This class has two goals: First, it shall render students familiar with theories of political sociology that have become influential in International Relations. Here, we will focus on critical-analytical approaches from a range of authors. The second goal is to put European and African scholarship in relation by including older and recent contributions from both continents, including works that use theories of political sociology for empirical analyses.
Most of the sessions will therefore combine basic reading on key concepts and authors with additional reading in which these concepts can be seen “at work”. Credit points are acquired by oral presentations, jointly or individually, and term papers.

The text-centered seminar looks at theoretical arguments that address questions such as the following: What are human rights? How can human rights be justified? How should (and how shouldn’t) human rights be promoted and enforced? Which criticisms do human rights confront and what should we think of these criticisms? What are alternatives to human rights? What are the implications of human rights for global governance in areas such as migration and climate change?

Preparatory Reading

Nickel, James W./Etinson, Adam (2024): Human Rights. In: Zalta, Edward N./Nodelman, Uri (eds.): The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2024 Edition). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2024/entries/rights-human/

Assignments and Credits

9 CP: 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: term paper (5–7,000 words)

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

Note that the 9 CP option is exclusive to students who choose the seminar as part of the MAIR module IR-4.

This course serves as an opportunity for students to aquire conceptual, methodological, and empirical knowledge on the current phenomenon of polarization, its manifestations in Europe and its specificities in the context of the European Union. The course starts by offering an overview of diverse research approaches that enable us to identify and study different forms and types of polarization. We then reflect on polarization as a global phenomenon and on its interrelationships with Western liberal democracy, both in terms of societal processes and institutional variation in European political systems. We then zero in on how polarization has become relevant with a view to European Parliament elections and legislative activity as well as with regard to EU-member state relations. The assignments and learning methods are thereby always designed to equip students with the tools to further develop their analytical and critical thinking skills and their abilities to effectively communicate their reasoning (verbally and in writing) and to conduct their own research.

The current attention paid to the wars between Russia and Ukraine on the one hand and between Israel and Palestine overshadows long scholarly traditions in the study of war, both between and within states. In this seminar, we will look at seminal contributions to the study of the causes, courses and consequences of wars, and we will combine this with case-analyses beyond the two currently debated. This seminar will be taught in cooperation with the “Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kriegsursachenforschung” at the University of Hamburg, with the aim of improving an archive of war documentation (see akuf.de).

This course will provide students with the skills to critically analyze international resource policies and their practical implementation in North Africa and Latin America. The course begins by dealing with fundamental notions of resource sovereignty, sustainable development, and energy transition. It then looks at international and regional governance of natural resources and their trade, with particular attention to hydrocarbons, mining, and ‘renewables’. Finally, it turns to the opportunities and challenges that resource extraction can create to sustainable development, poverty reduction, and societal peace on the national and sub-national level.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Barral, Virginie (2016): ‘National sovereignty over natural resources: Environmental challenges and sustainable development’. In Research Handbook on International Law and Natural Resources. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Bauer, Andrew & Quiroz, Juan Carlos (2013): ‘Resource Governance’. In The Handbook of Global Energy Policy. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell

Assignments and Credits:

MPL (3 CP): Oral presentation plus written elaboration; GPL (6 CP): Term paper; GPL+ (9 CP): Oral presentation and term paper.

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.

Assignments and Credits

3 CP: three progress reports

This class has two goals: First, it shall render students familiar with theories of political sociology that have become influential in International Relations. Here, we will focus on critical-analytical approaches from a range of authors. The second goal is to put European and African scholarship in relation by including older and recent contributions from both continents, including works that use theories of political sociology for empirical analyses.
Most of the sessions will therefore combine basic reading on key concepts and authors with additional reading in which these concepts can be seen “at work”. Credit points are acquired by oral presentations, jointly or individually, and term papers.

The text-centered seminar looks at theoretical arguments that address questions such as the following: What are human rights? How can human rights be justified? How should (and how shouldn’t) human rights be promoted and enforced? Which criticisms do human rights confront and what should we think of these criticisms? What are alternatives to human rights? What are the implications of human rights for global governance in areas such as migration and climate change?

Preparatory Reading

Nickel, James W./Etinson, Adam (2024): Human Rights. In: Zalta, Edward N./Nodelman, Uri (eds.): The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2024 Edition). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2024/entries/rights-human/

Assignments and Credits

9 CP: 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: term paper (5–7,000 words)

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

Note that the 9 CP option is exclusive to students who choose the seminar as part of the MAIR module IR-4.

This course serves as an opportunity for students to aquire conceptual, methodological, and empirical knowledge on the current phenomenon of polarization, its manifestations in Europe and its specificities in the context of the European Union. The course starts by offering an overview of diverse research approaches that enable us to identify and study different forms and types of polarization. We then reflect on polarization as a global phenomenon and on its interrelationships with Western liberal democracy, both in terms of societal processes and institutional variation in European political systems. We then zero in on how polarization has become relevant with a view to European Parliament elections and legislative activity as well as with regard to EU-member state relations. The assignments and learning methods are thereby always designed to equip students with the tools to further develop their analytical and critical thinking skills and their abilities to effectively communicate their reasoning (verbally and in writing) and to conduct their own research.

The current attention paid to the wars between Russia and Ukraine on the one hand and between Israel and Palestine overshadows long scholarly traditions in the study of war, both between and within states. In this seminar, we will look at seminal contributions to the study of the causes, courses and consequences of wars, and we will combine this with case-analyses beyond the two currently debated. This seminar will be taught in cooperation with the “Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kriegsursachenforschung” at the University of Hamburg, with the aim of improving an archive of war documentation (see akuf.de).

This course will provide students with the skills to critically analyze international resource policies and their practical implementation in North Africa and Latin America. The course begins by dealing with fundamental notions of resource sovereignty, sustainable development, and energy transition. It then looks at international and regional governance of natural resources and their trade, with particular attention to hydrocarbons, mining, and ‘renewables’. Finally, it turns to the opportunities and challenges that resource extraction can create to sustainable development, poverty reduction, and societal peace on the national and sub-national level.

Literatur zur Vorbereitung/Preparatory Reading:

Barral, Virginie (2016): ‘National sovereignty over natural resources: Environmental challenges and sustainable development’. In Research Handbook on International Law and Natural Resources. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Bauer, Andrew & Quiroz, Juan Carlos (2013): ‘Resource Governance’. In The Handbook of Global Energy Policy. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell

Assignments and Credits:

MPL (3 CP): Oral presentation plus written elaboration; GPL (6 CP): Term paper; GPL+ (9 CP): Oral presentation and term paper.

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.

Assignments and Credits

3 CP: three progress reports