain risks entails via models such as "planned adaptive risk regulation." 

This course gives an introduction to data-driven research in political science and sociology. The examples will include data from Twitter, Amazon, Wikipedia, Facebook and parliamentary records. Data from many countries including Japan, Ukraine, and Nigeria, as well as international institutions and websites, will be discussed. The analytical techniques include text analysis (sentiment analysis and topic modeling), network analysis, descriptive statistics and visualization, and statistical techniques such as regression analysis.

This course analyzes the international security environment in Japan, including its new national security and defense policy as well as its challenges. The course is a combination of lectures and class discussion – the instructor provides lectures based on their extensive experience working for the Japanese government in the planning and implementation of national security and defense policy, particularly in the fields of legislation, policy framework, Japan-US Alliance, and international security cooperation. Students are required to prepare for each class session by reading the relevant part of the White Paper in advance.

This course offers a comparative study of the institutional law of international organizations. While it is acknowledged that each organization has its own legal structure and functioning, institutional challenges and rules of different organizations resemble each other in some way, and a great deal of body of institutional rules and principles has been developed. International organizations have much in common, such as the law on membership, competence, structures, decision-making and implementation, financing, and legal personality. The course discusses the practice of a number of international organizations, including the United Nations and regional as well as subregional organizations. The course explores the law, life, and functioning of these organizations.

Looking at the trends and status of post-war Japanese foreign policy and applying the analysis of foreign policy from a comparative foreign policy perspective, this course pursues a historical and theoretical understanding and deepening of Japanese foreign policy. Topics include the nature and peculiarities of Japanese politics; aspects of continuity and discontinuity; how political power is controlled; Japanese politics in the 1990s (Japan in crisis); and the future of Japanese politics.