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Find individual courses here or browse the curricula of our graduate and executive programmes.
For the PhD programmes, please find more information here.

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Master of Public Policy Master of International Affairs Master of Data Science for Public Policy

Migration and human rights

Year 2 | Elective course (GRAD-E1413 , 6 credits )
Module: 7. Portfolio Elective | 6. Portfolio Elective | 5. Security & Sustainability Concentration Elective | 5. Human Rights & Global Governance Concentration Elective
Instructors: Dr. Grażyna Baranowska

Abstract

The purpose of this course is to introduce the students to current migration practices and their interconnection with human rights. Many states are engaged in migration practices, which are in violation of their human rights commitments, such as push-backs. During the course, the reasons and implications of such involvements will be assessed and discussed.

This course is for 2nd year MIA, MPP and MDS students only.

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Master of Public Policy Master of International Affairs

Military interventions and peacekeeping

Year 2 | Elective course (E1324 , 6 credits )
Module: 5. Security & Sustainability Concentration Elective | 6. Portfolio Elective
Instructors: Prof. Marina Henke, PhD

Abstract

Military interventions and related peacekeeping operations are the most costly foreign policy tool. The purpose of this seminar is to examine systematically and comparatively why these policy tools are used and what results they produce on the ground. The seminar, in particular, tries to find answers to the following questions: (1) What were the broad policy arguments in favour of or opposed to a particular operation? (2) What role did international institutions play in the set-up of the operation? (3) What specific kinds of military force proved particularly useful/detrimental? (4) In each case, do we judge the operation a success or failure, and how do we explain the success or failure?

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Master of Public Policy Master of International Affairs Master of Data Science for Public Policy

Net-zero energy systems

Year 2 | Elective course (GRAD-E1418 , 6 credits )
Module: 7. Portfolio Elective | 6. Portfolio Elective | 5. Security & Sustainability Concentration Elective | 5. Policy Analysis Concentration Elective

Abstract

To mitigate climate change, energy systems need to undergo a fundamental transition—from today being the largest source of greenhouse gases to net-zero emissions. While wind and solar energy have lately been driving decarbonization in the power sector, solutions for reaching net-zero across sectors remain unclear. Can we build our future power system entirely on wind and solar sources? How can we decarbonize our energy use for heating, transport, and industry? What is the role of synthetic fuels such as hydrogen? How developing countries decarbonize their energy systems while continuing to grow?

At the end of this course, students will understand net-zero energy systems from a technological, economic, and policy perspective. The first half of the course focuses on technology. Students will read, compare, and assess existing net-zero energy scenarios and construct their own scenario for a country of their choice. After an introduction to our current energy systems and the general idea of decarbonization, each session focuses on a different energy sector: power, heating, transport, and industry. The second half of the course deals with economic and regulatory concepts that are relevant to understand and shape a cross-sectoral energy transition towards net-zero emissions.

This course is for 2nd year MIA, MPP and MDS students only.

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Master of Public Policy Master of International Affairs Master of Data Science for Public Policy

Organisational failure and public policy disasters

Year 2 | Elective course (E1023 , 6 credits )
Module: 5. Management & Organisation Concentration Elective | 6. Portfolio Elective | 7. Portfolio Elective | 6. Governance & Management Elective
Instructors: Wolfgang Seibel

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed different degrees of vulnerability and resilience in government and public administration across many nations. We have good reasons for acknowledging that public and private governance and organisational structures under stress reveal latent fault lines and weaknesses that otherwise would have remained undetected. Successful crisis management, however, rests on early warnings and sufficient levels of preparedness – known in the literature as high reliability requirements. The question of how and why these requirements are frequently not fulfilled, even under relatively favorable conditions, is obviously relevant when it comes to learning and prevention.

This course addresses that very question through instructing students in making in-depth inquiries into complex cases of ill-fated policies and organisations based on causal process tracing and a chosen theoretical framework. The subject is the analysis of organisational failure and public policy disasters from a variety of perspectives, in an attempt to enable students to assess the risks of failure and to contribute to appropriate risk-reduction and crisis-management strategies.

The Empirical Cases to be analysed fall into three different categories: (I) Socio-technical systems, (II) International organisation and security agencies and (III) Civil administration. Specifically, we will examine (I) The Gulf of Mexico oil spill of 2010 / The Fukushima accident of 2011 / The Federal Aviation Administration's aircraft (FAA) certification process and the case of Boeing 737Max; (II) The collapse of the UN mission and the subsequent genocide in Rwanda in 1994 / The inability of the international community to protect the UN “safe area” Srebrenica during the Bosnian war in 1995 / The failure of US security services prior to 9/11 to analyse the terrorist threat and to prevent the attack of September 11, 2001; (III) The break-down of disaster relief in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 / The Hillsborough Disaster in 1989 / The fire at Grenfell Tower in London in 2017.

This course is for 2nd year MIA, MPP and MDS students only.

