John Cabot University: the Academic Experience

Graduate Course Descriptions


PL 603-Fall Fall Semester Events Attendance

A grade of PASS in two semesters of PL 603 is required to complete the MA in International Affairs. Students are required to attend at least 3 approved scholarly or professional lectures, workshops or events throughout the semester and write a short reflection on each to pass the course.

Grading: This course will be graded on a PASS/FAIL scale.  A PASS in two semesters of PL 603 is required to be able to register for the  MA Thesis.

PL 603-Spring Spring Semester Events Attendance

A grade of PASS in two semesters of PL 603 is required to complete the MA in International Affairs. Students are required to attend at least 3 approved scholarly or professional lectures, workshops or events throughout the semester and write a short reflection on each to pass the course.

Grading: This course will be graded on a PASS/FAIL scale. A PASS in two semesters of PL 603 is required to be able to register for the MA Thesis.

PL 610 Foundation I: International Relations

This course will introduce students to a range of theoretical approaches in International Relations and familiarize students with critiques of the dominant ways of conceptualizing global politics. Students will be encouraged to reflect on the way in which different theoretical approaches are linked to different kinds of policy outcomes and how theoretical approaches and associated research strategies have shaped key concepts within international politics.

PL 620 Foundation II: Comparative Politics

This course introduces key concepts and theoretical approaches in comparative politics. Students will study major areas of scholarship within the field of Comparative Politics, including on the state, democracy and democratization, political parties, political protests, conflict and violence, economic development, political institutions, political cultures and civil society. The course examines and critically evaluates different theoretical approaches to politics including modernization, Marxist, cultural, rational-choice and historical-institutionalist approaches and compares cases from Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Latin America to provide students with grounding in the basic tools of comparative analysis.

PL 623 Contemporary State Building

This course examines the challenges of state-building and the manifestations of armed conflict in the contemporary developing world. Surveying different cases and contexts, the course focuses on the role of state and non-state armed groups, the drivers of communal conflict, the historical dimensions of multifaceted state-building processes, and the legacy of colonial rule. Attention is paid to conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of the course is to equip students with a comparative understanding of the complex causes, characteristics, and manifestations of conflict in the developing world and its cross-cutting relations to contemporary international governance.

PL 629 Religion and Global Politics

This graduate seminar examines why and how religion influences global politics, and how religion and politics ought to influence each other in different democratic societies. The seminar is interdisciplinary, addressing these questions from the perspectives of normative political theory, empirical political science and law. The empirical part of the seminar will address concerns about how, why and where individuals are religious across the globe, and in what ways their religious ideas and identities influence their political decisions and behaviors. The theoretical part of the course will focus on contemporary debates over the freedom and tolerance of religion and the engagements of religions in political dialogue. In the legal part, we will examine the major questions posed by legal rights of religious freedom (including both freedom of religion and freedom from religion): the origins and scope of these rights, the problems in defining them, and the values with which they can conflict.

PL 630 International Political Economy

This course is designed as an advanced-level overview of the field of International and Comparative Political Economy, with emphasis on an examination of the theoretical approaches and conceptual frameworks on which it rests. The course combines the study of the "micro," including incentives and individual choice, with the "macro," representing the conflict of social interests and aggregate consequences of individual choices. Among the issues analyzed are the aggregate impact of trade, policies of redistribution, labor markets, inequality, varieties of capitalism and globalization.

PL 640 Political Science Research Methodology

This course provides a systematic understanding and critical appreciation of alternative approaches, methodologies and paradigms of political science research. Students will learn techniques to interpret and analyze data. The training will enable students to think through how they can use their knowledge and skills of advanced research methods in different contexts and apply them to their own research project.

PL 652 Populism in Europe

This course will examine the forms, causes and implications of populism drawing from theoretical debates and case studies in Europe. The focus will be primarily on Radical Right Populist Parties (RRPPs) and will concentrate on themes such as historical and cultural legacies, charismatic leadership, the role of gender and the impact of Euroscepticism to unpack the complexities of populism in a contemporary context. The course will also discuss Left-Wing Populism, the impact of the contemporary media in shaping populist discourse and the wider consequences in terms of its influence on the democratic process in Europe.

