This is a seminar about the economic governance of the European Union, studied from a political economy perspective centred around questions like "how do the EU, its member states, and the market relate to each other?", "how are economic policies decided, and by whom?", "why do we get the economic policies we get?", and "who wins and who loses from the EU’s economic policies?". The goal of the seminar is for students to (a) understand the main features of the EU’s economic governance, (b) become familiar with main theoretical approaches used to study the EU’s political economy, and © learn how to formulate and critically assess answers to political economy questions about the EU’s economic governance. The weekly two-hour seminar will be held in English and consists, broadly speaking, of two main parts. The first part will cover key background elements of the EU’s political economy and an overview of theoretical approaches used to study it. The second part will cover specific areas of economic policy (e.g., monetary policy, social policy, single market policy, trade & investment policy, industrial policy) and evaluate academic articles that study those policy fields.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

The following chapter may be useful to get a basic sense of what it means to study European economic governance from a political economy perspective:
-Moschella, M., Quaglia, L., & Spendzharova, A. (2023). Introductory Chapter: European Political Economy: Mapping the Research Field. In European Political Economy: Theoretical Approaches and Policy Issues (pp. 1–22). Oxford University Press.

No preparatory reading is required, but students should have a basic background understanding of the European Union. The first (very short) four chapters of the following text may be useful for students seeking to gain or refresh such background knowledge:
-Usherwood, S. & Pinder, J. (2018). The European Union: A Very Short Introduction, 4th edition. Oxford University Press.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

Students will be required to present a text in class (ungraded) and, depending on how many ECTS they seek, write a review paper (3 ECTS), a term paper (6 ECTS), or both (9 ECTS).

This course provides an understanding of how transnational and transboundary waters are governed. First, students will develop a foundation in the relevant concepts, as well as the theoretical and practical frameworks of water governance. Second, we will examine the various actors involved at the global, national, and subnational levels, their interests, and the institutional frameworks that govern transnational and transboundary waters. Third, by analyzing selected transboundary waters and the ocean, we will explore the causes of ineffectiveness in water governance at different levels. Fourth, students will develop an in-depth understanding of the nexus between water governance, environmental conservation, pollution management, and peace by examining specific cases, including plastics in the ocean and mangroves. Through an individual research project (research paper or oral presentation), students will conduct a qualitative analysis, applying governance frameworks to single-case or cross-case comparisons, and present their (preliminary) findings in class. Students will also participate in interactive, class-based role-playing simulations. By the end of the course, students will be able to draw comparisons across institutional frameworks, apply governance modes to empirical cases, and evaluate policy successes and failures. In this way, students will strengthen both their analytical and practical understanding of contemporary water governance issues and be able to formulate policy recommendations.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Pahl-Wostl, C., Gupta, J., & Petry, D. (2008). Governance and the Global Water System: A Theoretical Exploration. Global Governance, 14(4), 419-435.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

• 9 credit points: Research paper (8,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) and a paper prospectus presentation. This option is only available to MAIR students who selected the seminar within the compulsory elective component of the MAIR.
• 6 credit points: Research paper (5,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) + paper prospectus presentation.
• 3 credit points:
a) Research paper (3,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) + paper prospectus or
b) Oral presentation (20–25 minutes + classroom activity). r

This is a seminar about the economic governance of the European Union, studied from a political economy perspective centred around questions like "how do the EU, its member states, and the market relate to each other?", "how are economic policies decided, and by whom?", "why do we get the economic policies we get?", and "who wins and who loses from the EU’s economic policies?". The goal of the seminar is for students to (a) understand the main features of the EU’s economic governance, (b) become familiar with main theoretical approaches used to study the EU’s political economy, and © learn how to formulate and critically assess answers to political economy questions about the EU’s economic governance. The weekly two-hour seminar will be held in English and consists, broadly speaking, of two main parts. The first part will cover key background elements of the EU’s political economy and an overview of theoretical approaches used to study it. The second part will cover specific areas of economic policy (e.g., monetary policy, social policy, single market policy, trade & investment policy, industrial policy) and evaluate academic articles that study those policy fields.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

The following chapter may be useful to get a basic sense of what it means to study European economic governance from a political economy perspective:
-Moschella, M., Quaglia, L., & Spendzharova, A. (2023). Introductory Chapter: European Political Economy: Mapping the Research Field. In European Political Economy: Theoretical Approaches and Policy Issues (pp. 1–22). Oxford University Press.

No preparatory reading is required, but students should have a basic background understanding of the European Union. The first (very short) four chapters of the following text may be useful for students seeking to gain or refresh such background knowledge:
-Usherwood, S. & Pinder, J. (2018). The European Union: A Very Short Introduction, 4th edition. Oxford University Press.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

Students will be required to present a text in class (ungraded) and, depending on how many ECTS they seek, write a review paper (3 ECTS), a term paper (6 ECTS), or both (9 ECTS).

This course provides an understanding of how transnational and transboundary waters are governed. First, students will develop a foundation in the relevant concepts, as well as the theoretical and practical frameworks of water governance. Second, we will examine the various actors involved at the global, national, and subnational levels, their interests, and the institutional frameworks that govern transnational and transboundary waters. Third, by analyzing selected transboundary waters and the ocean, we will explore the causes of ineffectiveness in water governance at different levels. Fourth, students will develop an in-depth understanding of the nexus between water governance, environmental conservation, pollution management, and peace by examining specific cases, including plastics in the ocean and mangroves. Through an individual research project (research paper or oral presentation), students will conduct a qualitative analysis, applying governance frameworks to single-case or cross-case comparisons, and present their (preliminary) findings in class. Students will also participate in interactive, class-based role-playing simulations. By the end of the course, students will be able to draw comparisons across institutional frameworks, apply governance modes to empirical cases, and evaluate policy successes and failures. In this way, students will strengthen both their analytical and practical understanding of contemporary water governance issues and be able to formulate policy recommendations.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Pahl-Wostl, C., Gupta, J., & Petry, D. (2008). Governance and the Global Water System: A Theoretical Exploration. Global Governance, 14(4), 419-435.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

• 9 credit points: Research paper (8,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) and a paper prospectus presentation. This option is only available to MAIR students who selected the seminar within the compulsory elective component of the MAIR.
• 6 credit points: Research paper (5,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) + paper prospectus presentation.
• 3 credit points:
a) Research paper (3,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) + paper prospectus or
b) Oral presentation (20–25 minutes + classroom activity). r

The seminar supports students in the process of conceiving, designing, and writing the thesis, complementing the input they receive from their supervisors. The thesis seminar consists of three workshops: In the first workshop students present their thesis topic and initial ideas about how to tackle it. The second workshop gives students an opportunity to present and discuss their fully elaborated research design, i.e. precise statements of their (final) research question, its (normative, scientific, or practical) relevance, its place in the literature, their working hypothesis (or hypotheses), the role of theory in their study, the methods they are employing and the reasons for choosing them, the data they are using, etc. Finally, the third workshop is devoted to discussing interim results of students’ investigation on the basis of a “writing sample”, i.e. a draft of the introduction or of a key chapter. In each workshop, students receive feedback from the instructor and their fellow students intended to help them identify problems in their arguments and possible solutions to these problems.

