Universität zu Köln International

Lecturer: Tatiana Lopez, Dipl. Reg.-Wiss.

Course Nr.: 15304.0037

Date: Mon, 8 - 11:30am (course will alternate with the course "Current Challenges of EU foreign and security policy")

Location: 103 S2.127

Course description will follow soon

Lecturer: Benjamin Haas, MA

Course Nr.: 15304.0034

Date: Tue., 2 - 3:30pm

Location: 103 S73

Development policies traditionally aim to improve the lives of people in so called “developing countries”. However, due to the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the world is currently renegotiating the concept of development. This seminar gives an overview about the policy field from a European perspective, including its history, theories, actors, instruments and current (critical) debates. It also includes a one-day study excursion to Bonn (the former capital of West-Germany), where students have the opportunity to discuss the topics of the seminar with different political actors and practitioners, for instance, from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Students learn to apply different theoretical approaches regarding the concepts of development to current practical cases and get an introductory overview about European Development Policies. No previous knowledge about the topic is required.

Lecturer: Dr. Johanna Gereke

Course Nr.: 15304.0032

Time/Date: Mon., 12 - 1:30pm

Location: 106 S13

The focus of this seminar is on the interaction between migration and society. With unprecedented numbers of immigrants reaching the European Union, the analytical study of migration and immigration has become ever more important for social scientists. This seminar will be divided into two parts: In the first part of the seminar, we will examine questions, such as: Why do people migrate across international borders? What are the different flows of migrants? Can states control “unwanted” migration? And what are the consequences of migration on origin countries? In the second part of the seminar, the focus will be on issues of integration of immigrants. We will discuss questions, such as: How do social scientists theorize and evaluate immigrant integration? How are immigrants and their children becoming part of the mainstream in the receiving countries? And how do attitudes towards immigrants form and differ among individuals and across countries?

Lecturer: Tobias Flessenkemper

Course Nr.: 15304.0033

Date: Mon., 8 - 11:30am (start Apr. 23rd)

Location: 103 S2.127

Please note: This course is held in four-hour-session and will not be held weekly. Dates will be published soon. First session is on April 23rd. 

The Western Balkans countries - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia - are increasingly interconnected with the European Union on all levels. Croatia was the first Western Balkans country to join the EU on 1 July 2013. The others are at various stages of the integration process.

On February 6, 2018 the European Commission presented its new enlargement strategy which outlines the challenges ahead and also brought a fresh attention to the region which is increasingly vulnerable to external influences, in particular by Russia, China and Turkey.

15 years ago, the Thessaloniki European Council in  2003 declared the Western Balkans potential EU member states. The “Thessaloniki agenda” brought together EU foreign policy and enlargement. Enlargement was considered the most effective foreign policy towards the region of the Western Balkans. The process remains characterised by particular challenges for the European Union as an actor as well as the countries. These are:

1) Regional cooperation and security following the wars and crises of the 1990s - the region and the EU continue to deal with the legacies and consequences of the past (including, issues related to state recognition, disarmament, normalization of relations, bilateral disputes, confidence-building measures to border demarcation);

2) Increased conditionality and scrutiny of EU-related reforms following previous enlargement rounds -  the Western Balkans countries have to establish and maintain democracy and human rights, functioning institutions able to uphold the acquis communautaire and an economy able to compete within the common market  (Copenhagen criteria); despite being at different stages of the EU integration process, the countries of the region share similar difficulties in addressing those issues;

3) South Eastern Europe is an area of connection and transit - today the region is the link between zones of war and instability in the near East and Central and Western Europe; obvious challenges stem from the “border crisis”, which exemplifies this intertwined relationship the region has with both its South Eastern neighbourhood as well as with the EU and its member states (Balkans route); the region is also historically linked with Turkey and Russia, both of which play a political role in the countries, including in multilateral cooperation with the EU. In recent times the Balkans Silk Road of China challenges the EU model of connectivity in the region, which is being promoted also by the “Berlin process”, initiated by Germany, in 2014. 

Hence, the analysis of the Western Balkans enlargement offers an insight into several areas, inter alia:

-              the evolving enlargement policy and institutional framework, including methodologies and pre-accession assistance;

-              the development of the Commons Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and the role of the EU in (member) state-building;

-              the interconnection between external and internal security of the EU for instance in areas such as visa, migration and border management policies as well as the renewed emphasis on fundamental rights and the rule of law;

-              the perspectives of the European Union as a whole since overtime EU enlargement to South Eastern Europe has also become linked to the question if the countries of the region eventually wish to join an ever changing EU, including Brexit;

-              the role of “other” actors and powers in Europe, on the one hand the allies of the European Union such as the US and in the future the UK and to a certain degree Turkey, and on the other hand of competitors and antagonists such as Russia and China but also in an ideological sense of ethnic nationalism, anti-liberalism and radical religious and other global movements. 

Schedule (sessions from 08h00-11h30) 

Monday, 23 April

Monday, 07 May

Monday, 21 May

Monday, 04 June

Monday, 18 June

Monday, 02 July

Monday, 16 July

Lecturer: Elias Deutscher, LL.M.

Course Nr: 15304.0030

Date/Time: Wed., 4 - 7:15pm (held from May 2nd until June 27th)

Location: 315 S234

In light of the current surge of Eurosceptic and anti-globalization movements, the EU’s role in regulating globalized markets has been the focal point of a plethora of various criticisms. On the one hand, the EU is recurrently portrayed as source of inefficient over-regulation and red tape. On the other hand, the EU is increasingly perceived as a neo-liberal catalyst of trade liberalization and deregulation, undermining the Member States’ regulatory autonomy and welfare systems. To decipher and critically assess current Eurosceptic and anti-globalization discourses, a solid understanding of how regulation of globalized markets works is key.

Therefore, this course proposes to study the role of the EU as central actor of international market regulation from a pluri-disciplinary, legal, political and economic perspective. The goal of this course is to provide the students with a solid and contextual knowledge of EU internal market and competition rules, which lie at the heart of EU economic law. This course will also equip the students with a good understanding of the development of the EU integration process, as well as of the functioning and decision-making of the EU institutions. Moreover, it will allow them to critically assess current political discourses on the EU and international trade. Relying both on legal texts and academic literature, this course will additionally provide students with important methodological tools to critically read and analyse EU legislation, case law and academic texts.

The course will unfold in four sections. A first section (4 hours) of the course will be dedicated to the basic concepts that underlie trade liberalization and regulation at global (WTO) and European (EU) level. This section will also give a brief historical overview on trade liberalization over the 20th century.

