Available for: Exchange students. Exercises, cases and essays online in English.
(Perustutkinto-opiskelijoille suomenkielinen toteutus syksyllä 1.-2. periodeissa.)

Preceding studies:

Recommended: Basic and Intermediate studies in Accounting (min 50 ects).

Sufficient English language skills.

The course focuses on several key dimensions of the member states’ involvement in EU policymaking. The three selected dimensions explored in the course are: 1) the institutional set-up of member states’ participation in EU affairs (executive coordination and parliamentary control  in other words, how ministries, cabinets, and national parliaments take part in EU affairs); 2) formulation and articulation of national preferences and positions at the EU level; and 3) implementation of EU law at the domestic level (and the subsequent compliance with this law).  

The course structure consists of the following sections:

A. National executives and parliaments and EU affairs
B. Member states’ preferences in the EU
C. Implementation of EU law in the member states

Registration by email to Jan Karlas (jan.karlas@fsv.cuni.cz) by 15 September.

Compulsory preceding studies: POLPOP02 Introduction to Political Science

During this course students write and present an essay comparing and discussing two research methods and the importance of the choice of method. The topic of the essay is chosen by the student in consultation with the responsible teacher. The group meets during the writing process to receive feedback on their writing.

First meeting, 4 October at 10.15 - 11.45. Subsequent meetings to be scheduled at the first meeting  but will take place on Tuesdays at 10.15.

This course is offered as an investigative art/research workshop where students explore questions related to sexual and gender politics in Finnish and Russian societies. The course consists of pre-readings, short lectures, group discussions and joint practical art-making workshops. The students learn to make short videos and to edit them. The students do not have to have previous experience of making videos or practicing art.

The workshop is intended to function as a space of cross-cultural and cross-sectoral knowledge production. We will critically explore a variety of borders that relate to the politics of gender and sexuality, e.g. the East-West divide or the boundary between academic research and artistic practice. We seek to explore the limits of established and conventionalized ways of knowledge production within academia, to recognize forms of sexual nationalism as well as to identify new kinds of solutions to problems related to the politics of gender & sexuality both in Finland and in Russia. 

The point of departure of the workshop is the idea that while questions related to sexual and gender politics are differently structured in Finnish and Russian societies, much is also shared. The workshop will explore the following types of questions: 

(1)   What kinds of meanings do gender and sexuality acquire in different cultural-political contexts? How are these meanings contested and questioned in Finland and in Russia?

(2)   How do politics of gender and sexuality articulate conceptions of social justice and equality in Finnish and Russian societies? What kind of practices of power, marginalization and exclusion are associated with these conceptions, and how can they be countered?

(3)   What kinds of cultural translations does the joint exploration of sexuality and gender bring to the fore? How can these acts of translation inform us about the cultural articulations concerning politics of gender and sexuality in Finland and Russia?

(4)   What kind of cultural and social ‘infrastructure’ is there in the past and present of the Russian and Finnish societies that would enable identifying solutions to the social issues related to politics of gender and sexuality?

Work load

Total hours 135 hrs (contact teaching 35 hrs, independent work 100 hrs) 

• Before the workshop: a set of pre-readings and a reflective learning diary (app. 2000 words) 
• Active attendance at the workshop sessions and practical art-making 
• After the workshop: a finalized artwork and/or an essay (app. 3000 words)

The course examines the consequences of democratic and dictatorial regimes in

a comparative perspective. We will explore how these broad types of regimes

are defined in the literature, how they structure political participation by citizens,

how they change over time and as a result from demands from the people, and

what effects regimes have on relative performance. In addition we'll work with

comparative public opinion datasets commonly used in social science research.

Class meetings: The class will meet once a week. Students should complete

the reading assigned in the syllabus and the homework before each meeting.

Each class period will be devoted to a discussion of the main ideas encountered

in the reading and students are expected to fully participate in the discussions.

Term Papers: 2 term papers will be assigned – one critical review and a final

paper. Both will incorporate the concepts studied in the class. Think of each

paper as an exam – I do. Make sure that you use them to show what you have

learned from the readings and lectures. The final paper is due on the last day of

class.

Critical Review Essay: Semester participants will write 1 paper on any of

the topics covered in this class. These papers are not supposed to be mere

summaries of the readings. Rather, they should be thoughtful critiques of the

assigned readings.

Research Paper: Each seminar participant will prepare a final paper.

