| IR209 | Political Ideologies | 6 ECTS |
| This course introduces students to a survey of political ideologies to familiarize them with the large spectrum of ideologies that are used in politics. |
| IR302 | Diplomatic History II | 6 ECTS |
| This course builds on the general knowledge students gained from Diplomatic History I by focusing on the diplomatic history associated with specific themes (i.e. diplomatic history of arbitration, diplomatic history of the World War 2), states (diplomatic history of Greece, Turkey, China etc.), and regions (diplomatic history of Eastern Asia, the Middle East etc.). It is thus a special topics course |
| IR307 | Liberalism: Its Friends and Rivals | 6 ECTS |
| The class will first analyze the basic concepts and themes that make up liberalism. It will then introduce the debates on liberty, individuality, free market economy, constitutional democracy, toleration and human rights by taking on a historical route. |
| IR310 | Civil Wars and Domestic Conflicts | 6 ECTS |
| Through the designated readings, the course offers a survey on the origins, dynamics, and outcomes of civil war. It covers issues central to the study of civil war - such as the political economy of violence, rationalist explanations and the bargaining model of war, ethnic and non-ethnic violence, recruitment and rebel support, counterinsurgency, third- party intervention, spillovers, and outcomes. |
| IR311 | International Conflict Analysis | 6 ECTS |
| In this course students learn the empirical facts of a topic of international conflict. The course covers the causes, the conditions that maintain, transform or resolve the conflict. Students are expected to learn to describe the empirical facts, use the empirical facts to explain why the conflicts arose, why the conflicts continued or terminated, and to explain the potential for peaceful or conflictual resolution of a conflict. |
| IR312 | American Politics | 6 ECTS |
| In this course the students learn how the American republic tried and tries to address the fundamental question of politics ?who gets what, when, how and where?. They learn about the ideas behind American political institutions, the evolution of those institutions, and how the system works. They learn what it means to be a US citizen and what are the responsibilities and privileges that come with that status. |
| IR313 | Clashing Views: Current Issues in Politics and Society | 6 ECTS |
| The class is designed to look into current political and social issues from different perspectives with the aim of enhancing students' understanding of what is happening in Turkey and the world. A few of the questions that will be focused in class are: Is the European Union's Eurozone in serious danger of collapsing? Does the Islamist Movement threaten the democracy gained in the "Arab Spring"? Is China becoming a dangerous superpower? Does capitalism undermine democracy? Should force be used if necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons? Should same-sex marriages be legally recognized? Besides presenting the students a sense of political and social issues, the class also aims at encouraging the students to take sides on different matters and to be able to defend their views in English language. |
| IR314 | International Migration | 6 ECTS |
| International migration has become the concern of all in some form or another, with the questions of how to understand international migration in a globalized world, how to take advantage of it, live with it and how to manage it. These attempts have to keep pace with the growth of the phenomenon and the complexity of its linkages with other global issues. Throughout the lectures there is a special emphasis on the linkage between international migration, nationalism, and globalization through which a historical perspective is developed over the transformations occurred from the 20th century to the 21st century. |
| IR315 | Peace and Conflict Studies | 6 ECTS |
| In this class students will become familiar with the work of scholars studying the causes of conflict and peace in international relations. The aim is to understand the logic of the various arguments put forward and learn how to evaluate them. Students read about the social scientific findings from evaluations of the theories and apply them to explain conflicts of the past. These theories can also be applied in evaluating current international political conflicts. |
| IR316 | Political Psychology | 6 ECTS |
| The objective of the course is to understand the psychological origins of political behavior. Students will gain knowledge about patterns of political behaviors, including leadership, group behavior, voting, nationalism, and war. |
| IR317 | Military Strategy | 6 ECTS |
| This course introduces students to the concepts of strategic conflict, both via military means, and by non-violent means. It covers both war and civil society cases, and uses active learning components to familiarize students with elements of political strategic contention. |
| IR318 | Let's Explore Europe! | 6 ECTS |
| European Union (EU) membership has been an important state agenda in Turkey for years, but then do we really know what it is all about? This course provides an understanding of the different institutions of the EU with reference to specific issues of interest such as the idea and evolution of Europe, the EU and its citizens, economic, environmental, agricultural policies, and its relations with the rest of the world. Different topics are also incorporated based on students’ interests. The EU website is often utilized during the class, providing an interactive platform for discussion in class. |