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Master of Public Policy Master of International Affairs Master of Data Science for Public Policy

Organised crime, illegal markets and public policy

Year 2 | Elective course (GRAD-E1424 , 6 credits )
Module: 7. Portfolio Elective | 6. Portfolio Elective | 5. Security & Sustainability Concentration Elective | 5. International Security Concentration Elective | 5. Policy Analysis Concentration Elective

Abstract

The course aims to expand the students' knowledge on the dynamics and contemporary characteristics of organised crime and illegal markets, as well as its patterns of operation and violence. Students will develop an understanding of the main concepts and theories of crime and organised crime, as well as a greater understanding of illegal market activities, such as drugs and arms trafficking. Furthermore, the relevance and impact of organised crime at the international level will be studied, as well as its connections with the financial sector, terrorist groups and others. Finally, the course aims to analyse security policies that have been successful or failed to reduce organised crime activities in the global north and south. Students will be encouraged to think about specific regional characteristics of criminal activities and markets, as well as which security policies would work best in minimising these operations.

This course is for 2nd year MIA, MPP and MDS students only.

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Master of Public Policy Master of International Affairs Master of Data Science for Public Policy

Philosophy of the social sciences

Year 2 | Elective course (GRAD-E1412 , 6 credits )
Module: 6. Portfolio Elective | 7. Portfolio Elective
Instructors: Chrysostomos Mantzavinos

Abstract

What do we mean, when we say that we can explain a social phenomenon? What are good explanations? Are social structures better conceived of as systems of laws and forces, or as webs of meanings and practices? Is social action better viewed as rational behaviour or as self-expression? What is the logical status of the rationality assumption in economics, political science and the other social sciences? Is the aim to explain the social world after a manner worked out for the natural world or to understand the social world from within? How should one understand the proposition that an increase in price causes a decrease in the demanded quantity of a good? Or to put it more provocatively: what differentiates a social scientific theory from a fairy tale? The first part of the course will provide answers to all these questions. The second part will be more policy-oriented. How are social scientific findings related to policy measures? To which extend should the social sciences be value-free? There is a consensus in philosophy of science, that all our knowledge is prone to error, it is fallible: how can and should fallible knowledge be used when political interventions are undertaken? At every moment of time there is a plurality of accepted theories and models available with which social scientists work: how should we choose one theory or model to use for policy purposes? In other words, are there any rational criteria for theory choice and how do they look like?

This course is for 2nd year MIA, MPP and MDS students only.

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Master of Public Policy Master of International Affairs

Policy options for a transition to clean mobility

Year 2 | Elective course (GRAD-E1390 , 6 credits )
Module: 6. Portfolio Elective | 5. Security & Sustainability Concentration Elective
Instructors: Michael Jakob

Abstract

To achieve net-zero emission targets announced by numerous countries, a transformation of mobility is required. The transport sector is characterised by complex interaction of market frictions for the development and deployment of novel technologies, the lock-in generated by existing transport infrastructures and behavioural barriers to change mobility patterns. This makes it challenging to design effective policies to decarbonise transportation.

The course aims to familiarise students with the main technological, economic, and political challenges of decarbonising transportation. The focus of the class will lie on policy options, in particular the instruments available to policy makers and their interaction. Lectures will mostly focus on recent developments in the EU and Germany. Examples will be drawn from academic contributions based on theoretical and numerical approaches and will be presented in a way that is accessible to all students, without requiring knowledge of specific methodologies or mathematical details. All modes of transport will be covered, with a focus on road transport.

Throughout the semester, students will be asked to transfer their insights to selected countries to identify the most important challenges and opportunities to decarbonise transport and to assess policy options that could foster such a mobility transition.

This course is for 2nd year MIA and MPP students only.

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Master of Public Policy Master of International Affairs

Political communication in the digital age

Year 2 | Elective course (E1106 , 6 credits )
Module: 5. Management & Organisation Concentration Elective | 6. Portfolio Elective
Instructors: Prof. Dr. Andrea Römmele

Abstract

This seminar provides an in-depth introduction to the role and necessity of political communication in the digital age. It gives insights into political communication research, campaign management, media and media effects, with a special focus on campaigns. In the first block (foundations) the course gives an overview of the research field of political communication followed by a thorough discussion on the role of communication in representative democracies. In the second section we will focus on classical aspects of political communication (types of campaigns, media and media effects, social media in general and its role in the democratisation processes, big data, public opinion) before we focus on consultants as a growing industry in the third section of the course.

This course is for 2nd year MIA and MPP students only.

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Master of Public Policy Master of International Affairs Master of Data Science for Public Policy

Public policy and demographic change

Year 2 | Elective course (E1182 , 6 credits )
Module: 5. Policy Analysis Concentration Elective | 6. Portfolio Elective | 7. Portfolio Elective
Instructors: Prof. Dr. Michaela Kreyenfeld

Abstract

This course introduces students to core demographic theories, data, measures and methods. Students will learn where to locate high quality demographic data. We will calculate and interpret demographic indicators such as the fertility rate, the mortality rate and measures that can be derived from divorce and migration statistics. Student will be introduced to demographic theories, concepts and themes, such as the life table, the Lexis diagram, the concepts of the compression of morbidity, healthy life expectancy, etc. Beyond methods and data, the course offers a platform to discuss policy-relevant questions in the field of demographic change, for example: Do governments need to take action to increase or lower the birth rate? Is population decline a challenge for national governments? In light of climate change, should we worry about a further increase in world population?

