Course contents:
This course gives students an introduction to 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.
Teaching style:
The course will be taught in seminar style. The course will combine literature-based discussions in class with group work. Students are encouraged to bring in their own academic and practical knowledge. They will work on developing their own research ideas throughout the semester. It is essential that every student reads the assigned papers thoroughly and carefully ahead of class.
All readings are available for download on the course website on Stud.IP

The purpose of the seminar is to learn from classic and contemporary texts of modern social theory. By studying those texts, we can elaborate concepts concerning fundamental characteristics of social developments and adapt them for the analysis of contemporary societal problems. By combining distinguished and contradictory perspectives, we will focus on those achievements which prepare a better understanding and explanation of long-term developments that are of extreme importance also for challenges of governance and social change in the 21st century. Topics for discussion include the methodological status of social theory, different characterizations of modern society (in particular capitalist society), the relation of agency and structure, power and hegemony, the critique of certain features of modern society, and the relevance of the categories of race and gender. The seminar will serve as a general introduction to modern social theory – it does not require any previous knowledge of this field, but the willingness to engage with theoretical texts and their sometimes complex arguments.

This course provides a theoretical introduction to the use of quantitative methods in political science and international relations. It deals with quantitative research design, causal inference, and the assumptions and interpretation of linear regression models. The primary aim is to foster confident understanding and discussion of scientific studies that employ quantitative methods. Participants can earn 3 CPs by completing a take-home exam (5 questions) between 5th and 12th December.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Kellstedt, Paul M., and Guy D. Whitten (2008). The Fundamentals of Political Science Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:
3 CP Take-home exam

Participation in the Introduction to Quantitative Methods in the first half of the semester is a prerequisite for this course. The specialization seminar provides an applied introduction to the use of quantitative methods in political science and international relations. The primary aim is to enable the independent application of multiple regression analysis. The course also introduces more advanced methods including nonlinear models. Participants will be trained and supported to use the statistical software “R” for data processing, visualization, analysis and reporting. Those with prior experience may choose to complete the class work and assessment using Stata.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Kellstedt, Paul M., and Guy D. Whitten (2008). The Fundamentals of Political Science Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:
6 CP Research report

This colloquium addresses students from BA and MA programs in social sciences with an interest in international relations and international political sociology. Together with Ph-candidates and post-doc scholars we will discuss recent contributions to the field, talk to invited scholars and present ongoing work from different research projects in the field of internationalized politics.

Social policy plays important roles in development contexts, i.e., in countries which are not highly industrialised, occupy disadvantageous positions in the global economic order, exhibit high levels of poverty, and are often dependent on external (donor) assistance. Health, education, housing, land redistribution, support to smallholders, and different forms of social protection not only foster social development, but can accompany and underpin economic restructuring and upgrading. Yet, the means for investing in social sectors and programmes are often limited, while high levels of unemployment and marginalisation impede the ability of citizens to organise and make demands. It is thus important to understand the specifics of social policy in so-called developing countries.

The course begins by setting the scene: what do we mean by “development” and how has development discourse and practice changed over time? The focus in this part is on development cooperation through international actors, but also on different regional and country experiences. Following on this, several social sectors are interrogated for their place in development, again taking country case studies into account but also studying the realm of “global social policy”, i.e., the social policy activities of inter- and transnational actors. We interrogate different international organisations for their differing views on, and approaches to, social protection; the connection between social policy and poverty reduction; the role of political mobilisation and elections for driving social policy investments by governments; and critically discuss the limits of social policy within the present international economic order.

In the first session, students should voice their specific interests, related to world regions/countries, as well as policy fields, so that we can collectively adapt the syllabus to everyone’s expectations. (If you have no specific interests at all, that is absolutely fine, too!)

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Preparatory reading (optional):

Biruk, Crystal, 2018. “Cooking Data: Culture and Politics in an African Research World”. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

Kabeer, Naila, 2024. “Social Protection, Livelihoods and ‘Structural Gaps’: Impact Assessment as Stories of Social Change”. LSE Public Policy Review 3(2): 7, pp. 1–13.

Mkandawire, Thandika, 2001. “Social Policy in a Development Context”. UNRISD Social Policy and Development Programme Paper Number 7.

Yeates, Nicola, 2014. “Understanding global social policy”. Bristol: Policy Press.

Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

3 or 6 CP through essays/term papers and/or presentations.

