Kurse in Berlin
Winter semester
Colloquium: Professional Development - How to prepare your Masters thesis
Lehrende: Daniela Jahn, Claudia Matthes
This course has two components: It prepares students for the labour market and teaches them how to improve their CVs and cover letters. Via a series of meetings with alumni, it also provides many insights on how to continue after graduation. In the second part, two sessions cover all questions related to the writing of a masters thesis, i.e. finding a topic and formulating a research question.
Seminar: Current Challenges to Democracy
Lehrender: Ertug Tombus
The course delves into the pressing issues that pose significant threats to democratic principles and institutions. By examining a range of topics including post-democracy, climate change and Anthropocene, mobility and migration, anti-gender movements, radicalization of right-wing politics and populism, and digitalization, this course aims to equip participants with a comprehensive understanding of the complex dynamics affecting democratic societies and invites to rethink the concepts, principles and institutions that shape liberal democratic imaginary.
Joint Seminar III: Enlargement of the European Union - processes and policies
Lehrende: Claudia Matthes, Özlem Tür
It is a challenge to define Europe as a geographic, economic or political term. But still, the European Union (EU) is the most exciting contemporary political system being shaped, transformed and strengthened affecting the lives of vast populations. The enlargement of the EU was a major dimension of European integration and has functioned as one of EU’s major policy tools. Currently, the next enlargement of the EU, the constitutional debate in Europe, European foreign and security policy, and migration create challenges for unity and diversity in the wider Europe. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how the EU is governed, by whom, in whose interests, and to what ends. This course explores the origins and motives behind the creation of the European Union and the wider European political project. It offers a reflection on the institutions and social forces in order to understand the trajectory of European Integration and the history of successive EU enlargements. It also analyses the political dreams and rationalities embedded in various attempts to govern Europe. Special attention will be given to the analysis of EU-Türkiye relations and the EU’s new European Neighbourhood Policy, while placing the European Union within a changing international context.
Colloquium: Germany in Change: Germany - a Federal System in Germany
Lehrende: Claudia Matthes
The colloquium offers the opportunity to discuss current aspects of domestic politics in Germany. It will provide students with the necessary background knowledge to understand the historical, institutional and socio-economic .
Summer semester
Thesis Colloquium
Lehrende: Claudia Matthes
Writing a Master Thesis demands engaging with a subject matter over a relatively short period of time. In this seminar we want to tackle the practical issues that arise in the final phase of the Master Degree when students are confronted with writing their graduation thesis. This means engaging with the questions of time management, developing the central question(s) and applying methodology to structure ideas and evaluate research. As a consequence of taking this course, the students should be able to:
- understand and apply the conventions of academic writing to both content and style
- know how to develop a research question and make methodological choices
- develop a schedule which allows for new drafts and revisions
- use outside information sources and libraries to gather material
- know how to use the various software programmes for archiving material
- have a strong sense of motivation and inner commitment to their work
The prerequisite for this course is having an outline of the thesis, which has to be submitted before the deadline. Students enrolled should either be about to start on their thesis or already working on it. This seminar will contain lectures, practical assignments and group work devised to develop skills in discussing ideas and writing academically in the English language.