Ideally this paper will be an empirical analysis using data from the World Values

Survey (http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs.jsp) or the European Values Study

(http://www.europeanvaluesstudy.eu/) datasets. The topic of this paper is up to

you. Alternatively, students can write a literature review of a topic addressed in

this class (see the Gandhi and Lust-Okar article for an example).

Schedule

Week 1 (Sept 7) Course Introduction
Week 2 (Sept. 14) Summarizing Regime Types
Week 3 (Sept. 21) Measuring Regime Characteristics
Week 4 (Sept 22) Value Change and Postmaterialism
Week 5 (Oct. 12) Political Life in Democracies
Week 6 (Oct. 26) Political Participation in Authoritarian Systems
Week 7 (Nov. 2) Civil Society [Will meet in Pinni B 4113]
Week 8 (Nov. 9) Social Welfare
Week 9 (Nov. 16) Economic Performance
Week 10 (Nov. 23) Corruption
Week 11 (Nov. 30) Protection of Human Rights and Personal Integrity
Week 12 (Dec. 7) War and Regime Type
Week 13 (Dec. 14) Prospects for Democratic Transitions

Students will be accepted to the course in the following order:

1. degree students of the MDP in Public Choice

2. degree students of the other Global Society programmes (MDP in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research, MDP in Global and Transnational Studies, MDP in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare)

3. other degree students of UTA

4. exchange students

---------------------------------------

The course can also be taken within the Degree Programme in Politics,

when it will compensate 5 ECTS from one of the following Political

Science study units: POLVOS23 Civil Society and Political Participation

(https://www10.uta.fi/opas/opintojakso.htm?rid=9428&idx=2&uiLang=en&lang=en&lvv=2015),

or POLVOS27 Political Systems

(https://www10.uta.fi/opas/opintojakso.htm?rid=9428&idx=6&uiLang=en&lang=en&lvv=2015).

This course is primarily for:

- Master students in Management and Organization studies

- Exchange students who have completed KATMAA13 Service Marketing course in period I. Completing KATMAA13 is a prerequirement for exchange students.

This course provides an introduction and overview over the disciplines of political and critical discourse analysis. The course will focus on various approaches to political discourse analysis as a tool for analyzing power relations. There is no set single approach, as the field is quite porous. The related works of scholars will be made available for the students for reading, analysis, and reflection during the course.  After the course, the students are expected to better understand the various approaches to political discourse analysis and are better equipped to utilize these theories in their forthcoming work. The students will be more adept at spotting discursive practices in political speech and the media and evaluate possible underlying modes of discursive argumentation.  The course consists of two modules: lecture and seminar teaching in period II, and a practical analytic workshop in period III. Period II course is A42/S25/S33 for 5 ECTS, and period III is S25/S33 for 5 ECTS. Space permitting, however, intermediate level students can also attend the work shop. In addition, if you have previously attended the course for Intermediate studies (A42 5 ECTS), you can still attend the workshop for 5 ECTS for Advanced studies (S25/S33). Priority is given to students registering for both periods.  The language of the course is English, so students are expected to be reasonably proficient in reading and writing academic texts in this language.

Enrolment via email to teacher responsible by 30 September.

Compulsory preceding studies: POLPOP02 Introduction to Political Science (exchange students: equivalent studies at home university).

On June 23 2016 the British were asked to respond to a simple referendum question which read: Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union? Until the murder of the Labour MP Jo Cox on the street in her Batley constituency a week before the vote, the campaign was lively and hard-hitting. The ‘Britain Stronger in Europe’ campaign focused on the damaging economic consequences of a Brexit whilst the ‘Vote Leave’ campaign concentrated on the immigration question, adding that “instead of subsidising French farmers, we should take control back and spend our money (never the euro!) on our priorities like the National Health Service”. Sophie from Peterborough had other things on her mind: “If we leave the EU does it mean we would be banned from the Eurovision Song Contest?” The course will represent a detailed portrait of a decision from the origins of the referendum to the campaign, an in-depth analysis of the result and a discussion of its likely consequences

Lecture/seminar topics

October 25 ‘How come the ‘Battle for Britain’? The Background to Brexit

October 27 ‘Project Fear’ versus ‘Project Hate’: The Campaign

November 1 Polish bakeries on the High Street: Euroscepticism or Immigration Scepticism?

November 3 Did the north and the poor cause Brexit? Analysing the Result

November 8 “Get ready for indy ref 2”: the Future for Scotland and Northern Ireland? BREXIT5.pdf

November 10 “If Labour stays at home, Britain leaves” Was it Labour’s fault? BREXIT6.pdf

November 15 ‘So what the hell happens now?’ (Daily Mail). The Challenges Ahead BREXIT7.pdf

November 17 A prime minister who lives by the referendum must ultimately day by the referendum. The wider lessons of the referendum.