| IR319 | Middle East Politics | 6 ECTS |
| This course aims at providing an overview and a nuanced understanding of modern Middle Eastern politics while fostering analytical skills. To achieve this, the course starts with an historical overview of the region, outlining the formation of the modern Middle East and the defining moments in the history of the region from late 19 th until mid 20 th century. The course then turns to the discussion of contemporary processes, exploring political economy, democratization and liberalization, civil society, political protests, and political culture among other topics. As the course is a comparative politics course, the focus is on state-society relations in the Middle East. As such, it deals with questions such as the following: Why does authoritarianism persist in the Middle East? What factors inhibit democratization processes? How can we explain the Arab Spring and what followed afterwards? |
| IR320 | Gender and Politics | 6 ECTS |
| While exploring some basic concepts of main feminist theories of politics and society, the course provides an application of a gender perspective to the analysis of political issues. Another focus will be on the study of equal political representation and participation, including the mechanisms that promote an equal political representation of women and men. Thus, the course examines the contemporary literature on women and politics, with a particular focus on feminist theories and women?s participation and representation in world politics. It explores the gender gap in political participation; the under-representation of women in politics and society; and strategies for increasing women?s role in politics. It also considers why women?s participation in politics might matter and what difference women representatives might make to the policy process. Finally, it explores the concept and practice of gender mainstreaming and the role of gender machineries. |
| IR321 | Nations and Nationalism | 6 ECTS |
| This course provides a theoretical survey of nationalism to form an understanding of different explanations and normative questions pertaining to the emergence, existence and persistence of nations around the globe. |
| IR322 | Special Topics in Global Politics | 6 ECTS |
| This course introduces students to the most pressing issues of the contemporary global politics such as the decline of the US power, rising powers, network terrorism, information technology, and populism. By the end of the course, students should have a strong analytical lens through which they interpret these most pressing contemporary issues. |
| IR323 | Russian Politics | 6 ECTS |
| The course provides an introduction to the government and politics of Russia. Following a brief review of the country’s history under the Soviet rule, it focuses on the dramatic changes of the last 30 years —the Soviet collapse, attempts at economic reform, parliamentary and presidential elections, and political crises. It also analyzes the problems of Russia’s transition, using concepts and techniques from comparative politics and political economy. |
| IR324 | Political Anthropology | 4 ECTS |
| The course covers how anthropologists study states, nation and power; how ethnicity, religion and gender influence politics in different cultures; and how political transformations, globalization, and migration are affecting countries across the globe. |
| IR325 | Current Issues in Turkish Foreign Policy | 6 ECTS |
| This course focuses on current issues in Turkish foreign policy and is taught by foreign policy practitioners (mainly ex-diplomats). The course will provide students with a unique opportunity to get to know the past and present decision makers of Turkish foreign policy and show them how contending theories and ideologies are mediated through the foreign policy bureaucracy. |
| IR326 | Politics of Race and Ethnicity | 6 ECTS |
| The course provides useful frameworks to help students analyze the complexity, pervasiveness, and relevance of race and ethnicity in the realm of politics. First, different meanings of race and ethnicity and the boundaries of membership as well as different ways to measure ethnic and racial identification are examined. Second, the relationship between ethnicity, nation-state and nationalism is explored along with the conflicts that are result of this relationship. Last, ethnic and racial electoral politics is introduced. What is ethnic voting and where does that occur? Why do ethnic parties develop in some countries but not in others? |
| IR327 | Urban Politics: A Sociological Reading of Cities | 6 ECTS |
| This course starts off by scrutinising what the concept of space is and whether or not it is created and therefore political. Furthermore, it aims todiscuss what it means to have a right to the city. In other words, just because we are living day by day in various specific cities, do we really engage with them fully? Do we really question the power struggles manifested through cities? The inequalities and fears produced and encountered in city-spaces are also elaborated in this course. |
| IR328 | Authoritarian Regimes | 6 ECTS |