The second section will focus on the substantive EU internal market law (8 hours). In particular, it will retrace the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union in promoting EU market integration by striking down state barriers to trade through the interpretation of EU free movement rules. (The focus will lie on free movement of goods, services and establishment). It will also address the fundamental tension between trade liberalization and the regulatory autonomy of national welfare states, and will study the complementary role of negative (trade liberalization) and positive (trade regulation) integration. Moreover, this section will critically discuss the alleged democratic deficit and neo-liberal bias of the EU internal market policies.

The third section of the course will examine how EU competition law regulates private companies’ attempts to impose restraints of trade (8 hours). The course will provide the students with a basic understanding of the prohibition of anticompetitive agreements (Art. 101 TFEU) and the prohibition of abuses of a dominant market position (Art. 102 TFEU), as well as of EU merger control. Moreover, it will also address the application of EU competition rules to Member States: namely, the EU State aid rules and Art. 106 TFEU. Thus, the course will also critically discuss to what extent the application of EU competition law leaves EU Member States sufficient leeway to pursue social policies and national regulatory choices.

The fourth section will be dedicated to the external dimension of EU Economic Law (4 hours). It will explain how the EU exports its internal market and competition rules at a global level, by concluding comprehensive Free Trade Agreements with third (non-EU) countries. This section will also touch upon the current controversies surrounding TTIP and CETA.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Stephan Hobe LL.M.; Banjamyn I. Scott

Course Nr.: 15304.0039

Date: Tue., 12:00 - 1:30pm (start Apr. 24th)

Location: 103 S83

This course introduces the basic principles and rules found in International Law and European Union law.

Students will be presented with reading materials and are expected to have read them before the class. This will facilitate discussion.

The structure of the lessons is interactive, where active participation is both desired and expected.

Every student will prepare a topic and present the results in front of the course (10 to 15 minutes). After the presentation, the topic at hand will be discussed among the class.

The course will be concluded with a short multiple choice exam.

Week    Date      Teacher               Topic

1             24 April Mr Scott              Introduction to Course and Law

                1 May             Public Holiday

2             8 May   Mr Scott              History and Background of Public International Law

3             15 May Prof. Hobe          Sources of International Law

               22 May            no lecture

4             29 May Mr Scott              International Court of Justice and Case Study

5             5 June  Prof. Hobe          Jurisdiction

6             12 June Prof. Hobe          History and Background to EU Law

7             19 June Mr Scott              Sources of EU Law

8             26 June Mr Scott              Institutions of the EU

9             3 July    Mr Scott              European Court of Justice and Case Study

10           10 July  Mr Scott              Presentations (International and EU Law)

Necessary law texts:      

Core reading will be provided in advance of the lecture.

Recommended law texts:           

Malcolm N. Shaw, International Law, Eighth Edition, (Cambridge University Press, 2017).

Rebecca Wallace and Olga Martin-Ortega, International Law, Seventh Edition, (Sweet & Maxwell, 2013).

Paul Craig and Grainne De Burca, EU Law: Text, Cases, and Materials, Sixth Edition, (Oxford University Press, 2015).

Lecturer: Dr. Johannes Müller

Course Nr.: 15304.0031

Time/Date: Wed., 8 - 9:30am

Location: 106 S13

Germany’s history in the second half of the 20th century was overshadowed by the disastrous outcome of World War II, both with regard to domestic policies and international affairs. The atrocities committed by Nazi-Germany left a monstrous legacy for generations of Germans to deal with. The aftermath of the defeat of the German Army by a discordant alliance set the scene for the division of Europe and the rise of the Cold War. Germany’s own trajectory from division to unification, with a history split into a Western and an Eastern narrative (still today difficult to merge into a common perspective), is as peculiar as it is emblematic for the history of Europe in this epoch. 

This introductory course, taught in English, attempts to approach German history from the outside. The course is based on broad selections of original texts and sources as provided by the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C. (http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/home.cfm?language=english) and will rely predominantly on international studies (in English). German students are very welcome, if they are ready to take on an external point of view; international students are invited to bring in their own perspective on German history based on studies/monographs from their home countries.

Course Program (Overview)

1. Wed, 11 April – Introduction

2. Wed, 18 April – Unconditional Surrender – Resetting Germany and the Germans

Wed, 25 April – NO SEMINAR

3. Wed, 2 May – Troubled Allied Cooperation/Double State-Building

4. Wed, 9 May –  The West: Social Market Economy and Social Restoration 

5. Mon, 14 May – RECOVERY SESSION 

                                16:00-17:30 in COPT-Building (315) Room: S 232 

                                The East: Command Economy and Real Existing Socialism

Wed, 16 May – NO SEMINAR

Wed, 23 May – NO SEMINAR

6. Mon, 28 May – RECOVERY SESSION

                                16:00-17:30 in COPT-Building (315) Room: S 232

                                Resilience and Rebellion: 1968 and Its Aftermath

7. Wed, 30 May – “Ostpolitik” and Reform: BRD and the Willy-Brandt-Effect 

8. Wed, 6 June – The DDR from Ulbricht to Honecker

9. Wed, 13 June – Two States, Two Societies – The Germanies in the 1970s/80s

10. Wed, 20 June – “Deutschlandpolitik”

11. Wed, 27 June – The Iron Eighties and The Gorbachev Impact

12. Wed, 4 July – Revolution

13. Wed, 11 July – (Re-)Unification

14. Wed, 18 July – Conclusion(s)

Lecturer: Dr. Benjamin Naujoks

Course Nr.: 15304.0036

Time/Date: Tue., 10 - 11:30am

Location: 103 S73

Duyisibao – this is the Chinese name for the German city Duisburg, the destination of the New Silk Road from China to Western Europe. In this context, Duisburg is one example for the interdependences of the European Union in a globalized world. The seminar will question the history of Europe under a methodological approach of economic and social history. It will analyse key terms, like globalization or European Integration. Therefore, this seminar will deal with European History of the 19th and 20th centuries under particular consideration of the European Integration after 1945. Its guiding question is: What are the main parameters for trade, growth, and wealth in Europe – in a more and more globalized world?

Introductory reading

- Ivan T. Berend, An Economic History of Twentieth-Century Europe. Economic Regimes from Laissez-Faire to Globalization, Cambridge, 2016.

- John McCormick, Europeanism, Oxford, 2010.

- John Pinder/Simon Usherwood, The European Union. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, 2013.