Preparatory Reading

Van Evera, Stephen (1997): Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, chs 3, 4 & 5. https://doi.org/10.7591/9780801454455

Assignments and Credits

3 CP: three progress reports

Power is a core concept of the social sciences. At the same time, it is highly – perhaps “essentially” – contested. International Relations (IR) is no exception in this regard. What may add to the confusion is that, when reading IR theory, you may be left with two contradictory impressions: on the one hand, it may appear as though a concern with power – its sources, forms, and consequences – is the hallmark of a particular school of thought, to wit realism; on the other hand, you may just as easily be led to conclude that power operates as a shared point of reference of all IR theories, which, however, conceive of it in very different ways. In this seminar, we will first familiarize ourselves with competing or complementary concepts (or theories) of power that have gained traction in IR. Subsequently, we will examine how different notions of power play out in substantive research on world politics, with an emphasis on the sub-field of global governance.

Preparatory Reading

Barnett, Michael/Duvall, Raymond (2005): Power in International Politics. In: International Organization, 59 (1), 39-75. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3877878

Assignments and Credits

9 CP (IR-4: Seminar 1): term paper (5–7,000 words) (two thirds of the grade) and oral presentation (c. 20–25 min.) plus written summary (1,000–1,500 words) or review essay (2,000-2,500 words) (one third of the grade)

6 CP (MAPW M3, GS, Erasmus): term paper (5–7,000 words)

3 CP (IR-4: Seminar 2, GS, Erasmus): oral presentation (c. 20–25 min.) plus written summary (1,000–1,500 words) or review essay (2,000-2,500 words)

History and theory are often treated as opposites. History is about the particular, and time- and space-specific. Theory is about the general, and time- and space-invariant. Yet, theory develops in historical time. The questions it tries to answer, and the generalizations it tries to develop reflect the historical context of discovery, and the specific phenomena and problems that made this context distinct. By reading major contributions to integration theory in the rough chronological order of their publication, this class helps to reconstruct not only the history of theory development in EU studies but also the history of the EU itself from the 1950s to the present day.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

• Attendance: Students are expected to be present and prepared for every class session. Active participation during seminar discussions is essential. If unavoidable circumstances arise which prevent attendance, please tell me in advance (genschel@uni-bremen.de). All assigned readings are ready for download on Studip > Dateien > Literature
• Response paper: Each student has to prepare one response paper over the course of the seminar. The paper is 1-2 pages long and offers a critique of an assigned reading. The response paper should be uploaded on StudIP the day before the session in which the reading is due. The student should be prepared to briefly summarize and defend his or her criticism in class.
• Paper prospectus: Each student has to present his or her paper idea (research question and approach) during the last session of the class. More information during class.
• Research paper: each student has to write a 3000 words (all included) research paper on a topic related to the contents of the class.

6 CP

Power is a core concept of the social sciences. At the same time, it is highly – perhaps “essentially” – contested. International Relations (IR) is no exception in this regard. What may add to the confusion is that, when reading IR theory, you may be left with two contradictory impressions: on the one hand, it may appear as though a concern with power – its sources, forms, and consequences – is the hallmark of a particular school of thought, to wit realism; on the other hand, you may just as easily be led to conclude that power operates as a shared point of reference of all IR theories, which, however, conceive of it in very different ways. In this seminar, we will first familiarize ourselves with competing or complementary concepts (or theories) of power that have gained traction in IR. Subsequently, we will examine how different notions of power play out in substantive research on world politics, with an emphasis on the sub-field of global governance.

Preparatory Reading

Barnett, Michael/Duvall, Raymond (2005): Power in International Politics. In: International Organization, 59 (1), 39-75. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3877878

Assignments and Credits

9 CP (IR-4: Seminar 1): term paper (5–7,000 words) (two thirds of the grade) and oral presentation (c. 20–25 min.) plus written summary (1,000–1,500 words) or review essay (2,000-2,500 words) (one third of the grade)

6 CP (MAPW M3, GS, Erasmus): term paper (5–7,000 words)

3 CP (IR-4: Seminar 2, GS, Erasmus): oral presentation (c. 20–25 min.) plus written summary (1,000–1,500 words) or review essay (2,000-2,500 words)

History and theory are often treated as opposites. History is about the particular, and time- and space-specific. Theory is about the general, and time- and space-invariant. Yet, theory develops in historical time. The questions it tries to answer, and the generalizations it tries to develop reflect the historical context of discovery, and the specific phenomena and problems that made this context distinct. By reading major contributions to integration theory in the rough chronological order of their publication, this class helps to reconstruct not only the history of theory development in EU studies but also the history of the EU itself from the 1950s to the present day.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

• Attendance: Students are expected to be present and prepared for every class session. Active participation during seminar discussions is essential. If unavoidable circumstances arise which prevent attendance, please tell me in advance (genschel@uni-bremen.de). All assigned readings are ready for download on Studip > Dateien > Literature
• Response paper: Each student has to prepare one response paper over the course of the seminar. The paper is 1-2 pages long and offers a critique of an assigned reading. The response paper should be uploaded on StudIP the day before the session in which the reading is due. The student should be prepared to briefly summarize and defend his or her criticism in class.
• Paper prospectus: Each student has to present his or her paper idea (research question and approach) during the last session of the class. More information during class.
• Research paper: each student has to write a 3000 words (all included) research paper on a topic related to the contents of the class.

6 CP

The seminar explores and examines the phenomenon of disinformation in international politics, with a focus on current trends and developments. Topics of the seminar include disinformation in elections, crises and conflicts; the political utility of fake news; information warfare; digital technology; deepfakes; strategic motivations of various (non-)state actors; the impact of disinformation on democratic processes; regulatory efforts; and ways of identifying fact-based knowledge and of verifying information. The seminar takes an interdisciplinary perspective for a fuller understanding of how disinformation functions and how democratic societies may guard against it.