| This course provides a discussion and analysis of authoritarian regimes. The various subtypes of authoritarian regimes, their mechanisms of rule are discussed and the differences between them are analysed using various theoretical perspectives. Cases from different regions of the world are used to illustrate these mechanisms. |
| IR329 | Democracy and Democratization | 6 ECTS |
| This course is located at the intersection of democratic theory and comparative democratization and it investigates various different conceptions of democracy to clarify several contested understandings and is designed to provide a critical introduction to the main theories of democracy as well as the main approaches to democratization. In explaining the term democracy, the course puts specific emphasis on: 1) The classical conception of democracy, investigating in detail the institutions, ideals, and critiques of Athenian democracy; 2) The liberal conception of democracy and its critiques. In explaining the term democratization the course focuses on: 1) different explanations (causes) of democracy, in other words, competing approaches (modernization, culturalist, structural and political transitions) to democratization; 2) a comparative analysis of different regions and issues of democratization. |
| IR330 | The Origins of the First World War | 6 ECTS |
| This course focuses on providing students with the tools and training necessary to help them explain complex historical events. In this case we focus on the outbreak of the First World War. Through a combination of lectures, active learning activities, and reading from secondary and primary sources, students will be able to disentangle the various elements of the story of the outbreak of the First World War, and to then present in the form of a paper the role of specific decision makers in the process that led to the war. |
| IR331 | Humanitarian Intervention in International Crisis | 6 ECTS |
| This course takes a historical approach to the rise of humanitarianism and traces its subjects and actors from the early 19th century to today, to chart the practical, political, and ethical issues intrinsic to the promotion and legitimacy of humanitarianism; and as a way of gaining purchase on important questions raised by the philosophy and practice of humanitarianism, including (among others) what does it mean to claim humanitarianism, to do humanitarian work, and to be a humanitarian? |
| IR332 | Sociology and Politics of Religion and Secularism | 6 AKTS |
| This course analyses the role of humanitarian intervention in international crises, through engaging with its history, the development of humanitarian principles, the role of international organizations, questions of military involvement and accountability mechanisms, migration and border concerns, developments in consumer humanitarianism, human rights, professionalization, possible alternatives, and the future of the field. |
| IR333 | Africa in World Politics | 6 ECTS |
| This course focuses on the dynamics between three tendencies that have been observed in African politics. By an in-depth investigation of the role of nationalism, regionalism, and internationalism, the course analyses the nuances of the integration of Africa into the global, economic, and political systems from the end of the Second World War to today. |
| IR334 | Political Economy of European Integration | 6 ECTS |
| This course supports students in critically examining the contemporary challenges facing the economic and political aspects of European integration. The topics covered include the European Union common market, the Economic and Monetary Union, and the single currency. |
| IR335 | Political Ecology | 6 ECTS |
| This course surveys core tenets of the field of political ecology. Addresses the political, economic and social factors that lead to ecological degradation and transformation. This course denotes ecological problems as political problems and thus introduces some of the foundational concepts and key themes of political ecology research pertaining to land, property, agriculture, urban space, climate change, extractive industries, and conservation. It also looks into the ways gender and race based inequalities relate to the drivers and consequences of ecological change and explores the key contemporary debates over social and ecological change. |
| IR400 | Independent Study in International Relations | 6 ECTS |
| The main objective of the course is to give students responsibility and opportunity to use the basic concepts of political science at different stages of the research process (eg literature review, writing a research project, creating a research plan, collecting data, data analysis, presentation of results). Within the scope of this course, students will be given the opportunity to apply their knowledge of politics, research methods and statistics they learned in the lessons. |
| IR402 | International Environmental Politics | 6 ECTS |