Lecturer: Judith Berns, MA

Course Nr: 15304.0035

Time/Date: Mon 4 - 5:30pm (start Apr 9th), double session on Apr 16th/23rd from 4 - 7pm

Location: 315 S232 

Credit Points: 3

Study competence meets Intercultural competence

This course will enable students to acquire intercultural competence and studying competence. As an exchange student daily life on campus brings along a number of challenges. Depending on the cultural and academic background the given environment and academic demands on a German campus can be overwhelming and acutally hindering a students´ performance in content seminars.

Outputs of this course will be:

Studying competence

• Writing academic papers (e.g. summary, essay)
• Preparing for quizzes and exams
• Designing power point presentations
• Holding presentations
• Strategies on group- /teamwork
• Participating in discussion
• Proper communication in an academic environment
• Autonomous learning strategies

Intercultural competence

• Theory on intercultural concepts
• Training intercultural skills
• Gaining comprehensive cultural knowledge

Intercultural competence is considered a key competence in an increasing culturally diverse society. Commanding intercultural skills will be a valuable asset in today´s working world, as international exchange and business across borders becomes more and more frequent.

The seminar was especially designed for CGSP-students, drawing from past experiences and feedback from CGSP-teachers, as well as students of the program.

All core courses can also be chosen for the elective module.

For more information on the modules (basic and elective) see pages 7-9 of our brochure.

Lecturer: Prof. Daniel Buncic

Course Nr: 14659.6001

Time/Date: Mon, 2 - 3:30pm (start Apr 9th)

Location: 106 S11

Credit Points: 3

The CCLS Lecture Series offers a forum to linguists from many different areas to present findings from current research. In this way, students will have access to up-to-date work done locally at the University of Cologne, as well as to work done internationally. Topics will cover a variety of languages, methodological approaches, and theoretical perspectives (see course list for detailed information). Individual class sessions will be divided up in a lecture part and a question and answer session. Open to all interested.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Stefan Neubert

Course Nr: 14387.0004

Time/Date: Thu., 5:45 - 7:15pm (start Apr 12th)

Location: 216 S130

Credit Points: 3

The seminar will address internationally influential, important, and innovative debates concerning Cultural Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Democracy and Education.

Lecturer: Prof. Kirk Junker

Course Nr: 13980.2082

Time/Date: Wed, 8 - 9:30am (start: Apr 11th)

Location: 211 H115

Credit Points: 6

Please note: All students have to fulfill the standard requirements of the course! The course will be awared with 6CP upon successful participation!

Environmental law is a discipline of its own since approximately 1970.  Since that time, one can find laws made by the state in India, Germany, the United States and many other countries of the world.  What one should realize from this date in time is that environmental law was produced by the social events of the 1960s, which themselves were a product of social unrest.  Some of the social unrest was due to worldwide awareness that the industrial processes that enabled rapid growth in wealth, also came with great costs to the social and natural worlds.  In its first generation, environmental law thus came about as an attempt to provide specific legal tools to conserve natural resources and protect human health and the natural world.  In its second generation, through the principle of sustainable development, environmental law now also includes economic and social concerns. And it is also in this second generation of environmental law that we realize that environmental problems are worldwide and may be solved in a variety of ways by different states through law.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Heinz Antor

Course Nr: 14569.3601

Time/Date: Mon, 12-1:30pm (start: Apr 9th)

Location: 103 S91

Credit Points: 3

In this seminar we will read and discuss four of William Shakespeare’s plays and analyse the many ways in which alterity, in particular racial and ethnic otherness, is constructed and negotiated in these seminal texts from the early modern period. We will have a look at the contemporary historical and political contexts just as well as Shakespeare’s analyses of issues of human identity and their relation to notions of the other. Special attention will be given to postcolonial approaches to the Bard, but other theoretical frameworks will also be considered. Students should have read the following plays by the beginning of term: Titus Andronicus (1594), The Merchant of Venice (1598), Othello, the Moor of Venice (1603), and The Tempest (1611). I recommend the latest Arden edition, but any other unabridged version will do as well. Active participation, presentation in class, essay (schriftliche Hausarbeit)

Lecturer: Dr. Jenny Sager

Course Nr: 14227.0114

Time/Date: Thu., 4 - 5:30pm

Location: 103 S92

Credit Points: 3

This course explores the remarkable variety of ways in which Shakespeare's life and works have been adapted by contemporary film directors. The course asks what happens when Shakespeare is popularized, and when the popular is Shakespeareanized; it queries the factors that determine the definitions of and boundaries between the legitimate and illegitimate, the canonical and the authorized and the subversive, the oppositional, the scandalous and the inane. This seminar series will discuss the ways in which the plays of Shakespeare, as well as Shakespeare himself, have been interpreted and reinvented, adapted and parodied, transposed into another media, and act as a source of inspiration for film-makers worldwide.

Popularizing Shakespeare: The Taming of the Shrew (dir. Zeffirelli, 1967)

Shakespearean Musicals: West Side Story (dir. Wise and Robbins, 1961)

Shakespearean Realism: Henry V (dir. Branagh, 1989)

Postmodern Shakespeare: Romeo + Juliet (dir. Luhrmann, 1996)

Documentaries and Biopic: Looking for Richard II (dir. Pacino, 1996) and Shakespeare in Love (dir. Madden, 1998)

Teen Shakespeare: 10 Things I Hate About You (dir. Junger, 1999)

Shakespeare and the Modern Media: Coriolanus (dir. Fiennes, 2011)

This course will be assessed by a presentation and 2-3 page synopsis of your presentation. This course will be taught in the English language.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Christiane Bongartz

Course Nr:14569.2102

Time/Date: Thu., 12 - 1:30pm (start Apr. 12th)

Location: 105 Hörsaal C

Credit Points: 3

We will discuss linguistic development and the factors promoting it, highlighting the psycholinguistic similarities and differences involved in the various acquisitional settings.

Lecturer: Dr. Katja Lenz

Course Nr: 14569.2504

Time/Date: Tue., 12 - 1:30pm

Location: 911 S224

Credit Points: 3

“Throughout the world, multicultural and multilingual classrooms are becoming the rule rather than the exception” (Hornberger & McKay 2010:xv). Our course will focus on situations involving English, while not necessarily excluding other settings. We will discuss sociolinguistic issues in L1 (mothertongue) and in bilingual education in second or foreign languages. We will investigate official language acquisition policies with respect to national and regional languages, minority languages (immigrant and indigenous) and foreign languages, but may also look at individual school policies concerning language education and even language education in the family. All of these settings include official or individual choices of the languages to be acquired, methods of instruction, etc. Individual topics may include for instance sociolinguistic aspects of linguistic teacher training, uses and problems of standardised language testing in education, etc. As a basis for our discussion, our course work will also cover more general sociolinguistic concepts such as variation and change, standardisation, language planning, language maintenance, shift and death, linguistic attitudes or ideologies and the identificational function of language. In addition we will look at the role of English as a world-language and the consequences of this status for language education world-wide.