Learning goals: The seminar content is taught with a participatory, case-study approach. Students will be able to understand key concepts; deconstruct and analyse disinformation campaigns regarding their source, motivations, target audiences and objectives; critically assess cases in light of the tension between free speech and threat mitigation; and strengthen their capacities of identifying reliable information. Students will also strengthen their analytical, writing and presentation skills. Gained knowledge serves both further academic studies of the topic and the application to other professional areas.

Regular participation in the seminar is an important basis to achieve the seminar's learning goals. Preparatory reading is recommended.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Chan, Kenddrick and Chris Alden. n.d. Understanding and Mitigating Disinformation: A Primer for Policymakers and Stakeholders. LSE. Download: https://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/Assets/Documents/project-docs/LSE-Meta-GK-Primer-on-Disinformation.pdf

USAID. Center for Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance. 2021. Disinformation Primer.
Download: https://www.echocommunity.org/resources/319e91d9-41ef-4fd7-aff3-d429b5774801

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

3 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion
6 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion & research paper (5,000 words ±10%, excluding references)
9 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion (40 % of grade) & research paper (8,000 words ±10%,, excluding references) (60 % of grade)
Papers to be turned in by end of the semester (Sep. 30, 2026)

What does solidarity mean and how is it realised? This seminar examines the concept of solidarity and its role in domestic and international politics. We discuss how solidarity has been conceptualised in social theory and invoked by politicians, scholars, and activists across different contexts. We analyse its empirical manifestations in areas such as domestic social policy, international cooperation, and transnational social movements.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:
3CP or 6CP

The seminar explores and examines the phenomenon of disinformation in international politics, with a focus on current trends and developments. Topics of the seminar include disinformation in elections, crises and conflicts; the political utility of fake news; information warfare; digital technology; deepfakes; strategic motivations of various (non-)state actors; the impact of disinformation on democratic processes; regulatory efforts; and ways of identifying fact-based knowledge and of verifying information. The seminar takes an interdisciplinary perspective for a fuller understanding of how disinformation functions and how democratic societies may guard against it.

Learning goals: The seminar content is taught with a participatory, case-study approach. Students will be able to understand key concepts; deconstruct and analyse disinformation campaigns regarding their source, motivations, target audiences and objectives; critically assess cases in light of the tension between free speech and threat mitigation; and strengthen their capacities of identifying reliable information. Students will also strengthen their analytical, writing and presentation skills. Gained knowledge serves both further academic studies of the topic and the application to other professional areas.

Regular participation in the seminar is an important basis to achieve the seminar's learning goals. Preparatory reading is recommended.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Chan, Kenddrick and Chris Alden. n.d. Understanding and Mitigating Disinformation: A Primer for Policymakers and Stakeholders. LSE. Download: https://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/Assets/Documents/project-docs/LSE-Meta-GK-Primer-on-Disinformation.pdf

USAID. Center for Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance. 2021. Disinformation Primer.
Download: https://www.echocommunity.org/resources/319e91d9-41ef-4fd7-aff3-d429b5774801

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

3 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion
6 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion & research paper (5,000 words ±10%, excluding references)
9 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion (40 % of grade) & research paper (8,000 words ±10%,, excluding references) (60 % of grade)
Papers to be turned in by end of the semester (Sep. 30, 2026)

What does solidarity mean and how is it realised? This seminar examines the concept of solidarity and its role in domestic and international politics. We discuss how solidarity has been conceptualised in social theory and invoked by politicians, scholars, and activists across different contexts. We analyse its empirical manifestations in areas such as domestic social policy, international cooperation, and transnational social movements.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:
3CP or 6CP

This is a seminar about the economic governance of the European Union, studied from a political economy perspective centred around questions like "how do the EU, its member states, and the market relate to each other?", "how are economic policies decided, and by whom?", "why do we get the economic policies we get?", and "who wins and who loses from the EU’s economic policies?". The goal of the seminar is for students to (a) understand the main features of the EU’s economic governance, (b) become familiar with main theoretical approaches used to study the EU’s political economy, and © learn how to formulate and critically assess answers to political economy questions about the EU’s economic governance. The weekly two-hour seminar will be held in English and consists, broadly speaking, of two main parts. The first part will cover key background elements of the EU’s political economy and an overview of theoretical approaches used to study it. The second part will cover specific areas of economic policy (e.g., monetary policy, social policy, single market policy, trade & investment policy, industrial policy) and evaluate academic articles that study those policy fields.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

The following chapter may be useful to get a basic sense of what it means to study European economic governance from a political economy perspective:
-Moschella, M., Quaglia, L., & Spendzharova, A. (2023). Introductory Chapter: European Political Economy: Mapping the Research Field. In European Political Economy: Theoretical Approaches and Policy Issues (pp. 1–22). Oxford University Press.

No preparatory reading is required, but students should have a basic background understanding of the European Union. The first (very short) four chapters of the following text may be useful for students seeking to gain or refresh such background knowledge:
-Usherwood, S. & Pinder, J. (2018). The European Union: A Very Short Introduction, 4th edition. Oxford University Press.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

Students will be required to present a text in class (ungraded) and, depending on how many ECTS they seek, write a review paper (3 ECTS), a term paper (6 ECTS), or both (9 ECTS).

This course provides an understanding of how transnational and transboundary waters are governed. First, students will develop a foundation in the relevant concepts, as well as the theoretical and practical frameworks of water governance. Second, we will examine the various actors involved at the global, national, and subnational levels, their interests, and the institutional frameworks that govern transnational and transboundary waters. Third, by analyzing selected transboundary waters and the ocean, we will explore the causes of ineffectiveness in water governance at different levels. Fourth, students will develop an in-depth understanding of the nexus between water governance, environmental conservation, pollution management, and peace by examining specific cases, including plastics in the ocean and mangroves. Through an individual research project (research paper or oral presentation), students will conduct a qualitative analysis, applying governance frameworks to single-case or cross-case comparisons, and present their (preliminary) findings in class. Students will also participate in interactive, class-based role-playing simulations. By the end of the course, students will be able to draw comparisons across institutional frameworks, apply governance modes to empirical cases, and evaluate policy successes and failures. In this way, students will strengthen both their analytical and practical understanding of contemporary water governance issues and be able to formulate policy recommendations.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Pahl-Wostl, C., Gupta, J., & Petry, D. (2008). Governance and the Global Water System: A Theoretical Exploration. Global Governance, 14(4), 419-435.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

