Courses in the Spring Semester 2025

How do different forms of political violence – such as armed conflict, genocide, repression, or violent institutions – influence societies and individuals? The objective of this undergraduate seminar is to familiarize students with exciting, state-of-the-art academic literature that tries to shed light on how long effects of political violence might last, to whom they might extend, and why they persist. We will study the lasting effects of political violence for immediate participants and victims, as well as intergenerational effects for subsequent generations, and will investigate a broad range of outcomes such as political or social behavior and attitudes, (mental) health, or economic conditions. We will furthermore discuss methodological challenges of measuring lasting effects and isolating mechanisms of political violence and conflict. The course is taught in English.
 

The objective of this course is to introduce students to the basic statistical concepts and programming skills needed to address research questions in the fields of international relations and specifically conflict research. The course offers a hands-on introduction to the free and versatile software R as well as the tidyverse, a system of R packages for data manipulation, exploration and visualization. Students will go through each step of the statistical analysis – with particular emphasis on data preparation – and will learn how to import, tidy, transform, visualize, and model data.

After completing this course, students will be able to use R to i) preprocess and prepare the data required to answer their own research questions, ii) (visually) explore quantities of interest, iii) correctly specify and implement statistical models, iv) describe and visualize the results, and v) evaluate and interpret them in light of the research question. The goal is to provide students with the necessary foundational skills and tools to study pertinent social science questions and to perform their own analyses (e.g., for their BA theses).
 

This colloquium assists BA students in developing and completing their final thesis in the field of international relations, with particular focus on empirical conflict research. The colloquium facilitates feedback from the instructor and students on each stage of the thesis.

n this seminar, we will explore the dynamic interplay between war and peace by examining the root causes, wide-ranging impacts, and key theoretical perspectives on armed conflict. Our focus will include an in-depth analysis of various forms of conflict such as rebellion, civil war, and terrorism. Students will critically evaluate and compare international relations theories and concepts that explain the causes and outcomes of conflicts. The course will introduce both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, preparing students to conduct rigorous research and write their final paper. Participants will engage with commonly used datasets and empirical methods in the study of international conflict, providing practical tools for analyzing and understanding the complexities of war and peace.

How do governments lose power? In democracies, elections often decide a government’s fate, but this is rarely the case for authoritarian regimes, where power shifts are frequently irregular. This course examines both theoretical and empirical (primarily quantitative) literature that explores these non-constitutional pathways to losing power—such as coups, popular uprisings, foreign interventions, and assassinations. While the seminar’s primary goal is to equip students to analyze these dynamics empirically, we will also delve into detailed case studies of how dictators have lost power. Prior knowledge of quantitative methods is required for this course.

The security of individuals and states depends profoundly on international politics. Beyond the realm of security, structures and actors of “global governance” have been proliferating for many years. They influence crucial public policies in diverse ways. This lecture surveys academic debates on key topics of international politics, including: the sources of war, peace, and terrorism, the emergence and operation of international organizations and transnational civil society, and the making of key international policy outcomes including respect for human rights.