Lecturer: Dr. Göran Nieragden

Course Nr: 14578.0050

Time/Date: Tue., 8 - 9:30 am (start 17 Apr.)

Location: 216 S133

Credit Points: 3

This course will approach contemporary fiction from the US and the UK with a focus on the treatment of current political affairs, their background, aftermath, and prospected future developments. Our reading will encompass satiric, grotesque, and enraged stories on the underlying issues of regionalism, identity constructions and ‘othering’

Lecturer: Stephan Vogel

Course Nr.: 14335.0108

Time/Date: Wed., 2 - 3:30pm

Location: 211 S101

Credit Points: 6

Course info: http://www.cccp.uni-koeln.de/

Please note: All students have to fulfill the standard requirements of the course! The course will be awared with 6CP upon successful participation!

Lecturer: Dr. Hermann Halbeisen

Course Nr.: 14335.5004

Time/Date: Wed., 4 - 5:30pm - start 2 May 2018

Location: 202 IR II classroom

Credit Points: 6

'Democracy' is highly appreciated as an ideal denoting the political aspirations of people in various parts of the world. As far as the precise meaning of the term is concerned, however, a considerable spectrum of interpretations exists. One reason for this diversity is due to the fact that the concept developed over a considerable period of time and incorporated different interpretations.

In order to gain a profound understanding of the development of the idea of democracy this course introduces a number of classical and modern texts that influenced its understanding.

The concept of 'close reading' is used, i.e. analysis and discussion of the text constitute the major part of a session.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Raquib Ahmed

Course Nr: 14892.0075

Time/Date: Mon., 10 - 11:30 am 

Location: 915 Übungsraum 5

Credit Points: 3

Global environmental crises

•             Components of environment: lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and

•             Impact of natural issues on environment and human induced issues on environment

•             Global, Regional and local Issues and management: degradation of soil and

•             Climate change as a global phenomena

•             Drought, flooding, coastal hazards, global warming, sea-level rise, ozone layer

•             Potential effects of global climate change on food security and human health

•             Global environment change and social instability: context – migration and social

•             Climate Change dialogues, mitigation and adaptation strategies, related policies in

•             Role of international partnership, multi-national corporations, non-governmental

Lecturer: Dr. Elisabeth Gilbert

Course Nr: 14578.0020

Time/Date: Mon., 10 - 11:30 am 

Location: 211 H112

Credit Points: 3

What is literature, what do I need to know to be able to fully appreciate a piece of fiction, a poem or a play as a literary scholar? What do we mean when we speak about culture or specific cultures? What are the tools and techniques, the aims and approaches in literary and cultural studies? What movements and names need I know for future analyses? These are some of the topics dealt with in this course, which opens small doors to a variety of aspects of the field.

The institutions of the European Union

Wednesdays, 14:00-15:30
in S101 (building 211)
Lecturer: Dr. Tobias Kunstein, Institute of Political Science tobias.kunstein(at)uni-koeln.de

The process of integration among sovereign nation states embodied by the European Union (EU) is a unique attempt of organising the co-existence of peoples. The EU’s sui generis character – something between a federation of nation states, or “Staatenbund”, and a federal state, or “Bundesstaat” (which led the German Constitutional Court to invent the term “Staatenverbund”) – makes the EU an ideal test case for political scientists interested in international cooperation. 

Although the EU is used to sailing rough seas, recent years have seen a succession of apparently existential crises and frantic reforms. Most recently, the decision on the first-ever exit of a Member State may form a watershed moment for the Union as a whole. At the very least it implies that fast-paced institutional adaptation will continue.

The seminar aims to take a closer look at the structures underlying the EU. Based on a systematic appraisal of the Union’s institutional foundations, its strength and weaknesses will be the subject of debate and assessment. In particular, the seminar will include three sessions organised along the lines of a Tilbury debate. Students will controversially discuss a statement in two teams and try to defend a point of view that is not necessarily their own.

Introduction to German and European Law

Wednesdays, 16:00-17:30h
in S165 (building 213)
Lecturer: Dipl.-Jur. Nico S. Schmidt, M.A., Chair of Public Law, Public International Law and European Law – nicos.schmidt(at)uni-koeln.de

This course provides an introduction to German law and the German legal system as well as with an introduction to European law and the European legal system. The structure of the course lessons is interactive, active participation thus highly desired and expected. Therefore, every student will be given the opportunity to prepare a topic of his or her specific interest and present the results in front of the course (5 to 15 minutes). After the presentation the topic at hand will be discussed amongst the students. The lecturer will then give additional information on the topic and lead through the rest of the lesson. The students have to write a paper on their topic (3 to 5 pages). This paper shall be handed in one week after the oral presentation.

1) Course introduction (11th of October)

Part I: Introduction to German Law

2) Areas of Law, Sources of Law (18th of October)

3) Court system, sources of legal information, legal education and careers (25th of October)

– no lecture on the 1st of November –

4) Constitutional Organs (8th of November)

5) Constitutional Organs (15th of November)

6) Fundamental Rights (22nd of November)

7) Fundamental Rights (29th of November)

8) Private Law (6th of December)

9) Criminal Law (13th of December)

Part II: Introduction to European Law

10) European Law/Law of the EU (20th of December)

– Christmas holidays –

11) European Court system (10th of January)

12) European single market (17th of January)

13) Linguistic regime (24th of January)

14) Repetition (31st of January)

European Regional Development

Thursdays, 16:00-17:30h (start: 19 Oct 2017)
in Ü2 (Geographie Rundbau, building 302) 
Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Peter Dannenberg, Institute of Geography, p.dannenberg(at)uni-koeln.de ; Dipl.-Geogr. Birte Rafflenbeul, Institute of Geography, birte.rafflenbeul@uni-koeln.de 

The seminar is targeting students in all relevant disciplines which are interested in the different aspects of European city and regional development including e.g. city and regional planning, geography, politics, social sciences and economics. The aim of the seminar is to understand and learn about the different challenges European regions are facing, e.g. integration and migration, social exclusion, demographic changes, creative milieus, economic decline, shrinking cities and ecological renewal. During the course of the seminar, we will target different kinds of research questions like the following examples show: 

• How is the aging society affecting our rural and urban areas?