• 9 credit points: Research paper (8,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) and a paper prospectus presentation. This option is only available to MAIR students who selected the seminar within the compulsory elective component of the MAIR.
• 6 credit points: Research paper (5,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) + paper prospectus presentation.
• 3 credit points:
a) Research paper (3,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) + paper prospectus or
b) Oral presentation (20–25 minutes + classroom activity). r

This is a seminar about the economic governance of the European Union, studied from a political economy perspective centred around questions like "how do the EU, its member states, and the market relate to each other?", "how are economic policies decided, and by whom?", "why do we get the economic policies we get?", and "who wins and who loses from the EU’s economic policies?". The goal of the seminar is for students to (a) understand the main features of the EU’s economic governance, (b) become familiar with main theoretical approaches used to study the EU’s political economy, and © learn how to formulate and critically assess answers to political economy questions about the EU’s economic governance. The weekly two-hour seminar will be held in English and consists, broadly speaking, of two main parts. The first part will cover key background elements of the EU’s political economy and an overview of theoretical approaches used to study it. The second part will cover specific areas of economic policy (e.g., monetary policy, social policy, single market policy, trade & investment policy, industrial policy) and evaluate academic articles that study those policy fields.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

The following chapter may be useful to get a basic sense of what it means to study European economic governance from a political economy perspective:
-Moschella, M., Quaglia, L., & Spendzharova, A. (2023). Introductory Chapter: European Political Economy: Mapping the Research Field. In European Political Economy: Theoretical Approaches and Policy Issues (pp. 1–22). Oxford University Press.

No preparatory reading is required, but students should have a basic background understanding of the European Union. The first (very short) four chapters of the following text may be useful for students seeking to gain or refresh such background knowledge:
-Usherwood, S. & Pinder, J. (2018). The European Union: A Very Short Introduction, 4th edition. Oxford University Press.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

Students will be required to present a text in class (ungraded) and, depending on how many ECTS they seek, write a review paper (3 ECTS), a term paper (6 ECTS), or both (9 ECTS).

This course provides an understanding of how transnational and transboundary waters are governed. First, students will develop a foundation in the relevant concepts, as well as the theoretical and practical frameworks of water governance. Second, we will examine the various actors involved at the global, national, and subnational levels, their interests, and the institutional frameworks that govern transnational and transboundary waters. Third, by analyzing selected transboundary waters and the ocean, we will explore the causes of ineffectiveness in water governance at different levels. Fourth, students will develop an in-depth understanding of the nexus between water governance, environmental conservation, pollution management, and peace by examining specific cases, including plastics in the ocean and mangroves. Through an individual research project (research paper or oral presentation), students will conduct a qualitative analysis, applying governance frameworks to single-case or cross-case comparisons, and present their (preliminary) findings in class. Students will also participate in interactive, class-based role-playing simulations. By the end of the course, students will be able to draw comparisons across institutional frameworks, apply governance modes to empirical cases, and evaluate policy successes and failures. In this way, students will strengthen both their analytical and practical understanding of contemporary water governance issues and be able to formulate policy recommendations.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Pahl-Wostl, C., Gupta, J., & Petry, D. (2008). Governance and the Global Water System: A Theoretical Exploration. Global Governance, 14(4), 419-435.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

• 9 credit points: Research paper (8,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) and a paper prospectus presentation. This option is only available to MAIR students who selected the seminar within the compulsory elective component of the MAIR.
• 6 credit points: Research paper (5,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) + paper prospectus presentation.
• 3 credit points:
a) Research paper (3,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) + paper prospectus or
b) Oral presentation (20–25 minutes + classroom activity). r

The seminar supports students in the process of conceiving, designing, and writing the thesis, complementing the input they receive from their supervisors. The thesis seminar consists of three workshops: In the first workshop students present their thesis topic and initial ideas about how to tackle it. The second workshop gives students an opportunity to present and discuss their fully elaborated research design, i.e. precise statements of their (final) research question, its (normative, scientific, or practical) relevance, its place in the literature, their working hypothesis (or hypotheses), the role of theory in their study, the methods they are employing and the reasons for choosing them, the data they are using, etc. Finally, the third workshop is devoted to discussing interim results of students’ investigation on the basis of a “writing sample”, i.e. a draft of the introduction or of a key chapter. In each workshop, students receive feedback from the instructor and their fellow students intended to help them identify problems in their arguments and possible solutions to these problems.

Preparatory Reading

Van Evera, Stephen (1997): Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, chs 3, 4 & 5. https://doi.org/10.7591/9780801454455

Assignments and Credits

3 CP: three progress reports

This course wants to enable students to run their own (quantitative) research project in R. In the process, they will learn basic data wrangling and data visualisation in R. Every student will choose a project that they want to conduct using publicly available data of their choosing (some examples will be provided) and will, in consultation with the course coordinator, work towards a project report at the end of the course that they will present to the other students. Students will analyse their data in the open-source programme R and will be encouraged to write their final reports in it, too. The course will be a mixture of lectures on practical issues and a project based working sessions in exchange with the course coordinator and other students to make use of peer-to-peer learning. The lecture will be tailored to the needs and levels of the participating students.

In this course students are encouraged to run their own small-scale analysis project using R from beginning to end: choosing a topic and research question they find interesting, selecting and downloading the relevant data, using simple (presumably mostly) descriptive statistics such as means, and writing a report about their findings. They will be encouraged to use Quarto/ Rmarkdown, the integrated tool within R-Studio, to write their final reports and export them into PDF to automatically integrate updated findings. Also, students will be encouraged to upload and maintain their project on git. This course teaches practical skills and combines it with theoretical grounding in reproducible science. Hence it can be used as a good foundation for quantitative bachelor or master theses, and to learn skills that can be used also outside of academia.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

• Wickham, Hadley, Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel, and Garrett Grolemund. ‘Introduction’. In R for Data Science, 2nd Edition, Second edition. O’Reilley, https://r4ds.hadley.nz/intro.html.
• Munafò, Marcus R., Brian A. Nosek, Dorothy V. M. Bishop, et al. ‘A Manifesto for Reproducible Science’. Nature Human Behaviour 1, no. 1 (2017): 0021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-016-0021.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

Students can take the course for 3 CP or 6 CP. The final assessment will depend on the amount of CP students chose. Both assessments include the simple progress report every two weeks (just about one paragraph in an unstructured form, including reasons for no progress, which will always happen, is no problem and part of the process) and the final script of the project. Beyond that, the two different levels encompass the following two assessments:

3 CP:
• Short presentation (10 minutes)
• Short final research note with references (~5 pages, at least one high-quality graph)
6 CP:
• Long presentation (20 minutes)
• Long final research note with references (~10 pages, at least two high-quality graphs)

The seminar explores and examines the phenomenon of disinformation in international politics, with a focus on current trends and developments. Topics of the seminar include disinformation in elections, crises and conflicts; the political utility of fake news; information warfare; digital technology; deepfakes; strategic motivations of various (non-)state actors; the impact of disinformation on democratic processes; regulatory efforts; and ways of identifying fact-based knowledge and of verifying information. The seminar takes an interdisciplinary perspective for a fuller understanding of how disinformation functions and how democratic societies may guard against it.

