Semwaltman

Summary of the subjects of block 4 of IRO

Summaries of all subjects in block 3 IRO year 1

What is the European Union (EU)? Where does the EU come from? How are decisions taken at the EU level? This course covers the history, institutional framework, and main theories explaining the development of European integration. In addition, we will discuss current debates and events such as the legacy of the euro and refugee crises, as well as the ongoing Ukraine crisis. Can the EU respond effectively to crises? Is the EU in decline? Questions and doubts about the principles and future of the ...

This course is intended to introduce students without prior training to the use of quantitative methods in the social sciences. The course introduces students to basic statistics: how to summarise large amounts of information efficiently and how to draw basic inferences. As political scientists, we are interested in answering questions such as “What is the association between country size and civil war?”. To answer such questions, we require 1) data and 2) methods and techniques to process s...

The aim of this course is to provide students with understanding of key political institutions and processes in contemporary political systems, such as political parties and party systems, social movements, executive-legislative relations, electoral systems or bureaucracies. At the same time, the course also introduces students to some of the key concepts in political science, such as party identification, state power, political cleavages, parliamentary sovereignty, or judicial activism. During ...

This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of social scientific research, specifically in political science. Students become familiar with the core concepts and basic principles of political science research. Among the topics covered in this course are what constitutes a good scientific theory and empirical reasoning, the development of testable and verifiable research questions, and the operationalization and measurement of key concepts and terms. The advantages and weaknesses of...

While global history has triggered numerous new debates amongst historians, this particular course is tailored specifically for students of international relations, for whom a basic understanding of modern global history is absolutely essential. The starting observation is that over the modern period (roughly 1400 to the present), international relations occurred not in a world of states but in a world of empires. The course therefore introduces students to the global context of empire-making be...

This course introduces students to the study of actors in international relations. Mainstream approaches to international politics have theorized the international as a space composed essentially of states. While addressing the central question of state formation and domination in world politics, this course will give the keys to understand the complexity and diversity of the contemporary international, composed among others, of NGOs, diasporas, pirates, mercenaries, transnational hacktivists an...

The course gives an introduction to international politics from a theoretical perspective. The discipline of international relations looks at political interactions at the global level. In the context of this course, we will look at states as the most important actors in international politics, although we will also look at the influence of, for example, international governmental organizations (such as the United Nations) and non-governmental organizations and actors (such as Amnesty Internatio...

International politics is increasingly shaped by international organizations. What role do these organizations play exactly? Are they only the servants of powerful states or do they also have influence autonomous of their member states? How are global power relations reflected in international organizations? How do international organizations work and how do they differ? In this course the role and functioning of international organizations in international politics are analyzed. While the focus...