Courses in the Fall Semester 2026/27

This lecture introduces students to key topics on political violence. We will cover classic and current debates on interstate warfare, civil war, insurgencies and armed groups, coup d’états, terrorism and state repression. Given the vast amount of research in this broad field, we will not be able to cover all aspects in depth, but you will be equipped with key insights and conceptual and analytical frameworks and tools to better understand characteristics and causes of different forms of political violence.

The objective of this course is to introduce students to central areas of international relations research through a gender lens. We will survey key topics such as international determinants of gender inequality, gendered norms of protection, cooperation and violence, or the role of gender in political leadership, diplomacy, and political violence. Furthermore, we will discuss potential implications of “gender-blindness” in quantitative political science research and related issues of gender-sensitive measurement and data collection. Throughout the course, particular emphasis will be on familiarizing students with the foundations of academic writing and independent research. After completing this course, students will be able to i) critically assess and reflect potentials and pitfalls of the gender and IR literature, and ii) to identify and sketch out a research project within the broad area of gender and IR.
 

This seminar aims to give students an in-depth understanding of the causes of intrastate conflicts or civil wars. We start by looking into theoretical models of intrastate conflict onset. We will analyze, compare, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of theories and concepts such as ‘greed’, ‘grievance‘, ‘opportunity’, and ‘relative deprivation’. Then we move on to empirical research based on the theories introduced in the seminar and analyze  these theories in the context of particular conflicts. The seminar will also prepare students for writing their final paper and provide the opportunity to take a closer look at the data and empirical methods researchers use when studying intrastate conflicts. Finally, we will have an introduction into working with spatial data and presenting our results in neatly formatted maps. This class will be taught in English.

How do international organizations work to achieve economic and political consensus? What is the role of human rights in conflicts? And why do states continue to violate them through repression? This course begins with the basic concepts of International Relations to provide an introductory overview of human rights. The goal is to provide insight into the importance of these principles in international politics, the role of governmental institutions, the United Nations, and civil society, and to reflect on how these rights are violated or protected. During the seminar, we will examine concrete cases of violations and discuss theoretical definitions of human rights, such as those associated with international conventions, and the rights and freedoms of individuals and minorities, including women, refugees, and immigrants. The seminar is an introduction to basic social, legal, and political issues and how they operate in a global context. Students will be encouraged to think critically and identify challenges and key questions in the field that they can apply to their projects. The course will be taught in English.

In this course students will get to know major datasets in the area of conflict studies and become acquainted to the major obstacles in the pre-processing of data in the field of IR using STATA. Students will learn how to address these
issues as well as apply the gained knowledge to new data-processing problems in IR and
beyond.