Learning goals: The seminar content is taught with a participatory, case-study approach. Students will be able to understand key concepts; deconstruct and analyse disinformation campaigns regarding their source, motivations, target audiences and objectives; critically assess cases in light of the tension between free speech and threat mitigation; and strengthen their capacities of identifying reliable information. Students will also strengthen their analytical, writing and presentation skills. Gained knowledge serves both further academic studies of the topic and the application to other professional areas.

Regular participation in the seminar is an important basis to achieve the seminar's learning goals. Preparatory reading is recommended.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Chan, Kenddrick and Chris Alden. n.d. Understanding and Mitigating Disinformation: A Primer for Policymakers and Stakeholders. LSE. Download: https://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/Assets/Documents/project-docs/LSE-Meta-GK-Primer-on-Disinformation.pdf

USAID. Center for Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance. 2021. Disinformation Primer.
Download: https://www.echocommunity.org/resources/319e91d9-41ef-4fd7-aff3-d429b5774801

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

3 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion
6 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion & research paper (5,000 words ±10%, excluding references)
9 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion (40 % of grade) & research paper (8,000 words ±10%,, excluding references) (60 % of grade)
Papers to be turned in by end of the semester (Sep. 30, 2026)

The class provides an introduction to core concepts of international relations theory. The focus is on what different theories consider to be the key drivers of international and transnational relations. global politics, focusing on key concepts and issues of theories of international relations: states, sovereignty, conflict, cooperation, international institutions, non-governmental organizations, delegation and (indirect) global governance. The course starts with a focus on classical, Western literatures but concludes with sessions on gender, race, colonialism and the end of the Western-dominated liberal international order. By the end of the course, students will be able to understand and apply the key concepts in their own research.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

any textbook on IR

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

6 CP
Requirements

Attendance: Students are expected to be present and prepared for every class session. Active participation during seminar discussions is essential. If unavoidable circumstances arise which prevent attendance or preparation, the instructor should be advised in advance by email.

Reseearch paper:Each student submits a brief paper at the end of the seminar. The paper should engage with one of the readings of this class, summarize the main argument and comment on it. Grading will consider the rigor of the analysis, and the quality of writing. The word limit is 3000 words everything included. Each student presents his or her paper idea in a short presentation during the final session. .

Maps are powerful tools for understanding and communicating political phenomena. In this block seminar you will learn to use the statistical software R to produce customisable, publication-quality maps and other data visualisations. No prior knowledge of R is required. Participants are encouraged to use data from their own research projects, but test datasets will also be provided.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:
3CP

What does solidarity mean and how is it realised? This seminar examines the concept of solidarity and its role in domestic and international politics. We discuss how solidarity has been conceptualised in social theory and invoked by politicians, scholars, and activists across different contexts. We analyse its empirical manifestations in areas such as domestic social policy, international cooperation, and transnational social movements.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:
3CP or 6CP

https://www.uni-bremen.de/fb8/international/internationales-modul
3 CP/ECTS for this course, +3 CP/ECTS extra credit

Power is a core concept of the social sciences. At the same time, it is highly – perhaps “essentially” – contested. International Relations (IR) is no exception in this regard. What may add to the confusion is that, when reading IR theory, you may be left with two contradictory impressions: on the one hand, it may appear as though a concern with power – its sources, forms, and consequences – is the hallmark of a particular school of thought, to wit realism; on the other hand, you may just as easily be led to conclude that power operates as a shared point of reference of all IR theories, which, however, conceive of it in very different ways. In this seminar, we will first familiarize ourselves with competing or complementary concepts (or theories) of power that have gained traction in IR. Subsequently, we will examine how different notions of power play out in substantive research on world politics, with an emphasis on the sub-field of global governance.

Preparatory Reading

Barnett, Michael/Duvall, Raymond (2005): Power in International Politics. In: International Organization, 59 (1), 39-75. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3877878

Assignments and Credits

9 CP (IR-4: Seminar 1): term paper (5–7,000 words) (two thirds of the grade) and oral presentation (c. 20–25 min.) plus written summary (1,000–1,500 words) or review essay (2,000-2,500 words) (one third of the grade)

6 CP (MAPW M3, GS, Erasmus): term paper (5–7,000 words)

3 CP (IR-4: Seminar 2, GS, Erasmus): oral presentation (c. 20–25 min.) plus written summary (1,000–1,500 words) or review essay (2,000-2,500 words)

History and theory are often treated as opposites. History is about the particular, and time- and space-specific. Theory is about the general, and time- and space-invariant. Yet, theory develops in historical time. The questions it tries to answer, and the generalizations it tries to develop reflect the historical context of discovery, and the specific phenomena and problems that made this context distinct. By reading major contributions to integration theory in the rough chronological order of their publication, this class helps to reconstruct not only the history of theory development in EU studies but also the history of the EU itself from the 1950s to the present day.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

• Attendance: Students are expected to be present and prepared for every class session. Active participation during seminar discussions is essential. If unavoidable circumstances arise which prevent attendance, please tell me in advance (genschel@uni-bremen.de). All assigned readings are ready for download on Studip > Dateien > Literature
• Response paper: Each student has to prepare one response paper over the course of the seminar. The paper is 1-2 pages long and offers a critique of an assigned reading. The response paper should be uploaded on StudIP the day before the session in which the reading is due. The student should be prepared to briefly summarize and defend his or her criticism in class.
• Paper prospectus: Each student has to present his or her paper idea (research question and approach) during the last session of the class. More information during class.
• Research paper: each student has to write a 3000 words (all included) research paper on a topic related to the contents of the class.