| Problems of environmental degradation are among the chief threats to human wellbeing in the long term. Public policies addressing environmental problems vary greatly among countries. Some of the most important of environmental problems, such as climate change, can only be tackled in a global scale through collective action by various governments, but countries also have divergent approaches to cooperation for that goal. This course is about environmental policy-making in national and global settings. The students study environmental policies comparatively across countries, analyze problems of cooperation for environmental policy goals between countries, and discuss the ways in which political action can be taken to improve the chances for better outcomes in national and international environmental policy-making. In the meantime the students also develop a substantive knowledge of key issue areas such as climate change, clean energy or water pollution. |
| IR403 | Global Food Politics | 6 ECTS |
| A convergence of factors has made food security one of the most crucial global issues. Throughout the semester the course identifies different aspects of the social organization of the production, exchange, distribution and consumption of food, and examine contradictions and conflicts which structure these social relations and which drive economic and societal change. While the course can only cover a fraction of the relevant issue it introduces analyses of many different levels of political economy of food, and examines problems of access to food in city and countryside; changes in production relations in food farming; the connections between small farmers and large multinational firms and agencies; how markets work and their effects on local, national and international levels; and the development strategies, in relation to food, of the large organizations such as the World Bank, the IMF and the FAO. |
| IR404 | Political Geography | 6 ECTS |
| This advanced undergraduate level seminar course examines theories and concepts of political geography. The course seeks to provide students with the necessary theoretical and conceptual frameworks as well as case studies drawn from both the global North and the global South to properly understand, explain, and interpret all the aspects of the geographical and spatial dimensions of politics and political. The course covers both traditional and contemporary approaches to political geography through examination of the sate formation, nations and nationalism, geopolitics, electoral geography, urban and global governance, cities and citizenship, development and post-development, space and political representation. |
| IR405 | Special Topics in Turkish Politics | 6 ECTS |
| The course introduces selected topics in Turkish politics and provides students with the theoretical background and analytical tools to analyze Turkey’s political system. The topics covered in the course address political, economic, social, cultural and geopolitical factors that shape Turkish politics. |
| IR406 | Comparative Public Policy | 6 ECTS |
| This course explains variation and change in public policies among countries and across time on the basis of policy typologies and styles, (inter)national institutional contexts, theoretical approaches, policy cycles and modes of governance. |
| IR407 | International Development | 6 ECTS |
| This course examines the different theoretical approaches to the study of international development and current debates in the field. The course focuses on the following questions: Why are some countries very rich while others remain poor? In what ways are development, poverty and well-being best measured? What is the role of political actors in development decisions? |
| IR408 | Contemporary Debates in Political Theory | 6 ECTS |
| The main purpose of the class is to survey the most pertinent questions and arguments that are brought up in contemporary political theory literature to familiarize the students with the ongoing debates in the field. The class will visit topics such as politics of exception, theories of justice, cosmopolitanism, identity politics and disfigurements of the democratic form. |
| IR409 | Comparative Social Policy | 6 ECTS |
| This course concerns public policies that aim to enhance welfare and social protection of individuals and why they vary among countries. The course explores ideas about the relationship between politics and welfare, including the role of government and public action. |
| IR410 | Power: A Study in Political Theory | 6 ECTS |
| The course is a study of political theory, and politics, through power- how it has been understood, what does it mean, what does its meaning mean, and how does it help us think about politics? It covers the writings and commentaries of a range of political thinkers and actors, across different histories and geographies, including some who have explicitly engaged in the study of power; and some whose work is deeply imbricated in the study and relations of power, even when they never make mention of it. |
| IR411 | Politics of Human Rights | 6 ECTS |
| While exploring some basic concepts of main theories of human rights in politics and society, the course provides an application of a human rights perspective to the analysis of political issues. Another focus is on the study of human rights including the mechanisms that promote a human rights perspective. Thus, the course examines the contemporary literature on human rights in world politics. It explores the gaps in politics of human rights; and strategies for increasing role of human rights in politics considering why they might matter and what difference they might make to the policy process. |
| IR412 | Critical Theory and Politics | 6 ECTS |