PL 653 Revolutions

Political revolutions have been practically synonymous with the rise and making of the modern world, so much so that their importance is paradoxically often lost sight of, their formation naturalized and their meaning difficult to establish. Ranging from politics and economics, to technology, society and science, revolutionary transformations have created and shaped particular ways of living and have even pushed the creation of new kinds of human beings and societies. This advanced course will examine revolutions specifically as a political phenomenon or as a particular range of the human experience of politics. It will provide a highly conceptual, pluri-disciplinary and non-normative approach to the study of revolutionary politics and its impact on the modern world, albeit in the full recognition that an entirely value-free science is neither possible nor desirable.

PL 660 International Security

This research seminar explores the concept of international security and its development over time in the study of international politics. The field of International Relations has significantly changed since the end of the Cold War and the spread of globalization, leading to the expansion and development of its notions of security. Among other developments, this includes the recent focus by states on ecological or bio-security as well as the development of new concepts like human security. The overall objective of this seminar is to sharpen our analytical understanding of the meaning of security, in both its classical and contemporary use, and to study its implications for world politics today. By deepening the theoretical aspects of International Security and by confronting them with contemporary issues, students will have a broader knowledge of security practices in international relations.

PL 668 Food security and Sustainable Food Systems: A Political Economy Approach

This course reviews the contested political landscape of both food and farming, in both rich and poor countries. Issues examined include management of land/water, farming, nutrition and government policies surrounding these concerns. The most polarizing policy debates over food and farming today typically pit those who defend conventional commercial agriculture against advocates for alternative approaches, such as foods grown organically and locally. We will assess the status of these debates, drawing from theoretical material and practical case studies.

PL 675 Politics of China

This course reviews the evolution of China's national policies, focusing on the narrative of National Humiliation, Mao’s central role in Party’s history and ideology & Chinese leadership policies from Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping. It examines Chinese Communist Party ideology and structure, China’s key notion of national security and its foreign relations with a special emphasis on the evolution of Sino-American relations and the Belt and Road Initiative. The course will end with a class debate on China’s conceptualization of world order.

PL 680 Human Rights and International Law

This course sharpens substantive theoretical and practical human rights knowledge and the capacity to critically analyze key human rights issues. The course first recalls influential theoretical perspectives and the elevation of human rights to a matter of international legal concern. Second, the course critically examines international, regional and national human rights norms and institutions to uncover strengths and weaknesses as well as the role of non-governmental organizations. The relationship between international frameworks to national human rights protection and key jurisprudence from the European, Inter-American and African regional human rights systems are then noted. Finally, the course considers some of the more urgent human rights issues of our time relating to democracy and the rule of law, economic, social and cultural rights, women and girls, gender identity, children, criminal justice, national security and terrorism, the environment, people on the move, and transitional justice in post-conflict situations.

PL 682 Human Trafficking, Forced Labor and Slavery

The course offers a comprehensive understanding of the complex international legal system regulating human trafficking, forced labor and other contemporary forms of slavery. The intricacy of the definitional framework is studied and relevant branches of international law – including transnational trafficking law, international slavery law, standards in the field of forced labor, human rights and international criminal law – are investigated to understand the complex set of existing norms in the fields of human trafficking and other contemporary forms of slavery. The role played by multiple international organizations and the effects produced by the fragmentation of international law in this field are also specifically assessed. Relevant sources of international law, including various treaties and pieces of European Union law, as well as the jurisprudence of some international courts and cases of human rights monitoring bodies are examined. Finally, recommendations for action needed in the existing international legal framework in this field are formulated.

PL 710 Professional Development Course

This course focuses on developing the practical skills and knowledge to prepare for a professional career in International Affairs. This course serves as an accompanying course for the required internship and should be taken in the first year of the MA program.

Grading: This course will be graded on a PASS/FAIL scale.

PL 720 Practicum in International Affairs

The Practicum in International Affairs provides a hands-on introduction to policy work in the field of global affairs. The course will feature lectures and seminars by international practitioners and engage with the networks of policymakers present in the city of Rome. The practicum will be run as an interactive seminar with student participation and discussion strongly emphasized. Students will also draw on the lectures to formulate a policy portfolio for their work.

Grading: This course will be graded on a PASS/FAIL scale.

PL 740 Internship or Research Assistantship

Students will complete a professional internship or work on a research project under the supervision of a faculty member for a minimum period of 150 contact hours. Students are responsible for writing an essay on their experience and formulating an integrated professional or research plan following the end of internship or research assistantship period.

Grading: This course will be graded on a PASS/FAIL scale.

PL 780 Thesis Writing

Students will write a research-oriented MA thesis (approximately 15,000 words) or a policy-oriented MA thesis (approximately 8,000 words) under the supervision of a faculty member.