• How are creative class affecting cities?

• How are migrants integrated into the city of Cologne and which problems do different actors face in multi-ethnical neighborhoods?

The City of Cologne is a hot spot for various regional developments. As a result, several of these aspects will be discussed and explained at short excursions directly on examples in Cologne (e.g. ethnic businesses and the migration situation in selected “Veedel” of Colgne, Waterfront Development at the Rhine River). During the seminar, students will give power point presentations in which selected developments or planning programs are shown and discussed on regional examples all over Europe (including e.g. the home regions of the participants).

European Social Policy and International Social Rights, Inclusion 

and Community-Building

Wednesdays, 10:00-11:30
in S81 (Philosophikum, building 103)
Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Frank Schulz-Nieswandt, Chair of Social Policy and Methods of Qualitative Social Research – schulz-nieswandt(at)wiso.uni-koeln.de

Inclusion does not happen overnight. We cannot understand inclusion as if we switch on and off the light. Beyond legal frameworks and economic incentives as important preconditions to generate social change by Pareto-optimal solutions in allocation, successful inclusion is a process of social change understood as cultural transformation.

Inclusion as metamorphosis (Gestalt-switch) of the collective agreement about the question of a good life needs time but during this time-span, society has to organize social learning processes that transform the psychodynamics of individuals and the cultural grammar of exclusion.

This broad problem has to be located in the legal context of the EU and the UN, connected with the national legal regime development in the structure of multi-level-system with final results on the local level.

 Images of Europe

102 S3.206
Tuesday: 16:00-17:30
Lecturer: Benjamin Naujoks

Pictures seem to be omnipresent. As icons they have a significant, may be even overriding impact on the perception of public and private spaces as well as on private and political communication. As a matter of fact: iconographic communication is an integral part of the history of humankind. This seminar will deal with European History of the 19^th and 20^th centuries under particular consideration of Visual History. Its guiding question is: Do we already have a collective European iconographic memory or is there a variety of collective national memories related to European history? 

From War to War – Europe during the first half of the 20th Century  (AS)

Mondays, 8:00-9:30
103, S 3.006 (3rd floor)
Lecturer: Dr. Johannes Müller, Historical Institute/Division 9 International Office johannes.mueller(at)uni-koeln.de

European History during the 20th Century has been described as an “Age of Extremes” (Eric Hobsbawm), as a period in which the “Dark Continent” (Mark Mazower) went “to Hell and Back” (Ian Kershaw) and then had to be rebuild “Out of Ashes” (Konrad Jarausch). This is all the more surprising as the 19th Century seemed to forebode an age of culminating progress, characterised by scientific triumphs, civilizing achievements, accelerated discoveries and technological solutions for all problems and needs of mankind. Yet, the 20th century saw the most barbaric set-back Europe had experienced for ages: Two world-wars, slaughter and repression of entire people and populations, excesses of intolerance, hate and violence, dictatorship, tyranny and the spectre of nuclear apocalypse. 

Examining the first half of the 20th century is examining how Europe arrived at the edge of self-destruction. It also means to identify the lessons to be learnt by successive generations – as at least in part the second half of the century is reacting to and trying to avoid the errors of the first half.

Historiography has just started to historicize the last century as a whole. Hence, we will also deal with competing interpretations which try to integrate the first half of the century into a comprehensive view of the entire epoch.

Course Overview

(Draft agenda - subject to change!)

1. – 9.10. – Introduction 

2. – 16.10. – Europe at the Turn of the Century 

3. – 23.10. – World War I 

4. – 30.10. – Revolutions 

5. – 6.11. – Poisoned Peace 

6. – 13.11. – Democracy/Liberalism

7. – 20.11. – Fascism 

8. – 27.11. – Communism 

9. – 4.12. – Capitalism 

10. – 11.12. – Depression 

11. – 18.12. – Rise of National Socialism 

12. – 8.1. – Hitler as an International Challenge 

13. – 15.1. – Towards World War II 

14. – 22.1. – Total War, Total Destruction and Total Reconstruction 

15. – 29.1. – Exams

Start: 11.10.2017
Wednesdays, 8:00-9:30h
Room:  103 S81
Lecturer:  Dr. Heike Berner, Judith Berns
 

In situations when different cultures come together can be both, highly beneficial and challenging. In this case we are talking about academic situations, which hold a specific pressure: Study programs come along with a given expectation to deliver performances regardless of intercultural issues existing in a classroom.

This course offers strategies on how to deal with intercultural challenges that may arise when studying abroad. As academic systems can be quite diverse, this course is designed to gain a better understanding of the German system. Students acquire a range of competences that can be helpful in classroom situations.

The seminar was especially designed for CGSP-students, drawing from past experiences and feedback from CGSP-teachers, as well as students of the program. This course will give you the "tools" to create your stay and your academic achievement in particular successful.

Topics that will be covered include:

- Cultural differences affecting a students´ daily life on campus/ in the classroom

- Different forms of delivering performances in a German classroom (essays, presentations, papers...)

- Cultural differences in relationsships: teacher-student, student-student

- input and suggestions from participants of the courses will be included as well

Start: 10.10.2016
Tuesdays, 10:00 - 11:30
Room:  100 Hörsaal XII (100/U1/HS XII)
Lecturer:  Prof. Dr. Thomas Kohnen Thomas.Kohnen(at)uni-koeln.de
 

Set against the background of a short outline of the major periods in the history of the English language, this lecture will present a more detailed description of the Anglo-Saxon period. Old English or Anglo Saxon covers the time between ca. 450 and ca. 1150. Seen from today, Old English strikes us as both exotic and familiar. On the one hand, it shows us English as it was spoken before the influence of French set in, with a fully-fledged morphology, different spelling conventions and different word order patterns. On the other hand, a large part of the basic core of today’s vocabulary stems from Old English. And, last but not least, many German learners find Old English fairly easy because of its closeness to German. The lecture will cover important aspects of Anglo-Saxon language and literature as well as topics involving Anglo-Saxon society and culture.

Start: 12.10.2017
Thursdays, 16:00-17:30h
Room:  100 Hörsaal VIII
Lecturer:  Prof. Dr. Karl Schneider (and others)
 

This lecture presents innovative teaching methods in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines as they are used in the different countries of the participating experts. International experts from various countries (Canada, Germany, Greece, India, Netherlands, Switzerland, UK, USA) will present their teaching and outreach apraoches.