In this class, we study rural areas for their changing political, social, and economic place in society, by focusing on a number of topics that appear to be of particular relevance outside of cities. The course will take a global view; i.e., the “countryside” is treated as a space that cuts across national boundaries, exhibiting various commonalities across regions and continents while being shaped also by starkly differing histories and socio-economic contexts. The course tackles conceptual and theoretical frameworks (what do we mean by “rural”? Notions like “primitive accumulation”, “food security” and “food sovereignty”, etc.) as well as a number of rural themes (agricultural development and agrarian change, right-wing populism and rural social movements, poverty and inequality, etc. – to be decided depending on students’ interests).

Besides the course work (that is based on the weekly study of assigned readings), students undertake their own little research projects. For this, they identify during the first couple of weeks a topic that is of particular interest to them, prepare a background presentation, and then conduct their own interviews (two or three), followed by a small analysis. For this, the course conveys the basics of qualitative research and students will receive guidance throughout their individual projects. For those who wish to acquire six credit points, the work will result in a term paper; others will be graded on their presentation and data analysis exercise.


Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Preparatory reading (optional):
Ech-Charfi, Ahmed, 2020. “The Expression of Rural and Urban Identities in Arabic”. In: Bassiouney, Reem, and Keith Walters (eds.): The Routledge Handbook of Arabic and Identity, chapter 4.

Edelman, Marc, 2021. “Hollowed out Heartland, USA: How capital sacrificed communities and paved the way for authoritarian populism”. In: Journal of Rural Studies 82, pp. 505-517.

Ellis, Frank, 2006. “Agrarian change and rising vulnerability in rural sub-Saharan Africa”. In: New Political Economy, 11 (3), pp. 387-397.

Woods, Michael, 2007. “Engaging the global countryside: globalization, hybridity and the reconstitution of rural place”. In: Progress in Human Geography 31(4), pp. 485–507.


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

In this course, we study the politics, economics, development, and societies of Africa South of the Sahara. While a lot of Political Science literature tends to treat the continent as somewhat particular and curiously homogenous, we try to take a more nuanced approach to understanding the specifics of different countries while also taking the shared history of colonialism and socio-economic commonalities seriously, emphasising the effects of the international order and African agency alike. The course combines teachings about key concepts (“state”, “bureaucracy”, “neopatrimonialism”, “developmental state”, “gatekeeper state”, and so forth), case studies of countries and regions, as well as student-led in-depth interrogations of particular themes (such as, e.g., pan-Africanism and nationalism, mineral dependence, democracy and elections, economic development and poverty, international relations). In the first session of the course, we will decide together which countries, themes, and literatures to include, based on the interests of the group.

The course will combine inputs from the lecturer, the students, and discussions of assigned literature. It is thus inevitable to prepare the readings every week, which will be facilitated by guiding questions for each text.



Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Preparatory reading (optional):
Cooper, Frederick, 2002. “Africa since 1940: The Past of the Present”. Cambridge University Press, esp. chapter 7.

Getachew, Adom, 2019. “Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination”. Princeton University Press.

Mamdani, Mahmood, 1996. “Citizen and Subject - Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism”. Princeton University Press.

Mkandawire, Thandika, 2005. “African intellectuals: Rethinking politics, language, gender and development”. Zed Books, esp. chapter 2.


Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

3 CP: answer the guiding questions on 6 readings (in approx. one page/500 words)

6 CP: the above, plus either a 20-minute (30 minute when you do it together) presentation OR an essay of 8 pages.

This seminar tackles the urgency of climate action from a fresh perspective. Starting from recent response options released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it provides lessons learned from policy analysis and it invites you looking forward. Together, we will enable learning about evidence, analytical tools, principles, and perspectives for strategies. Integrating climate policy (SDG13) with a range of SDGs (e.g. SDG 2, 6, 7, 12, 14) is seen as pivotal to overcome narrow responses and engage actors. This is embedded in a global governance approach that seeks to balance the need for multilateral agreements with the opportunities of bottom-up multi-stakeholder approaches with regional clubs. A focus will be on the EU and its member states. It is thus system thinking and transformations driven by new alliances that are considered key to future skillsets for a next generation of leaders (i.e. You!).


Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

1) What is climate change. A really simple guide provided by BBC (https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-24021772)
2) IPCC WG III: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, THE international scientific body dealing with the issue, has been providing tangible response options in 2022 for policy makers (https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_SummaryForPolicymakers.pdf)
3) Chatham House, the No 1 world’s policy think tank, provides a range of analyses on the topic (https://www.chathamhouse.org/topics/climate-policy)
4) Youth in Action, voices from all over the world hosted by the UN (https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/youth-in-action)


Prüfungsleistungen und CP/Assignments and Credits:

The course offers two options: 3CP will be given for regular attendance and a presentation, preferably as part of a group presentation; 6CP will be given if an additional essay will be submitted.