This course is for 2nd year MIA, MPP and MDS students only.

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Master of Public Policy Master of International Affairs

Introduction to python programming

Year 2 | Elective course (E1326 , 6 credits )
Module: 5. Policy Analysis Concentration Elective | 6. Portfolio Elective
Instructors: Dr. Hannah Béchara

Abstract

The course leads the students from the basics of writing and running Python scripts to more advanced features such as object-oriented programming and data structures.

This course is for 2nd year MIA and MPP students only.

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Master of Public Policy Master of International Affairs Master of Data Science for Public Policy

Business, human rights, and gender: The absence of law

Year 2 | Elective course (E1285 , 6 credits )
Module: 5. Management & Organisation Concentration Elective | 5. Security & Sustainability Concentration Elective | 6. Portfolio Elective | 5. Human Rights & Global Governance Concentration Elective | 7. Portfolio Elective
Instructors: Dr. Sorcha MacLeod

Abstract

An increasingly globalised world has resulted in hundreds of thousands of business actors conducting business across national borders. In many well-documented instances, such as Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, Blackwater in Iraq and Shell in Nigeria, business actors been accused of violating international human rights standards which traditionally have not applied to them as non-State actors. Weak, non-existent and fragmented legal frameworks have contributed to the regulatory gaps and in many cases it is the most marginalised communities and vulnerable members of society that suffer adverse human rights impacts, with women affected differently and disproportionately, especially in conflict and post-conflict environments. Gender taken together with race, sexuality, religion, class, disability, and more, also results in different human rights impacts. These intersectional human rights impacts occur across every commercial sector and industry, from textile production to natural resource exploitation, pharmaceuticals to private security.


The nature of global business has important implications for any attempt to regulate the behaviour of business actors in relation to human rights as national law, public international law and private international law are all engaged yet no single legal framework exists at present to hold business actors accountable for human rights violations. Legal obligations are not imposed on business actors to comply with human rights standards. Law is essentially absent. What then are the implications for States, policymakers, regulators, procurement professionals, industry and others?
In this course we will examine contemporary national and international regulatory attempts to hold business actors accountable for human rights abuses through an intersectional gender lens and with a focus on case studies which highlight intersectional gender issues. In doing so we will engage in the following:


Context:
•    Examination of the rising power of transnational business and the retreat of the State within the context of globalisation;
•    Analysis of theories around the social responsibility of business actors;
•    Exploration of the topic through an intersectional gender lens;
•    Exploration of business and human rights accountability and responsibility gaps at the national and international levels.


Regulation:
•    Exploration of international attempts to regulate the behaviour of business actors in relation to human rights e.g. UN, OECD and industry-specific mechanisms, such as the International Code of Conduct Association for private security providers;
•    Analysis of the role of States, Inter-Governmental Organisations (IGOs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and industry in the development of regulatory mechanisms;
•    Familiarisation with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights which were adopted unanimously by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011 and which have become the key international standard on business and human rights;
•    Analysis of human rights due diligence, supply chains, human rights risk analysis and impact assessments and remedies;
•    Scrutiny of National Action Plans (NAPs);
•    Investigation examples of emerging national policy and legislative approaches;
•    Examination of the case for a treaty on business and human rights;
•    Consideration of how to ensure the effective inclusion of gender from an intersectional perspective in regulatory attempts.


Case Studies:
We will discuss numerous sectors and industries throughout the course but will focus on these three:
•    Private military and security industry;
•    Extractive industry;
•    Garment industry.

This course is for 2nd year MIA, MPP and MDS students only.

 

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Master of Public Policy Master of International Affairs

Regulating the platform economy in cities

Year 2 | Elective course (E1304 , 6 credits )
Module: 6. Portfolio Elective | 5. Management & Organisation Concentration Elective
Instructors: Prof. Dr. Kai Wegrich

Abstract

The transformative character of digital technologies is becoming increasingly manifest in recent times. New business models using the “power of platforms” are fundamentally changing consumption patterns, transforming markets and having (unintended) consequences in core policy areas such as housing, transportation and labour. The early hopes and promises of the “shared economy” have given way to increasing concerns about the negative impact of platform businesses. Regulators seem to be outpaced: they are locked in architectures designed for the regulatory problems of the 20th century and equipped with tools that don’t match the new breed of actors and problems. At the same time, public regulators increasingly rely on digital technologies, such as big data and algorithms, for their own decision making – with similarly mixed blessings so far. This course analyses the regulatory challenges of the platform economy, putting particular emphasis on the urban context (Uber, Airbnb, delivery services etc.). We will explore regulatory challenges associated with the platform economy and compare regulatory responses in a cross-national perspective. We will also engage in topical debates about appropriate regulation of the platform economy.

 

This course is for 2nd year MIA and MPP students only.

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