MODULES

This module introduces you to the study of global politics and area studies. It provides you with a short overview of both fields to support you in choosing your study focus later on. Furthermore, this module introduces you to relevant research techniques. You will learn how to design research designs and how to work methodologically sound on your research question. In other words, you will be equipped with the tools and the handicraft of social sciences that you will apply in either study focus. The module thereby aims at building a common basis for you and your peers from which to proceed to further modules.

How do you understand and explain political and social phenomena? What are the tools that help you hypothesize and test interaction models between political actors? This module aims at providing you with the theoretical tools or 'lenses' lending explanations to your field of research. You will get to know both traditional theories of international relations, as well as innovative strands of thought from related fields of social inquiry. This module thereby incorporates available insights from the fields of sociology, neurosciences, (behavioral) economics as well as network-analysis, and joins them with political science. You will discuss and assess the comparative strengths and weaknesses of theoretical approaches in explaining social processes. Furthermore, this module will establish the connection between theoretical lenses and their application to genuine policy questions. You will be able to assess political problems and make policy recommendations in regard to different theoretical understandings of a conflict situation.