Political Science

This course starts with an overview of mainstream and critical international relations theory which is then applied to real-world events. Students first think about how war and peace, order and disorder, prosperity and poverty are conceptualized in international relations. Using approaches from realism to post-colonial theory, the course discusses the role of the state in the formation of global politics in order to understand how globalization has in turn affected the role of states in global politics, particularly against the backdrop of populist nationalism and ever-growing global challenges. 

This course surveys classical theories and analytical approaches of political economy. Emphasis is placed on understanding the processes by which agents' political (economic) incentives influence economic (political) outcomes in the public domain, and vice versa. The course consists of two parts. Part I of this course introduces core concepts and theories – collective action, public goods, preference, social structure and power, and institutions – in the study of political economy. Part II of this course applies the knowledge introduced in part I to analyze a range of issues in political economy: institutional change, development, the interplay between different types of resources and channels of influence, and international trade. Contrary to what have been indoctrinated in the fields of economics and political science, the aim of this course is to leverage “political economy”—as an analytical approach—to help understand the sources of sub-optimal socio-economic outcomes.

This course discusses a classical issue for international relations and political theory: the ethics of war. It exemplifies the role of norms in warfare and discusses the major dilemmas that face armies, politicians, and civilians throughout history, with a specific focus on contemporary challenges. Its focus is mainly interdisciplinary as it brings together moral and political philosophy, international law, and international relations. By analyzing case studies, it addresses the legitimacy of resorting to war, discusses the coherence of certain rationales and principles justifying the use of force both legally and morally, and explores future challenges of the field (cyberwar, artificial intelligence). Ultimately, the course provides the concepts and references students can deploy to build their own argument on justice and war.

This course explores the field of study on the European Union's (EU) foreign policy with a focus on the relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the EU and the PRC in 1975, this set of bilateral relations has undergone different stages of interactions. This course concentrates on the time period beginning from 2013. The first part of the course introduces fundamental knowledge about EU foreign policy: an overview of the field of study in the literature and main actors and the coherence issue in EU foreign policy. The second part provides a brief historical overview of EU foreign policy towards the PRC before 2013. The third part examines EU foreign policy towards the PRC in the post-2013 timeframe through different dimensions: economic and trade, foreign and security, values and norms, and the EU facing United States-PRC strategic competition.

The course provides a study of the process of political transition and consolidation of Spanish democracy. It discusses the institutional design of the Spanish political system as well as the political actors and the political culture in Spain, as compared to other advanced democracies. Students are expected to have previous coursework in political science.

This course examines the history of Palestine and Israel from the 19th century until the present. Rather than studying Israeli and Palestinian history in isolation, the course explores the relationship between the two national groups and the emergence of the Israeli state alongside the prolonged statelessness of Palestinians. Some of the topics include: contrasting narratives of Palestinian and Israeli history, the constituents of identity in late Ottoman Palestine and the formation of Palestinian and Israeli nationalism, Hebrew culture and the Arab encounter with Zionism, the impact of the Mandate period, the Arab revolt of 1936-39, the 1948 War and the birth of the Palestinian refugee problem, the political disappearance of the Palestinian question in Israel’s early decades, the rebuilding of Palestinian identity and institutions, and the fate of the two state solution.