6 CP

Power is a core concept of the social sciences. At the same time, it is highly – perhaps “essentially” – contested. International Relations (IR) is no exception in this regard. What may add to the confusion is that, when reading IR theory, you may be left with two contradictory impressions: on the one hand, it may appear as though a concern with power – its sources, forms, and consequences – is the hallmark of a particular school of thought, to wit realism; on the other hand, you may just as easily be led to conclude that power operates as a shared point of reference of all IR theories, which, however, conceive of it in very different ways. In this seminar, we will first familiarize ourselves with competing or complementary concepts (or theories) of power that have gained traction in IR. Subsequently, we will examine how different notions of power play out in substantive research on world politics, with an emphasis on the sub-field of global governance.

Preparatory Reading

Barnett, Michael/Duvall, Raymond (2005): Power in International Politics. In: International Organization, 59 (1), 39-75. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3877878

Assignments and Credits

9 CP (IR-4: Seminar 1): term paper (5–7,000 words) (two thirds of the grade) and oral presentation (c. 20–25 min.) plus written summary (1,000–1,500 words) or review essay (2,000-2,500 words) (one third of the grade)

6 CP (MAPW M3, GS, Erasmus): term paper (5–7,000 words)

3 CP (IR-4: Seminar 2, GS, Erasmus): oral presentation (c. 20–25 min.) plus written summary (1,000–1,500 words) or review essay (2,000-2,500 words)

History and theory are often treated as opposites. History is about the particular, and time- and space-specific. Theory is about the general, and time- and space-invariant. Yet, theory develops in historical time. The questions it tries to answer, and the generalizations it tries to develop reflect the historical context of discovery, and the specific phenomena and problems that made this context distinct. By reading major contributions to integration theory in the rough chronological order of their publication, this class helps to reconstruct not only the history of theory development in EU studies but also the history of the EU itself from the 1950s to the present day.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

• Attendance: Students are expected to be present and prepared for every class session. Active participation during seminar discussions is essential. If unavoidable circumstances arise which prevent attendance, please tell me in advance (genschel@uni-bremen.de). All assigned readings are ready for download on Studip > Dateien > Literature
• Response paper: Each student has to prepare one response paper over the course of the seminar. The paper is 1-2 pages long and offers a critique of an assigned reading. The response paper should be uploaded on StudIP the day before the session in which the reading is due. The student should be prepared to briefly summarize and defend his or her criticism in class.
• Paper prospectus: Each student has to present his or her paper idea (research question and approach) during the last session of the class. More information during class.
• Research paper: each student has to write a 3000 words (all included) research paper on a topic related to the contents of the class.

6 CP

The seminar explores and examines the phenomenon of disinformation in international politics, with a focus on current trends and developments. Topics of the seminar include disinformation in elections, crises and conflicts; the political utility of fake news; information warfare; digital technology; deepfakes; strategic motivations of various (non-)state actors; the impact of disinformation on democratic processes; regulatory efforts; and ways of identifying fact-based knowledge and of verifying information. The seminar takes an interdisciplinary perspective for a fuller understanding of how disinformation functions and how democratic societies may guard against it.

Learning goals: The seminar content is taught with a participatory, case-study approach. Students will be able to understand key concepts; deconstruct and analyse disinformation campaigns regarding their source, motivations, target audiences and objectives; critically assess cases in light of the tension between free speech and threat mitigation; and strengthen their capacities of identifying reliable information. Students will also strengthen their analytical, writing and presentation skills. Gained knowledge serves both further academic studies of the topic and the application to other professional areas.

Regular participation in the seminar is an important basis to achieve the seminar's learning goals. Preparatory reading is recommended.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Chan, Kenddrick and Chris Alden. n.d. Understanding and Mitigating Disinformation: A Primer for Policymakers and Stakeholders. LSE. Download: https://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/Assets/Documents/project-docs/LSE-Meta-GK-Primer-on-Disinformation.pdf

USAID. Center for Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance. 2021. Disinformation Primer.
Download: https://www.echocommunity.org/resources/319e91d9-41ef-4fd7-aff3-d429b5774801

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

3 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion
6 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion & research paper (5,000 words ±10%, excluding references)
9 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion (40 % of grade) & research paper (8,000 words ±10%,, excluding references) (60 % of grade)
Papers to be turned in by end of the semester (Sep. 30, 2026)

What does solidarity mean and how is it realised? This seminar examines the concept of solidarity and its role in domestic and international politics. We discuss how solidarity has been conceptualised in social theory and invoked by politicians, scholars, and activists across different contexts. We analyse its empirical manifestations in areas such as domestic social policy, international cooperation, and transnational social movements.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:
3CP or 6CP

The seminar explores and examines the phenomenon of disinformation in international politics, with a focus on current trends and developments. Topics of the seminar include disinformation in elections, crises and conflicts; the political utility of fake news; information warfare; digital technology; deepfakes; strategic motivations of various (non-)state actors; the impact of disinformation on democratic processes; regulatory efforts; and ways of identifying fact-based knowledge and of verifying information. The seminar takes an interdisciplinary perspective for a fuller understanding of how disinformation functions and how democratic societies may guard against it.

Learning goals: The seminar content is taught with a participatory, case-study approach. Students will be able to understand key concepts; deconstruct and analyse disinformation campaigns regarding their source, motivations, target audiences and objectives; critically assess cases in light of the tension between free speech and threat mitigation; and strengthen their capacities of identifying reliable information. Students will also strengthen their analytical, writing and presentation skills. Gained knowledge serves both further academic studies of the topic and the application to other professional areas.

Regular participation in the seminar is an important basis to achieve the seminar's learning goals. Preparatory reading is recommended.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Chan, Kenddrick and Chris Alden. n.d. Understanding and Mitigating Disinformation: A Primer for Policymakers and Stakeholders. LSE. Download: https://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/Assets/Documents/project-docs/LSE-Meta-GK-Primer-on-Disinformation.pdf

USAID. Center for Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance. 2021. Disinformation Primer.
Download: https://www.echocommunity.org/resources/319e91d9-41ef-4fd7-aff3-d429b5774801

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

3 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion
6 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion & research paper (5,000 words ±10%, excluding references)
9 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion (40 % of grade) & research paper (8,000 words ±10%,, excluding references) (60 % of grade)
Papers to be turned in by end of the semester (Sep. 30, 2026)

What does solidarity mean and how is it realised? This seminar examines the concept of solidarity and its role in domestic and international politics. We discuss how solidarity has been conceptualised in social theory and invoked by politicians, scholars, and activists across different contexts. We analyse its empirical manifestations in areas such as domestic social policy, international cooperation, and transnational social movements.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:
3CP or 6CP