The lecture particularly targets students interested in

- methods of inquiry-based learning in the STEM disciplines,

- communicating science to and fostering participation by a broader audience (outreach / citizen science),

- exploring opportunities of bilingual teaching approaches,

- developing internationalization in teacher education program and international cooperation.

The lectures provide examples of integrating science and educational research. Using examples from current NASA earth observing systems and other international space missions, the mutual benefit of integrating internationally recognized research projects with broad public participation is discussed, participation approaches are shown and the motivational aspects for STEM disciplines are addressed. In an increasingly complex world it is more important than ever to base decisions on evidence and to strengthen the trust in science by understanding the scientific methods. Thus, understanding how science works and fostering participating in the science process is a firm basis to communicate science and scientific discovery. A well suited program in this context is the NASA’s Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program.

The goal of the course is

a) to provide students in teacher education programs with an overview of international activities and teaching approaches in the context of environmental and science education using GLOBE as a role model,

b) to provide competence in science outreach and communication to students in science programs (e.g. B. Sc.),

c) to establish an international network of students and scientists interested in fostering STEM education and

d) to establish a collaboration and exchange network of the University of Cologne and Universities (e.g MRU / Calgary, SUNY, Fredonia/NY, Univ. Athens/ Greece) and research institutions (e.g. NASA/JPL, NCAR) abroad.

Start: 19.10.2016
Thursdays, 12:00 - 14:30
Room:  105 Hörsaal C
Lecturer:  Prof. Dr. Beate Neumeier
 

This team-taught lecture course provides a survey of selected approaches to Shakespeare ranging from linguistics to gender studies, postcolonial studies, media studies, performance studies, and didactics. The wide scope of approaches underscores the centrality of Shakespeare within English Studies, as well as the necessity to engage in a productive dialogue between different perspectives on Shakespeare's works. Lecturers include Heinz Antor, Uwe Baumann , Hanjo Berressem, Andrea Gutenberg, Konstanze Kutzbach, Thomas Kohnen, Beate Neumeier, and Sarah Youssef.

Start: 10.10.2017
Tuesdays, 14:00 - 15:30
Room: Hörsaal XII, building 100
Lecturer:  Sarah-Lena Böning
 

 The course Comparison of Health Care Systems aims at a theory and typology driven comparison of health care systems, in order to get to know the range of possible health policies. Different health policies are evaluate and best practices identified, discussing policy shifts and the role of policy diffusion. The course follows an interdisciplinary approach and includes different perspectives.

Students are familiar with the normative and methodological principles relevant for the conceptual organisation of health care systems and compare different international systems concerning their organisational and operational patterns. They analyse interdependencies and functional operations in health care systems and evaluate their effectiveness, efficiency and transparency. They also draw conclusions resulting from the international comparison of health care systems and apply them to concrete topics. Students identify policy learning and policy diffusion in this field. Special attention is draws to the role of the EU and international organizations.

Start: 09.10.2016
Mondays, 14:00-15:30
Room: 216 S131
Lecturer:  Dr. Stefan Neubert
 

The seminar will offer an introduction to internationally influential debates in education in the wake of John Dewey (1859-1952).

Start: 09.10.2017
Mondays, 16:00-17:30h
Room:  106 S24
Lecturer: Dr. Julia Hoydis

The beginnings of English prose fiction in the 17th century and the subsequent “rise” of the novel in the 18th century are inseparably tied to the expansion of the British Empire and the slave trade. The growing fascination with enterprises and adventures taking place far away from the British Isles and the contact with other peoples, cultures, and ethnicities shape many texts of the period. In this class we will discuss four novels, Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko (1688), Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719), Jonathan Swift’s brilliant satire Gulliver’s Travels (1726) and Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African (1789), as well as theoretical texts on the nexus of race and imperialism. We will look at the ways the fictions negotiate fantasies and fears, conceptions of identity and otherness, and the intersections of science, capitalism and slavery. Students are asked to acquire copies of the novels. All other materials will be made available in ILIAS.

Start: 11.10.2017
Wednesdays, 10:00-11:30h
Room:  106 S25
Lecturer:  Melanie Anna Brück
 

Languages do not exist in isolation as their speakers are in contact with speakers of other languages. This is especially true in today’s globalised world. Such contact can differ greatly in intensity and it can result in a number of linguistic outcomes. This class aims to discuss some of the mechanisms at work in language contact situations and the effects language contact has on linguistic structure. Following a guided introduction to the field students will be asked to create a portfolio on a specific case of language contact.

Attendance in the first session is mandatory as we will discuss recommended readings and assign specific tasks.

Start: 09.10.2016
Mondays, 10:00-11:30
Room: 211 H112 
Lecturer:  Dr. Elizabeth Gilbert
 

Registration for this course via cgsp(at)verw.uni-koeln.de only, not via KLIPS!

What is literature, what do I need to know to be able to fully appreciate a piece of fiction, a poem or a play as a literary scholar? What do we mean when we speak about culture or specific cultures? What are the tools and techniques, the aims and approaches in literary and cultural studies? What movements and names need I know for future analyses? These are some of the topics dealt with in this course, which opens small doors to a variety of aspects of the field..

Start: 09.10.2017
Mondays, 14:00 - 15:30
Room:  100 Hörsaal V
Lecturer:  Prof. Dr. Daniel Bunčić, Slavic Department dbuncic(at)uni-koeln.de
 

The CCLS Lecture Series offers a forum to linguists from many different areas to present findings from current research. In this way, students will have access to up-to-date work done locally at the University of Cologne, as well as to work done internationally. Topics will cover a variety of languages, methodological approaches, and theoretical perspectives (see course list for detailed information). Individual class sessions will be divided up in a lecture part and a question and answer session. Open to all interested.

Start: 10.10.2017
Mondays, 12:00 - 13:30
Room:  210 S 2.B.11
Lecturer:  Dennis Abel
 

Course summary

This course aims to provide students with an introduction on public policy analysis on the basis of energy, climate and environmental policy. In the first part of the course, we will discuss general approaches and concepts of public policy analysis. The students will investigate the single components of policies and the major steps in the policy cycle. In addition, different theoretical approaches for the explanation of policy change will be elaborated. Finally, we will debate forms of governance and the concept of policy convergence. In the second part of the course, we will apply these approaches on the analysis of energy, climate and environmental policy. The protection of the population against environmental hazards and the mitigation of climate change have emerged as a core task of government policy. We will investigate the decision-making process in crucial environmental subfields such as climate change mitigation, adaptation and renewable energy policy. The participants will prepare and present case studies on selected policy-making processes within these subfields. The course will be based on discussion sessions, small in-class group projects, short presentations by the students and peer review of research designs. We will hold two “workshops” to craft, discuss and review the research designs for the term paper.