Email registration by October 1 essential

Compulsory preceding studies: POLPOP02 Introduction to Political Science

This course focuses on the interaction of small and great powers in Northern Europe, bilateral and multilateral political dynamics as well as on dynamics of change and continuity in Finnish-Russian relations and EU-Russian relations.

The course is compulsory for RES Master's Programme IR students.

Course lectures will be held during St. Petersburg Autumn School in December 2016.

The course addresses Russia’s foreign policy from Gorbachev’s New Thinking until 2016. Students will learn about key events, phenomena, actors, and classifications of foreign policy schools, and other concepts to interpret them. The course will also encourage students to pay attention to interaction between the domestic and foreign policy in the Russian context.

In order to pass the course, students should actively take part in the lectures, study the required materials for each lecture and prepare a public group presentation  (3 ECTS). In order to get 5 ECTS, students will write an essay on Russia’s foreign policy – the title to be specified and agreed on with the teacher -  in addition to the above mentioned requirements.

Please enroll in NettiOpsu by 17 October. Enrolment starts 19 September. A maximum of 50 students will be accepted to the course (RES and Politics students will be given priority, otherwise on the basis of first come, first served). The first lecture will take place 27 October and the last one 8 December. You cannot take this course unless you are able to come to our last meeting 8 December when a conference with your presentations will be organized.

Please enroll in NettiOpsu by 10 October. Enrolment starts 19 September.  A maximum of 50 students will be accepted to the course (RES and Politics students will be given priority, otherwise on the basis of first come, first served). The first lecture will take place 27 October and the last one  8 December. You cannot take this course unless you are able to come to our last meeting 8  December  when a conference with your presentations will be organized.

The course includes a written asignment

PLEASE NOTE: The course schedule has changed! The course will start on Thu 16.2. with an introductory lecture, followed by web-based studying. Participation in the first lecture is compulsory.

Course content

This course is available both on bachelor's and master's level. Master's level students will have more reading material.

Course exam: Thu 11.5. at 12-3 p.m. in Pinni B1096. No need to sign up.

Politics seems more and more concerned with the public and private lives and the ideas of politicians in leadership positions. Blair gave us Blairism, Reagan Reaganomics; Ed Miliband’s face did not fit; ‘alpha male’ Donald Trump groped women ‘like an octopus’; Bill Clinton lived a colourful extra-marital existence; the former French president François Mitterrand had a mistress throughout his period in office; and then there was Berlusconi! The media spotlight on leading politicians has appeared to elevate them above their party as well as exposing them to ruthless scrutiny regarding their capacity to lead. 

Lecture/seminar themes

1. The Presidentialisation of Politics

Have leaders become more prominent and powerful at the expense of parties, policies and parliamentarians?

2. The Mediatisation of Politics

Do the media effectively determine the outcome of elections?

Voting Advice Applications; Candidate videos; web television

3. Presidentialisation at the Grassroots?

Are election campaigns in the constituencies becoming more candidate-centred?

Electoral system and party incentives to ‘individualise’ campaigns

‘Decentralised personalisation’

4. Online personalisation

Do (and how do) candidates seek a cyber-space ‘relationship’ with voters – intimacy at distance?

E-campaigning, online candidate biographies, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Lecture Schedule

January 17 Personalisation: Exploring a multi-dimensional concept

January 19 The structural factors underpinning personalisation

January 24 ‘Centralised personalisation’: the ‘Presidentialisation of Politics’ thesis

January 26 The ‘personal party’: Glistrup, Lange, Wilders and Berlusconi

January 31 The mediatisation of politics: From Talk Shows to VAAs

February 2 ‘Decentralised personalisation’: the ‘Individualisation’ of candidate campaigns

February 7 Online personalisation

February 9 Personalisation and the Quality of Democracy 

Email registration essential by January 10, 2017

Compulsory preceding studies: POLPOP02 Introduction to Political Science (exchange students: equivalent studies at home university).

IR theories are basically Western centric, based on Western historical experience and intellectual traditions. However, all actors in the international system do not necessarily act according to the rationality of the Western centric theories. Currently emerging powers challenge the international system and that might challenge also the mainstream IR theories. In order to avoid a conflictual behaviour, it is worth of knowing approaches based on non-Western world views. The aim of the course is to find out whether the epistemic communities in the emerging states are challenging our traditional interpretations about the international system and politics. Simultaneously students are encouraged to invent new perspectives in interpreting international politics. The course should also make it possible to evaluate how international IR as an academic discipline is as well as to estimate whether changes in the international system require new approaches in understanding international politics.

