Political Science Department
Course Description
26101 Introduction to Political Science
This course deals with the essential aspects and principals of Political Science. It gives the student an introduction to the term itself as well as to different research methods in analyzing politics. Moreover the relation of Political Science with other Social Sciences, the evolution of Political Thought, as well as issues like policy making and participating in political process for instance over political parties or over pressure groups belong to the content of this course.
26102 Introduction to Political Thought
The course deals with Political Thought first of all by introducing into its sources and into the difference methods of studying this field. Then it focuses on Ancient Political Thought in general as well as in particular on the Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman Period. Moreover it gives the student an introduction to Christian and Islamic Political Thinking.
26103 Introduction to International Relations
This course introduces the students into the roots and into the evolution of international relations from the Ancient cultures over the appearance of nation states (including the concept of balance of powers) until recent times. It gives an overview over the history of diplomacy, as well as it focuses on the most important aspects of international politics before and between WWI and WWII. Moreover the course focuses on the increasing role of international organizations and on the issue of politics between conflict and cooperation during the Cold War, ending up with the appearance of the so-called New World Order and other issues related to political globalization. Among others the students are introduced to the most essential terms of International Relations as for instance power, hegemony, strategy, alliance and foreign politics.
26104 Methods of Scientific Research in Political Science
This course aims to make the students know and to critically analyze the most important traditional and some of the modern methods, used in Political Science for doing scientific research, focusing among others on the historical, on the behavioral, and on the functional approaches. Moreover the course aims to train the students with regard to the most important practical steps of preparing and conducting research projects.
26105 Introduction to Comparative Politics
This course introduces students to important concepts, themes, and approaches in the comparative study of politics. It seeks to enhance the knowledge about both theoretical formulation and empirical reality of politics. The course includes discussion about conceptual and methodological issues of comparative politics, dynamics of state and its relations with social forces and multiple approaches to contemporary politics including Modernization, Neo-Institutionalism, Dependency Theory as well as the democratic theory and practice.
26110 Political Systems
In this course the basic terms that are used in comparative research of political systems are discussed and analyzed. Several political systems are dealt with and are compared with each other, as for instance the systems in the United States of America, in Russia, in China, in France and that in Great Britain, focusing among others on the functioning of their legislative, of their executive and of their judicative powers and on explaining how decision making processes take place in these countries.
26200 Modern Political Thought
This course aims to get the students to know the evolution and the most important approaches of Modern Political Thought from the 16th to the 20th century, focusing on its most important protagonists as Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Hegel and Marx as well as on the most important developments in Political Thought after WWI.
26205 Modern and Contemporary Arab Political Thought
The course aims to study and to analyze the different orientations of Contemporary Arab Thought from the beginnings of the Modern Arabic Al-Nahda (Renaissance) until recent times, concentrating on its emergence, on its political and cultural circumstances and on the political concepts of its most important protagonists.
26219 Political Economy
This course provides students with a firm introduction to the relation between politics and economics, focusing especially on Capitalism, on Socialism and mixed types of these two economic systems. Moreover it deals with issues of recent international economic policy, external trade, and multinational companies and with others.
26225 Political Systems in the Middle East
This course deals with selected political systems of the Arab World, among others by analyzing and by comparing their structures with each other, as well as by understanding the relation between their executive organs, their legislatures and their judiciaries. Moreover the political system of Turkey and that of Iran are analyzed, as well as the relations of these two important states with Arab countries.
26230 Introduction to the Palestinian Political System
This course deals among others with the main powers of the Palestinian Political System and with their functions according to its “constitution”. It examines the Palestinian parliamentary experience (Palestinian Legislative Council), as well as the relation between the organs of the executive, of the legislature and of judiciary.
Moreover the course provides the students with additional information of the Palestinian Political System, focusing on the process of decision making by its diverse actors, especially on the role of governmental institutions, as well as on that of political parties and others.
26240 The Israeli Society and Political System
This course deals with the Israeli political system, taking into consideration among others the structure of the Israeli society. The process of political decision making is analyzed by focusing on the Israeli parties, as well as on the main powers of the Israeli System, taking into account the relation between political ideology and political behavior.