Course requirements and examination

All participants are expected to:  attend the seminar on a regular basis  self-study the obligatory readings according to schedule  actively contribute to class discussions  give a 10 to 15 minutes presentation in the seminar The examination consists of two parts: 1. A short presentation (10-15 minutes) followed by a discussion session. The presentation will be graded as either “pass” or “fail”. 2. A written term paper. Depending on the “Prüfungsordnung”, participants are expected to write 3500 words (6 ECTS). The written examination accounts for 100% of the final grade. Participants must “pass” the presentation as well as the term paper in order to successfully finish the course. The term paper has to be handed in as electronic version via email to abel@wiso.uni-koeln.de. The print version should be handed in personally at the administration office of the Cologne Center for Comparative Politics (IBW Gebäude, Herbert-Lewin-Str. 2, 1st floor, Room 1.09). 

Tuesdays, 14:00-15:30
Room: S37 (Student Service Centre. building 102)  
Lecturer: Benjamin Haas
Course information via KLIPS 2.0

Development policies traditionally aim to improve the lives of people in so called “developing countries”. However, due to the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the world is currently renegotiating the concept of development. This seminar gives an overview about the policy field from a European perspective, including its history, theories, actors, instruments and current (critical) debates. It also includes a one-day study excursion to Bonn (the former capital of West-Germany), where students have the opportunity to discuss the topics of the seminar with different political actors and practitioners, for instance, from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Students learn to apply different theoretical approaches regarding the concepts of development to current practical cases and get an introductory overview about European Development Policies. No previous knowledge about the topic is required.

Mondays, 12:00-13:30
Room: S233 (COPT, building 315)
Lecturer: Dr. Pamela Kilian
Course information via KLIPS 2.0

The seminar addresses the European Commission's development strategy "Europe 2020", and discusses impacts on the economic development of EU-member states. In the first course units, the development priorites in the areas of Employment, Research and development (R&D), Climate change and energy, Education, Poverty and social exclusion are examined with a critical review of related key performance indicators. In the second part the course members compile case studies on EU-member states in order to compare or contrast different paths of economic development within the EU.

24.04.2017 Introduction to "Europe2020"

01.05.2017 National Holiday

08.05.2017 Employment

15.05.2017 Research and development (R&D)

22.05.2017 Climate change and energy

29.05.2017 Education and Innovation

05.06.2017 Poverty and social exclusion

12.06.2017 Case Studies

19.06.2017 Case Studies

26.06.2017 Case Studies

03.07.2017 Case Studies

10.07.2017 Case Studies

17.07.2017 Wrap-up session

24.07.2017 Test

Every other Monday, 08:00-11:30
Room: S37 (Studierenden Service Centre, building 102)
Lecturer: Tobias Flessenkemper
Course information via KLIPS 2.0

Please note: This course will articulate in six double-sessions!!

It is compatible with course nr. 15304.3000 (Germany from Division to Unification (1945-1990)), with which it shares room and time alternately.

The process of integration among sovereign nation states embodied by the European Union (EU) is a unique attempt of organising the co-existence of peoples. The EU’s sui generis character – something between a federation of nation states, or “Staatenbund”, and a federal state, or “Bundesstaat” (which led the German Constitutional Court to invent the term “Staatenverbund”) – makes the EU an ideal test case for political scientists interested in international cooperation. 

Although the EU is used to sailing rough seas, recent years have seen a succession of apparently existential crises and frantic reforms. Most recently, the decision on the first-ever exit of a Member State may form a watershed moment for the Union as a whole. At the very least it implies that fast-paced institutional adaptation will continue.

The seminar aims to take a closer look at the structures underlying the EU. Based on a systematic appraisal of the Union’s institutional foundations, its strength and weaknesses will be the subject of debate and assessment. In particular, the seminar will include three sessions organised along the lines of a Tilbury debate. Students will controversially discuss a statement in two teams and try to defend a point of view that is not necessarily their own.

Tuesdays, 08:00-9:30
Room: IR VII  (Rechtshaus, building 202)
Lecturer: Nico Schmidt
Course information via KLIPS 2.0

This course provides with an introduction to German law and the German legal system as well as with an introduction to European law and the European legal system. The structure of the course lessons is interactive, active participation thus highly desired and expected. Therefore, every student will be given the opportunity to prepare a topic of his or her specific interest and present the results in front of the course (5 to 15 minutes). After the presentation the topic at hand will be discussed amongst the students. The lecturer will then give additional information on the topic and lead through the rest of the lesson. The students have to write a paper on their topic (3 to 5 pages). This paper shall be handed in one week after the oral presentation.

Every other Monday, 08:00-11:30 
Room: S37 (Student Service Centre, building 102) 
Lecturer: Dr. Johannes Müller
Course information via KLIPS 2.0

Please note: This course will articulate in six double-sessions!!

It is compatible with course nr. 15304.0006 (Current challenges of EU foreign and security policy), with which it shares room and time alternately (see below room and time).

Germany’s history in the second half of the 20th century was overshadowed by the disastrous outcome of World War II, both in regard to domestic policies and international affairs. The atrocities committed by Nazi-Germany left a monstrous legacy for generations of Germans to deal with. The aftermath of the defeat of the German Army by a discordant alliance set the scene for the division of Europe and the rise of the Cold War. Germany’s own trajectory from division to unification, with a history split into a Western and an Eastern narrative (still today difficult to merge into a common perspective), is as peculiar as it is emblematic for the history of Europe in this epoch. 

This introductory course, taught in English, attempts to approach German history from the outside, by relying predominantly on international studies (in English). German students are welcome, if they are ready to take on an external point of view; international students are invited to bring in their own perspective on German history based on studies/monographs from their home countries.

Course Program (Overview)

Mon, 24 April – From unconditional surrender to double state-building

Mon, 15 May – Reconstructing, rearranging, realigning (The 1950s and 60s)

Mon, 29 May – Resilience and Rebellion: 1968 and its aftermath | 

                      “Ostpolitik” and the German Question

Mon, 12 June – Two German states, two German societies

Mon, 26 June – From the “Iron Eighties” to “Glasnost and Perestroika”

Mon, 10 July – Revolution and/or (Re-)Unification

Tuesdays, 12:00-13:30
Room:  S37 (Student Service Centre, building 102)
Lecturer: Dr. Lidia Mazzitelli
Course information via KLIPS 2.0

This course offers an introduction to the languages of Europe, both from a structural and a socio-cultural point of view. 