This is a seminar about the economic governance of the European Union, studied from a political economy perspective centred around questions like "how do the EU, its member states, and the market relate to each other?", "how are economic policies decided, and by whom?", "why do we get the economic policies we get?", and "who wins and who loses from the EU’s economic policies?". The goal of the seminar is for students to (a) understand the main features of the EU’s economic governance, (b) become familiar with main theoretical approaches used to study the EU’s political economy, and © learn how to formulate and critically assess answers to political economy questions about the EU’s economic governance. The weekly two-hour seminar will be held in English and consists, broadly speaking, of two main parts. The first part will cover key background elements of the EU’s political economy and an overview of theoretical approaches used to study it. The second part will cover specific areas of economic policy (e.g., monetary policy, social policy, single market policy, trade & investment policy, industrial policy) and evaluate academic articles that study those policy fields.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

The following chapter may be useful to get a basic sense of what it means to study European economic governance from a political economy perspective:
-Moschella, M., Quaglia, L., & Spendzharova, A. (2023). Introductory Chapter: European Political Economy: Mapping the Research Field. In European Political Economy: Theoretical Approaches and Policy Issues (pp. 1–22). Oxford University Press.

No preparatory reading is required, but students should have a basic background understanding of the European Union. The first (very short) four chapters of the following text may be useful for students seeking to gain or refresh such background knowledge:
-Usherwood, S. & Pinder, J. (2018). The European Union: A Very Short Introduction, 4th edition. Oxford University Press.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

Students will be required to present a text in class (ungraded) and, depending on how many ECTS they seek, write a review paper (3 ECTS), a term paper (6 ECTS), or both (9 ECTS).

This course provides an understanding of how transnational and transboundary waters are governed. First, students will develop a foundation in the relevant concepts, as well as the theoretical and practical frameworks of water governance. Second, we will examine the various actors involved at the global, national, and subnational levels, their interests, and the institutional frameworks that govern transnational and transboundary waters. Third, by analyzing selected transboundary waters and the ocean, we will explore the causes of ineffectiveness in water governance at different levels. Fourth, students will develop an in-depth understanding of the nexus between water governance, environmental conservation, pollution management, and peace by examining specific cases, including plastics in the ocean and mangroves. Through an individual research project (research paper or oral presentation), students will conduct a qualitative analysis, applying governance frameworks to single-case or cross-case comparisons, and present their (preliminary) findings in class. Students will also participate in interactive, class-based role-playing simulations. By the end of the course, students will be able to draw comparisons across institutional frameworks, apply governance modes to empirical cases, and evaluate policy successes and failures. In this way, students will strengthen both their analytical and practical understanding of contemporary water governance issues and be able to formulate policy recommendations.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Pahl-Wostl, C., Gupta, J., & Petry, D. (2008). Governance and the Global Water System: A Theoretical Exploration. Global Governance, 14(4), 419-435.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

• 9 credit points: Research paper (8,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) and a paper prospectus presentation. This option is only available to MAIR students who selected the seminar within the compulsory elective component of the MAIR.
• 6 credit points: Research paper (5,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) + paper prospectus presentation.
• 3 credit points:
a) Research paper (3,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) + paper prospectus or
b) Oral presentation (20–25 minutes + classroom activity). r

This is a seminar about the economic governance of the European Union, studied from a political economy perspective centred around questions like "how do the EU, its member states, and the market relate to each other?", "how are economic policies decided, and by whom?", "why do we get the economic policies we get?", and "who wins and who loses from the EU’s economic policies?". The goal of the seminar is for students to (a) understand the main features of the EU’s economic governance, (b) become familiar with main theoretical approaches used to study the EU’s political economy, and © learn how to formulate and critically assess answers to political economy questions about the EU’s economic governance. The weekly two-hour seminar will be held in English and consists, broadly speaking, of two main parts. The first part will cover key background elements of the EU’s political economy and an overview of theoretical approaches used to study it. The second part will cover specific areas of economic policy (e.g., monetary policy, social policy, single market policy, trade & investment policy, industrial policy) and evaluate academic articles that study those policy fields.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

The following chapter may be useful to get a basic sense of what it means to study European economic governance from a political economy perspective:
-Moschella, M., Quaglia, L., & Spendzharova, A. (2023). Introductory Chapter: European Political Economy: Mapping the Research Field. In European Political Economy: Theoretical Approaches and Policy Issues (pp. 1–22). Oxford University Press.

No preparatory reading is required, but students should have a basic background understanding of the European Union. The first (very short) four chapters of the following text may be useful for students seeking to gain or refresh such background knowledge:
-Usherwood, S. & Pinder, J. (2018). The European Union: A Very Short Introduction, 4th edition. Oxford University Press.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

Students will be required to present a text in class (ungraded) and, depending on how many ECTS they seek, write a review paper (3 ECTS), a term paper (6 ECTS), or both (9 ECTS).

This course provides an understanding of how transnational and transboundary waters are governed. First, students will develop a foundation in the relevant concepts, as well as the theoretical and practical frameworks of water governance. Second, we will examine the various actors involved at the global, national, and subnational levels, their interests, and the institutional frameworks that govern transnational and transboundary waters. Third, by analyzing selected transboundary waters and the ocean, we will explore the causes of ineffectiveness in water governance at different levels. Fourth, students will develop an in-depth understanding of the nexus between water governance, environmental conservation, pollution management, and peace by examining specific cases, including plastics in the ocean and mangroves. Through an individual research project (research paper or oral presentation), students will conduct a qualitative analysis, applying governance frameworks to single-case or cross-case comparisons, and present their (preliminary) findings in class. Students will also participate in interactive, class-based role-playing simulations. By the end of the course, students will be able to draw comparisons across institutional frameworks, apply governance modes to empirical cases, and evaluate policy successes and failures. In this way, students will strengthen both their analytical and practical understanding of contemporary water governance issues and be able to formulate policy recommendations.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Pahl-Wostl, C., Gupta, J., & Petry, D. (2008). Governance and the Global Water System: A Theoretical Exploration. Global Governance, 14(4), 419-435.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

• 9 credit points: Research paper (8,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) and a paper prospectus presentation. This option is only available to MAIR students who selected the seminar within the compulsory elective component of the MAIR.
• 6 credit points: Research paper (5,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) + paper prospectus presentation.
• 3 credit points:
a) Research paper (3,000 words ±10%, excluding the bibliography) + paper prospectus or
b) Oral presentation (20–25 minutes + classroom activity). r

The seminar supports students in the process of conceiving, designing, and writing the thesis, complementing the input they receive from their supervisors. The thesis seminar consists of three workshops: In the first workshop students present their thesis topic and initial ideas about how to tackle it. The second workshop gives students an opportunity to present and discuss their fully elaborated research design, i.e. precise statements of their (final) research question, its (normative, scientific, or practical) relevance, its place in the literature, their working hypothesis (or hypotheses), the role of theory in their study, the methods they are employing and the reasons for choosing them, the data they are using, etc. Finally, the third workshop is devoted to discussing interim results of students’ investigation on the basis of a “writing sample”, i.e. a draft of the introduction or of a key chapter. In each workshop, students receive feedback from the instructor and their fellow students intended to help them identify problems in their arguments and possible solutions to these problems.

