Core Courses and Research Seminars
Core Courses
Methods I: Research Design, Qualitative Methods, and Data Collection
This seminar introduces MACIS students to core issues of research design as well as to basic qualitative methods. Among the core issues of research design, the seminar deals with the relevance of research questions, causality and theory construction, concept formation and measurement, and the selection of variables and cases/observations. Qualitative methods focus on comparative and case-study designs. The seminar puts special emphasis on methodological pluralism and the trade-offs involved in research design choices.
Methods II: Quantitative Methods
This class provides an introduction to quantitative methods for political science and policy analysis. The class covers statistical inference, introductory probability, descriptive statistics, regression, and statistical and database programming. The goal is to provide students with the foundation necessary to analyze data in their own research and to become critical consumers of statistical claims made in the news media, in policy reports, and in academic research.
Methods III: Causal Inference
This course provides an introduction to statistical methods used for causal inference in the social sciences. Using thepotential outcomes framework of causality, we discuss designs and methods for data from randomized experiments and observational studies. In particular, designs and methods covered include randomization, matching, instrumental variables, difference-in-difference, synthetic control, and regression discontinuity. Concepts and methods are applied to examples from political science and political economy.
Democracy
This seminar addresses the major challenges to democratic institutions in an era of globalization and international governance. At the level of political theory, the seminar discusses major approaches of democratic theory and their implications for current political developments. Other central issues are: How does the de-nationalization of economic and other social processes impact democracy? What are the consequences of governance in international organizations for the quality of democracy at the national level? What are the prospects and limits of democratizing international governance?
Political Violence
This seminar offers an introduction to political violence and conflict in domestic and international politics. We start by considering classical strategic thought and explanations of interstate wars. The course also covers the theories of civil and ethnic wars as well as regional conflict and diffusion of political violence across state borders. Other topics include new threats, such as transnational terrorism and other non-state actors, and the privatization of political violence. Finally, the seminar also introduces the MACIS students to conflicts resolution and prevention, and the relationship between conflict on the one hand and nation-building and democratization on the other hand.
Political Economy
This seminar emphasizes the interplay of political and economic forces in shaping policy outcomes at local to global levels. This course focuses on the application of economic logic to political questions and the influence of political processes and institutions on economic activity. Consequently, it will draw on a broad range of theoretical perspectives from comparative and international politics, positive political theory, public choice, and economics. We first review basic theoretical models from political science and economics and then use them to investigate a number of specific areas of interest. We examine the effects of special interests on government regulation of economic activity, the determinants of the size of government, economic growth and sustainable development, the politics of international trade and investment, and monetary and fiscal policy. We seek to make students familiar not only with the theoretical and methodological approaches used in this area of study, but also with important research issues in comparative and international political economy.
Research Seminars
Political Order and Conflict
This seminar builds on the MACIS seminar on “Political Violence” and covers the literature on civil war and other types of conflict in the contemporary world. We will cover topics such as ethnic violence, political economy perspectives on war, the role of political institutions, and the international dimensions of civil conflict. The students will develop an original research question to be dealt with in a research paper.
The seminar will run for one term and will expose students to the literature on political order and conflict. It will provide an overview of core topics and readings, although students are highly encouraged to consult readings not covered on the syllabus when developing their projects. Students will write a research design, which may eventually turn into a full-length paper or thesis, and are expected to present their design during the final sessions of the course.
Comparative and International Political Economy
This research seminar complements the MACIS core seminar in Political Economy. It covers topics such as international trade, environmental policy, sustainable development, international finance and foreign direct investment, and welfare state policy. Each student will develop a research question, a theoretical argument, and an empirical research design. S/he will conduct an empirical analysis responding to her/his theoretical argument, and present her/his research in the form of a seminar paper. This paper may, but need not, form the basis for research leading to the MA thesis. Because the number of students will be very small and the Political Economy core course runs in parallel, the general approach will be informal and decentralized as research interests will be heterogeneous. The main goal is to learn – hands-on – how to carry out high-quality research and write a good research seminar paper.
Political Behaviour
This advanced research seminar deals with current issues and research on political behaviour in Europe's multi-level system.
The seminar is designed for advanced students of political science with an interest in comparative politics and EU integration. It introduces students to state-of-the-art theorizing, data, methods, and empirical findings and provides them with manifold opportunities to work with data on their own. After taking this seminar, students should have a good overview of current research and be prepared to write their Master's thesis in this area. Students may also propose research topics of their interest.
Topics in International Relations and Data Science: Gender, Norms, and Violence
Gender-based discrimination and gender-based violence remain among the most pressing human rights issues of our time. Students will engage with a broad range of studies and approaches from data science, international relations, and comparative politics that explore the relationship between types of norms; gender and intersectional identities; discrimination; and violence.
Students will engage with a diverse range of studies and research methods focused on the relationship between norms, policies, identities, and violence. Students will be required to demonstrate a strong grasp of the course literature as well as critical engagement with the methodological approaches discussed. They will design a quantitative study related to the core subjects of the course.
Ending Violence
In this seminar, students will examine civil wars, how they end, and consequences in post-conflict society. Beginning with revolutionary warfare and counterinsurgency theories, we will explore how wars end and the institutions they create. We then study the social and political legacies of violence.
Through this lens, students will evaluate how wartime dynamics influence how they end and - in post-conflict society - governance, reconciliation, and institutional resilience. The course underscores the challenges to securing peace, the lasting impact of wartime legacies on societies, and the challenges to achieving enduring peace and social cohesion after civil conflicts nominally end.
Specifically, at the end of this course, students will be able to: Identify processes of change that occur during conflict, at both the individual and collective level; Identify how these processes end, or not, when conflict nominally ends; Contrast underlying theories driving the persistence of these processes; Debate strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to study ending violent conflict and their legacies; Apply theories of ending violent conflict to specific cases.
Methods IV: Causal Inference
This course provides an introduction to statistical methods used for causal inference in the social sciences. Using the potential outcomes framework of causality, we discuss designs and methods for data from randomized experiments and observational studies. In particular, designs and methods covered include randomization, matching, instrumental variables, difference-in-difference, synthetic control, regression discontinuity, and quantile regression. Examples are drawn from the social sciences.
Data Science, AI, and Human Rights
This course explores the application of data science, artificial intelligence, and technologies such as remote sensing to human rights research.Through interdisciplinary approaches, students will develop skills to responsibly apply and critically reflect on data science techniques in sensitive or high-risk environments.
By the end of this course, students will be able to apply core data science methods to human rights research, design responsible strategies for data collection, protection, and analysis, and critically assess biases and ethical risks in AI, large language models, and humanitarian data pipelines.
Topics in Public Policy:
The Politics and Policies of International Migration
This seminar will provide a collaborative and immersive research experience where students work together with the instructor to design and implement a randomised experiment to study topical questions related to the politics or policies of international migration.
Upon completion, course participants will have first-hand experience with collaborate research including project management, spanning the entire project cycle from ideation, study design and pre-analysis planning, field phase and data collection, statistical analysis and paper writing.
Topics in Public Policy:
Governing the Energy Transition
This research seminar addresses the role of policy change and its underlying politics in the transformation of the energy and other climate and sustainability-related sectors. It focuses on political perspectives (while also touching on historical and socio-economic perspectives) and applies various theoretical concepts to understand specific aspects of transition governance.