Course consist 8 h of lectures and 16 h of seminars.

Lectures give a general overview to the topic of the course: changing international order; Western centric IR and challenging IR approaches from the non-Western world.

For the seminar session each of the students have to read provided articles and each of the articles will be introduced by one student for discussion.

Students also have to write a learning diary about how they have found the texts and also explicate how those texts might affect their own understanding about the international politics.

Compensations in International Relations:

POLKVS33 Rauhan- ja konfliktintutkimus/Peace and Conflict Research

or

POLKVS31 Maailmanpolitiikan tutkimus/The Study of World Politics

The forms of violence in civil wars are quite often more intensified and fatal than in traditional wars among states. Violence is present within the whole society and divides it into antagonist camps. Returning to peace after bloody civil war is therefore also more painful and complex. It takes time to recover from civil wars since the wounds are deeply engrained in the society and they dominate every day experiences among people. This course focuses on the ways to end violence after civil war and build up sustainable and just peace, ways to heal collective and individual trauma and reconstruct destroyed community but also damaged environment. The course examines from various thematic, but also disciplinary perspectives, challenges and obstacles of returning to peace after civil war. It is focused mostly on Finnish Civil War (1917), Irish civil wars and Middle Eastern cases. It offers multi- and inter-disciplinary focus by combining psychological, historical, peace studies and legal approaches.

Themes:

1) Mediation & peace processes

2) Reconciliation, trauma and remembering

3) Transitional justice & reconstruction

4) Refugees and forced displacement

Schedule:

16.1.2017 Marko Lehti (UTA): Introduction 

19.1.2017 Pertti Haapala (History, UTA) –”From Chaos to Compromise. The Civil War 1918 and its aftermath in Finland”

23.1.2016 Jyrki Ruohomäki (TAPRI, UTA): “The politics of memory and re-membering in post-conflict Northern Ireland”

26.1.2017 Anne Heimo (University of Turku): “Coping with the Past: The 1918 Finnish Civil War”

30.1.2017 Jukka Kekkonen (University of Helsinki): “Political and legal repression after Finnish and Spanish civil wars. A comparative analysis.”

2.2.2017 Elise Feron (TAPRI, UTA) "Northern Ireland: Peace without Reconciliation?"

6.2.2017 Laura Huttunen (anthropology, UTA): "Missing persons and the transition to peace:  Bosnia-Herzegovina and beyond"

9.2.2017 Tanja Tamminen (IOS, Germany): ”Kosovo – from dialogue to reconciliation”

13.2.2017 Roland Kostic: “Transitional Justice and Reconciliation in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Examining top-down approaches and bottom up response”

15.2.2017 Susanne Dahlgren (anthropology, UTA): “ Reconstruction of civil society after violent civil war: the case of Yemen”

20.2.2017 Anitta Kynsilehto (TAPRI): "Fleeing civil war: Syrians in exile"

23.2.2017 Armenak Tokjman (TAPRI, UTA) “Conflict transformation: examples from Syria”

27.2.2017 Bruno Lefort (TAPRI, UTA/ Montreal) “After Lebanese Civil war” (Skype lecture)

2.3.2017 Karim Maiche (TAPRI) “Partial Amnesty and the Confidence-Building in Post-Civil War Algeria”

6.3.2017 Raija-Leena Punamäki: “Traumatic war experiences and possibility of reconciliation: psychological aspects.”

9.3.2017 Aleksi Ylönen (Lisbon): "South Sudan: Endless Instability?"

13.3.2017. Frank Möller (TAPRI,  UTA) Children of Rwanda

16.3.2017 Eeva Puumala (TAPRI):  ”Refugees and asylum seekers: experiencing civil war from a distance”.

20.3.2017 Mahdi Abdile: “From democracy to perpetual chaos and improvement: The case of Somalia”

The course will take place on Mondays and Thursdays at 12-14, except:

Monday 30 January at 16-18

Monday 27 February at 16-18.

Wednesday 15.2.2017 at 12-14

Lectures 38h, literature given by lecturers and student workshops chaired by TAPRI phd-students.

Student write a lecture diary on the basis of lectures and given material.