| This class explores critical theory and understands its relationship to political theory. It covers various thinkers such as Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse, Habermas and Foucault. |
| IR413 | Comparative Political Institutions: Political Parties and Electoral Systems | 6 ECTS |
| The course examines different political institutions, specifically political parties and electoral systems, from a variety of theoretical, methodological and empirical perspectives (new and old democracies and electoral authoritarian regimes). What are the different types of parties, party systems and electoral systems? Do these different types associate with differences in governance or policy outcomes? |
| IR414 | Migration and Mobility Within Europe | 6 ECTS |
| This course addresses the social, political and economic challenges and opportunities created by the free movement of people within the European Union as well as the debates on fortress Europe. The course explores the ways in which nation states and the EU seek to promote the benefits of migration and mobility but at the same time counter risks rising from dislocation. The pros and cons of migration are pondered, where the critical question becomes how to define who has gained or lost from migration. |
| IR415 | Comparative Political Leadership | 6 ECTS |
| The course surveys political elites and policy areas in which they operate. The study of political leadership is comparative and cross-national, as we look into commonalities and differences in elite composition, attitudes, and behavior across different countries, democratic and authoritarian systems. We begin by considering what we mean by political elite and then we examine the composition and structure of political elites, their backgrounds, socialization experiences etc. The processes of elite recruitment and mobility and the bureaucratic settings in which they operate are given special attention. |
| IR416 | The Future of Global Security | 6 ECTS |
| This course introduces students to themes and debates on the future of global security in international relations, and guides them to critically examine the role it plays in the world today. The course covers the future of global security in international relations through the study of failing or failed states, economic recessions, near-total surveillance, ever-present terrorist threats, emerging diseases, climate change, drones and artificial intelligence in warfare. |
| IR417 | Cities and War | 6 ECTS |
| This course aims to educate students about current themes and debates on cities and their relationship to war and war-like violence, how power operates in the city, and how the urban condition affects the nature of war and war-like violence. Through the designated readings, the course covers the history of cities and wars, ‘new wars’ and terrorism in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, structural and situational violence experienced by residents of cities at war, and the relevance of concepts like risk, resilience, security, and violence, to urban warfare. |
| IR418 | Advanced Research Methods in Political Science | 6 ECTS |
| This course introduces students to a variety of quantitative research methods and analytical techniques. The course mainly focuses on statistical methods for causal inference. This includes methods that address research questions where some potential cause?s impact (e.g., a change in institutions, economic conditions, etc.) on some outcome (e.g., vote decision, income, levels of violence) is explained. |
| IR419 | Social Movements and Protests | 6 ECTS |
| This course provides an in-depth discussion and analysis of what social movements are, how and why and under what conditions they emerge, their dynamics, life-cycles and outcomes using various theoretical approaches. Along with various theoretical approaches, it also covers different empirical examples and discusses cases from different regions. |
| IR420 | Political and Social Perspectives on Popular Music | 6 ECTS |
| This course discusses the interaction between popular music and social and political phenomena. This course covers definitions of popular music, the interaction of this concept with concepts central to political science, including culture, identity, place, (urban) space, and globalization. It describes how to use post-modern theory as an analytical framework for interrogating these interactions and how popular music is connected to technology, the global musical industry, and translation flows of ideas, products, and people. This course also explore via case studies the interaction of popular music with urban spaces and politics. |
| IR432 | Politics and Strategy | 6 ECTS |
| This course introduces students to new frameworks for understanding complicated strategic interactions among different actors (individuals, countries, alliances, political parties, corporations et cetera). These frameworks are game theory and social-choice theory. Students learn to analyze and solve simultaneous-moves and sequential-moves games and are familiarized with different solution concepts. Although the majority of the applications deals with domestic and international political phenomena, such as the dynamics of voting systems, political campaigns, defense and deterrence policies of countries, bargaining and coalitionbuilding, some applications are drawn from different fields and everyday life, from economics to sports and business. |