26255 Specialized Studies in the Palestinian Issue
This course deals with the Arab-Zionist conflict from its beginning and with the transformation of a so-called Jewish Issue to the Palestinian Issue, analyzing its evolution from the end of the Ottoman Empire, covering the period of the British Mandate until the creation of Israel and its practice of implementing Israeli power in the Arab region, as well as the role of Israel as an actor of Old and of Modern Imperialism. Moreover the course deals with the role of the Palestinian people as well as with the role of the Arab countries, with that of the United Nations and with that of the great powers and their attempts to solve the Palestinian Issue.
26303 Political Development and Modernization
This course aims to introduce the students to the field of Political Development, to its diverse aspects and to its nature, including the different theories of scientific research related to this subject, taking into consideration among others the most important problems of developing countries, focusing especially on their economic, social, cultural and political structures.
26310 Diplomatic and Consular Systems
This course gives the students an overview to the importance of diplomatic and consular activities in international relations. The course deals among others with the history of diplomatic relations and with their evolution during the centuries, with the rules and the principles of current diplomacy, as well as with the procedures of the appointment of diplomatic staff, with its rights, and with its duties.
26315 Introduction to International and Regional Organizations
This course deals with the evolution of international organizations and the appearance of the United Nations, with its aims, with its principles and with its institutions and their role in international relations both with regard to international cooperation and international peace and security. Moreover the course deals with several regional organizations as for instance the League of Arab States and the African Union.
26320 Political Parties and Movements in the Arab World
This course deals with the most important political parties and movements that appeared in the Arab World since the beginning of the 20th century until recent times, with their political orientation (Religious, Socialist, Nationalist, Patriotic), as well as with their specific political and social circumstances, with their ideologies and with their structures.
26330 Political History of the World in the 20th Century
This course deals with the most important political issues of the 20th century, focusing on aspects as WWI, on following peace treaties, on the League of Nations, on WWII and the United Nations, as well as on the appearance of alliances like the NATO and the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War, ending up with the fall of the Soviet Union and with the appearance of the unipolar system in international relations.
26340 Globalization and International Relations
This course deals with the phenomenon of the globalization and with its different aspects in recent times and in the future, analyzing its impact on international relations, as for instance on the international system and on the sovereignty of the national state.
26345 Public Opinion and Public Survey
This course deals with different aspects related to Public Opinion, as for instance its different directions, the methods of its examination, its structure, and above all its relation to the political system. Moreover the students learn how to administer public opinion surveys in practice.
26410 The European Union
This course deals with the European Integration, focusing on its historical and political circumstances from the Treaty of Paris (1951) – over the Treaty of Maastricht (1992) – until recent times.
26415 Comparative Foreign Policy
This course deals with the foreign policies of chosen states, especially with those of the United States of America and of the Soviet Union after the end of WWII. It concentrates among others on the principles of the determination of national aims, on the different aspects of decision making in foreign policy, as well as on different issues related among others to the subject of balance of power, to international polarization, to international alliances, to the Policy of Détente and to other aspects of international politics.
26420 Contemporary International and Regional Issues
In this course the most important, actual, international and regional issues (of economic, political and social nature) as well as their impact on international peace and security are described and analyzed.
26435 Islamic Political Thought
This course gives an overview over the diversity of schools and ideas of Political Thought in Islam taking into account their evolution in Islamic history. It examines the main sources and the roots of Islamic Political Thought referring to the political ideas and to the concepts of the most important Muslim Arab scholars and thinkers from the Middle ages until recent times, analyzing their approaches with regard to issues as the concept of the Islamic caliphate and of the righteous political leadership in general, the question of political decision making, as well as for instance the Islamic concept of consultation.
26450 Future Studies in Political Science
This course deals among others with the most important theories and terms related to Future Studies in Political Science by referring to a wide range of sources to give the students an overview of the different scientific approaches in this field. Moreover it focuses on teaching the students the needed skills for analyzing political constellations and changes, as well as how to predict future scenarios based on the different possibilities of change with regard to political phenomena.
26499 Graduation Project
The objective of this project is to give the students the chance to conduct a small scale study. This will involve critically examining a particular issue relating to their experience of teaching research in one of the major topics of political science. , and using one or more educational research techniques “Research Methodology” to investigate an aspect of the issue in more details.