Political Science

This course examines the institutions, practices and principles of representative democracy and justice, within a comparative context. It covers the Australian constitutional framework, the separation of powers and the judicial system, the "unwritten constitution" of governing conventions, and human rights. It also considers the role of political parties, the media, and questions of citizenship in regard to sex and gender, race, and class. These elements of Australian representative democracy, as well as the controversial issues that they cover, are compared to their counterparts in other countries. 

This course examines issues such as interstate conflicts, terrorism, environmental change, international crime. Topics will vary from year to year.

This course studies the origin and evolution of national, ethnic and supranational identities, social and economic determinants of attitudes towards immigration, and the process of changing cultural values. Ethno-territorial conflicts in the contemporary world and the debate on the clash of cultures are covered, as well as the cultural dimension of regional integration processes, such as the case of the European Union.

This course explores the approaches, analytical models, and key concepts in political theory. It covers liberalism, conservatism, socialism and ideological variants, and other ideologies like racialism, colonialism, imperialism, and totalitarianism.

This course provides a study of the main theories of conflict and violence, the evolution and determinants of interstate wars, intrastate conflict, and terrorism, conflict resolution, and peace keeping.

This course examines democratic theory. It covers topics as justifications of democracy, different types of democracy, democracy in different cultural communities, democracy’s relationship to social justice, populism, capitalism, and globalization.

This course offers a study of the physical and natural environment of Spain. It examines Spain's territory in relation to its social environment and economy, both nationally and regionally. This course also discusses Spain's diversity through examination of its natural regions and its autonomous communities. Finally, it focuses on the transition to democracy, the Spanish constitution and current institutions, and Spanish society today.

This course examines how problems are effectively framed and how ideas and evidence can be practically applied to policy solutions. 

This course explores the complex relationship between public administration and democratic governance. It reviews a set of themes in public administration as they relate to democracy. The course also discusses the case of Korea as an example of how public administration and democratic governance are intricately entwined and interdependent.