Students participate to dialogic workshops (4 sessions, 2 hours each) facilitated by TAPRI’s PhD students in which target orientated questions are given beforehand and joint concluding statement are written jointly.

Course: open for all students but targeted specially for students at Faculty of Social Sciences.

Compensations:

Degree Programme in Social Sciences: SOSM7

Degree Programme in Politics (International Relations): POLKVS33 Peace and Conflict Research

The Jean Monnet Module 'Stepping Stones to Working Life in the Field of EU–Russia Relations (STEPIN)' is designed to be an innovative bridge between the final stages of university studies at the Master’s level and the professional life. STEPIN consists of an intensive, one-week tailor-made training course on EU issues (EU–Russia relations in particular) with special relevance for the students’ professional life. Focusing on skills and knowledge in a transversal sense, the training course provides the students with a concrete introduction to professional life in the academia, research institutes, administration, policy-making and the private sector. In terms of methodology, STEPIN is a hands-on training course that emphasises learning by doing and active, intertwined participation by the students, the teaching staff and visitors. It is based on actual career paths and experiences from various work environments in the field of EU–Russia relations.
 

Draft programme

Monday 3 April

10-10.30 Welcome and introduction to the STEPIN course

10.30-12 Introduction to the writing exercise: how to write a Policy Brief/Comment?

12-13 Lunch

14-16 Public seminar, topic and speakers to be confirmed

Tuesday 4 April

10-12 Career talk/practical lecture, guests to be confirmed

13-16 Practising TV interviews, introduction and first exercises

Wednesday 7 April

9-13 Practising TV interviews continues

14-16 TV exercise feedback

Thursday 8 April

10-16 Funding and marketing research/research employment: talks and practical exercises

Guest speakers

Friday 9 April

10-14 Feedback on the written exercise (brief/comment)

14-16 General feedback session 

The number of participants will be limited to 10-15. Those interested in taking part are invited to send a letter of motivation that also includes information about the topic and stage of the applicant's Master's thesis to Jean Monnet Professor Hanna Ojanen by e-mail (hanna.ojanen@uta.fi) by 28 February at the latest.

Intensive 5-day course. Active participation in all sessions is compulsory.

The course critically examines the underlying structural and institutional causes of the Euro crisis. After completion, students will have a better understanding of the basic features of economic governance under the Economic and Monetary Union and the governance reforms implemented during the euro crisis. Students will be able to orient current developments within an appropriate historical context and understand the limitations this history imposes on the contemporary policy landscape.

Compulsory preceding studies: POLPOP02 Introduction to Political Science (exchange students: equivalent studies at home university).

Concepts structure the way we see and make sense of the world. They live and change in time, providing answers to problems which trouble people in each social and political era. In this course we take a close look into a group of concepts customarily used in the fields of political science and social movement studies to make sense of the world of democracy and citizenship but which have of late been questioned by a growing body of literature. In the face of late-modern socio-political and technological changes like individualisation, political polarisation, social-mediatisation, and the rise of self-initiated pop up-style of activism, many traditional concepts and theories related to representative politics, citizenship, and social movements have become outdated. This course engages in critical and innovative rethinking of such concepts based on and contributing to the lecturers' new book project 'Concepts in Movement'.

Upon completing the course, the student will be familiar with the central concepts used to describe and explain the relationship between citizens and democracy, and is able to critically evaluate today's political trends and developments along with the arising forms of civic participation and activism.

No pre-enrolment.

Compulsory preceding course: POLPOP02 Introduction to Political Science (exchange students: equivalent studies at home university).

The practice turn focused scholarly attention on the role that habits, understandings, and practices play in shaping international relations.  The premise of this approach is that social reality is constituted by individuals acting upon and in the world, and their ways of doing things and their discursive practices and understandings shape the nature of international relations.  Security, diplomatic and peace studies have been domains in which the practice approach has flourished.  The practice turn has also served an important bridge between the scholarly and practitioner communities. This workshop will situate the practice turn within the broader study of international relations and, in hands-on activities, will help students consider how to incorporate a practice approach into their research projects on security, diplomacy and peace studies.  As such, preparatory work by the participants, including a short paper, is required prior to the workshop.  Participants must be prepared to use moodle as part of the preparatory work for the course.  Following the workshop, participants will complete a 10 page paper incorporating a practice approach.

Pre-requisite:  students should have completed or take concurrently the program’s research design course.

Additional reading, essay themes and further instructions will be given later.  

Max 16 students will be taken to research workshop.

Those accepted  will start  working  at the moodle  one week before, March 27th."