Theories of justice are still being worked on and developed today. You question contemporary theories of justice through applying them to some of the most controversial issues dominating contemporary politics.

Study one of the most important contemporary aspects of political action: the natural environment. You consider the state of the environment and possible paths along which it might change, before exploring environmental policies from the level of individual values to the environmental movement to political parties, and finally to the level of international affairs.

In this module you focus on conflict resolution in inter- and intra-state issues. You gain experience in the practical as well as in the theoretical aspects of negotiation and mediation, exploring the applicability of various tools and techniques in problem-solving real cases of international conflict, and making use of negotiation and mediation techniques in role playing exercises and other types of simulations.

The course bridges together topics in international relations, comparative political economy, and economics. The goals of the course are to (a) introduce students to contemporary scholarly research on political economy topics, (b) introduce students to strategic models in political science using substantive applications, and (c) stimulate students to form original ideas for promising quantitative research projects in the area of contemporary political economy.

In this module you gain an overview of the logic of social science research designs that includes the goals, theories and strategies of social science research, and develop a research agenda for potential use as publication in a peer reviewed journal, MA or PhD dissertation.

You replicate an already published paper to better understand the details of the empirical analysis, assess its robustness, and develop the paper in a new direction by changing one element. For example, include a new control variable, introduce an interaction term, or extend the time period or the sample size.

On this module you explore a variety of questions concerning public opinion: How do citizens acquire information and convert it into opinions? Can politicians and the media influence public opinion and if so, how? How do we select representative samples in order to understand what the public really thinks? How do we measure opinion accurately? What type of measurement scales are available to help us do this?

The objective of this module is to provide a better understanding of democratic political and economic processes in Europe. The first part of the module will be devoted to studying the origins of party systems, party competition, electoral systems, the rise of populist and extremist parties, referendums, and linkages between citizens and politicians in West and East European countries. In the second part, we will examine the institutional foundations of welfare-capitalism and analyse the incentives of different actors (labour unions, employers, lobbyists, etc.) to maintain or undermine certain regulatory arrangements. Furthermore, we will study how coordinated and liberal capitalism types responded to challenges such as globalisation and deindustrialization. A large part of the module is devoted to studying the power-sharing arrangements in the European Union. In this context, we will analyse the new trade agreements the EU has struck in light of rising global trade tensions, and what the euro crisis, influx of refugees, and disintegration referendums might mean for the future of the EU. The module also provides an accessible introduction to research design and methods that political scientists have used to address these topics.