Preparatory Reading

Van Evera, Stephen (1997): Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, chs 3, 4 & 5. https://doi.org/10.7591/9780801454455

Assignments and Credits

3 CP: three progress reports

This course wants to enable students to run their own (quantitative) research project in R. In the process, they will learn basic data wrangling and data visualisation in R. Every student will choose a project that they want to conduct using publicly available data of their choosing (some examples will be provided) and will, in consultation with the course coordinator, work towards a project report at the end of the course that they will present to the other students. Students will analyse their data in the open-source programme R and will be encouraged to write their final reports in it, too. The course will be a mixture of lectures on practical issues and a project based working sessions in exchange with the course coordinator and other students to make use of peer-to-peer learning. The lecture will be tailored to the needs and levels of the participating students.

In this course students are encouraged to run their own small-scale analysis project using R from beginning to end: choosing a topic and research question they find interesting, selecting and downloading the relevant data, using simple (presumably mostly) descriptive statistics such as means, and writing a report about their findings. They will be encouraged to use Quarto/ Rmarkdown, the integrated tool within R-Studio, to write their final reports and export them into PDF to automatically integrate updated findings. Also, students will be encouraged to upload and maintain their project on git. This course teaches practical skills and combines it with theoretical grounding in reproducible science. Hence it can be used as a good foundation for quantitative bachelor or master theses, and to learn skills that can be used also outside of academia.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

• Wickham, Hadley, Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel, and Garrett Grolemund. ‘Introduction’. In R for Data Science, 2nd Edition, Second edition. O’Reilley, https://r4ds.hadley.nz/intro.html.
• Munafò, Marcus R., Brian A. Nosek, Dorothy V. M. Bishop, et al. ‘A Manifesto for Reproducible Science’. Nature Human Behaviour 1, no. 1 (2017): 0021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-016-0021.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

Students can take the course for 3 CP or 6 CP. The final assessment will depend on the amount of CP students chose. Both assessments include the simple progress report every two weeks (just about one paragraph in an unstructured form, including reasons for no progress, which will always happen, is no problem and part of the process) and the final script of the project. Beyond that, the two different levels encompass the following two assessments:

3 CP:
• Short presentation (10 minutes)
• Short final research note with references (~5 pages, at least one high-quality graph)
6 CP:
• Long presentation (20 minutes)
• Long final research note with references (~10 pages, at least two high-quality graphs)

The seminar explores and examines the phenomenon of disinformation in international politics, with a focus on current trends and developments. Topics of the seminar include disinformation in elections, crises and conflicts; the political utility of fake news; information warfare; digital technology; deepfakes; strategic motivations of various (non-)state actors; the impact of disinformation on democratic processes; regulatory efforts; and ways of identifying fact-based knowledge and of verifying information. The seminar takes an interdisciplinary perspective for a fuller understanding of how disinformation functions and how democratic societies may guard against it.

Learning goals: The seminar content is taught with a participatory, case-study approach. Students will be able to understand key concepts; deconstruct and analyse disinformation campaigns regarding their source, motivations, target audiences and objectives; critically assess cases in light of the tension between free speech and threat mitigation; and strengthen their capacities of identifying reliable information. Students will also strengthen their analytical, writing and presentation skills. Gained knowledge serves both further academic studies of the topic and the application to other professional areas.

Regular participation in the seminar is an important basis to achieve the seminar's learning goals. Preparatory reading is recommended.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Chan, Kenddrick and Chris Alden. n.d. Understanding and Mitigating Disinformation: A Primer for Policymakers and Stakeholders. LSE. Download: https://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/Assets/Documents/project-docs/LSE-Meta-GK-Primer-on-Disinformation.pdf

USAID. Center for Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance. 2021. Disinformation Primer.
Download: https://www.echocommunity.org/resources/319e91d9-41ef-4fd7-aff3-d429b5774801

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

3 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion
6 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion & research paper (5,000 words ±10%, excluding references)
9 CP: Oral presentation in class (20-25 min) with 2-page handout and discussion (40 % of grade) & research paper (8,000 words ±10%,, excluding references) (60 % of grade)
Papers to be turned in by end of the semester (Sep. 30, 2026)

The class provides an introduction to core concepts of international relations theory. The focus is on what different theories consider to be the key drivers of international and transnational relations. global politics, focusing on key concepts and issues of theories of international relations: states, sovereignty, conflict, cooperation, international institutions, non-governmental organizations, delegation and (indirect) global governance. The course starts with a focus on classical, Western literatures but concludes with sessions on gender, race, colonialism and the end of the Western-dominated liberal international order. By the end of the course, students will be able to understand and apply the key concepts in their own research.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

any textbook on IR

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

6 CP
Requirements

Attendance: Students are expected to be present and prepared for every class session. Active participation during seminar discussions is essential. If unavoidable circumstances arise which prevent attendance or preparation, the instructor should be advised in advance by email.

Reseearch paper:Each student submits a brief paper at the end of the seminar. The paper should engage with one of the readings of this class, summarize the main argument and comment on it. Grading will consider the rigor of the analysis, and the quality of writing. The word limit is 3000 words everything included. Each student presents his or her paper idea in a short presentation during the final session. .

Maps are powerful tools for understanding and communicating political phenomena. In this block seminar you will learn to use the statistical software R to produce customisable, publication-quality maps and other data visualisations. No prior knowledge of R is required. Participants are encouraged to use data from their own research projects, but test datasets will also be provided.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:
3CP

What does solidarity mean and how is it realised? This seminar examines the concept of solidarity and its role in domestic and international politics. We discuss how solidarity has been conceptualised in social theory and invoked by politicians, scholars, and activists across different contexts. We analyse its empirical manifestations in areas such as domestic social policy, international cooperation, and transnational social movements.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:
3CP or 6CP

https://www.uni-bremen.de/fb8/international/internationales-modul
3 CP/ECTS for this course, +3 CP/ECTS extra credit