The participants will learn how European languages function, how they are similar/different from each eatch and what makes them different from languages spoken in other parts of the world, how they interact with each other and what is their relevance to the European society and culture. 

The course is structured as follows: first, a general introduction to linguistics and to the fundamentals of linguistic comparison and classification will be provided. Then, chosen languages from the language families and groups present in the continent will be analysed more in details. In oder to make the students familiar with  Particular attention will be dedicated to minority languages, as well as to the "new languages" brough to Europe by migrants (as Turkish in Germany). 

Parallels with the native tongues of the participants in the course will be made, so to encourage active participation. 

Apart from the final exam, each student will be required to write an essay (5/6 pages) on a course-related topic that will be chosen in agreement with the lecturer.

Start: 24.04.2017
Mondays, 18:00 - 19:30
Room: S93 (Philosophikum, building 103)
Lecturers:  Univ.-Prof. Dr. Daniel Buncic, Jakob Egetenmeyer
Course information via KLIPS 2.0

The CCLS Lecture Series offers a forum to linguists from many different areas to present findings from current research. In this way, students will have access to up-to-date work done locally at the University of Cologne, as well as to work done internationally. Topics will cover a variety of languages, methodological approaches, and theoretical perspectives (see course list for detailed information). Individual class sessions will be divided up in a lecture part and a question and answer session. Open to all interested.

Mondays, 14:00 - 15:30
Room:  S56 (Philosophikum, building 103)
Lecturer: Dr. apl.Prof. Andrea Gutenberg
Course information via KLIPS 2.0

For the purposes of this seminar, migration literature will be defined as fiction about the experience of migration, not necessarily fiction written by migrant writers, even though both often coincide. This experience of displacement can have economic, political and religious reasons and varies not only across ages and nations but also from one generation to the next. Representations of migration in the five novels we are going to discuss cover the stories of four Chinese mothers and their American-born daughters, the failed American Dream of impoverished illegal Mexican immigrants to the United States, a problematic British-Pakistani girlhood friendship, the troubled trajectory of a Jamaican couple coming to Britain on the Empire Windrush in 1948 and the fate of an early 19th-century Englishman who is transported to Australia as a convict. Depending on the age, gender and class of the character focused upon, subgenres of these migration novels range from Bildungsroman and coming of age novel to historical and sociopolitical novel. Texts you need to buy and read in advance: Amy Tan: The Joy Luck Club (1989); T.C. Boyle: The Tortilla Curtain (1995); Meera Syal: Anita and Me (1996); Andrea Levy: Small Island (2004); Kate Grenville: The Secret River (2005). Course evaluation will be based on participation in a group presentation in class and a term paper or an oral exam.

Schedule will follow
Room:  will follow
Lecturer/contributors: Dr. Philipp Immenkötter, Christoph Karl, Mareike Laub
Course information via KLIPS 2.0

• Financial reporting fundamentals
• Determining the cost of capital
• Option pricing

Registration via KLIPS 2.0 between March 27th – 29th 

Thursdays, 16:00 - 17:30
Room: 524 (WISO-Gebäude, building 101)
Lecturer/contributors: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Martina Fuchs, Tatiana López Ayala, Nicolas Reum, Evgenija Ivanona Rusina
Course information via KLIPS 2.0

Registration via KLIPS 2.0 will be possible between 27-29 March.

18.10.2016 - 07.02.2017
Mondays, 12:00 - 13:30
Room:  S56 (Philosophikum, building 103)
Lecturer: Dr. Prof. Heinz Antor
Course information via KLIPS 2.0

In this seminar we will look at literary negotiations of intercultural encounters in (post)colonial contexts. This will include analyses of the way in which otherness is constructed, for example in descriptions of different races and ethnicities in situations of exploration, migration, diaspora, etc. We will begin with a critical reading of William Shakespeare’s 'The Merchant of Venice' (1596/7). This will be followed by analyses of the following anglophone novels from Britain, Canada and Australia: Andrea Levy, 'Small Island' (2004); Rudy Wiebe, 'A Discovery of Strangers' (1994); Guy Vanderhaeghe, 'The Last Crossing' (2002); Kim Scott, 'That Deadman Dance' (2010). Requirements: active participation, presentation in class, essay (schriftliche Hausarbeit).

Block course: 
21 April 2017 | 14:00-18:00 | S37 (Student Service Centre, bulding 102)
22 April 2017 | 09:00-15:00 | S82 (Philosophikum, building 103)
6 May 2017 | 09:00-15:00 | S82 (Philosophikum, building 103)
1 July 2017 | 09:00-15:00 | S82 (Philosophikum, building 103)

Lecturer: Dr. Heike Berner, Judith Berns
Course information via KLIPS 2.0

In situations when different cultures come together can be both, highly beneficial and challenging. In this case we are talking about academic situations, which hold a specific pressure: Study programs come along with a given expectation to deliver performances regardless of intercultural issue existing in a classroom.

This course offers strategies on how to deal with intercultural challenges that may arise when studying abroad. As academic systems can be quite diverse, this course is designed to gain a better understanding of the German system. Students acquire a range of competences that can be helpful in classroom situations. 

The seminar was especially designed for CGSP-students, drawing from past experiences and feedback from CGSP-teachers, as well as students of the program.

Start: 19.04.2017
Wednesdays, 16:00 bis 17:30 
Room:  H115 (IBW Gebäude, building 211)
Lecturer:  Prof. Dr. Kirk Junker
Course information via KLIPS 2.0

Course description will follow

Registration must be made via cgsp(at)verw.uni-koeln.de

Thursdays, 16:00 - 17:30
Room: H122 (HF-Gebäude, building 216)
Lecturers:  Dr. Göran Nieragden
Course information via KLIPS 2.0

Einstein, Freud, Kandinsky, Wittgenstein – four innovators who changed for good our common notions of space, time, mind, art, and language. Between, roughly, 1910 and WW II, modern¬ism undertook to destabilize and revolutionize everything that smacked of 'the old', and undertook a trans-national movement to 'make it new'. Literature joined hands and produced a new aesthetics, a new self-confidence and a completely new tone. We will look at literary examples, both from Britain and the US. The reading is likely to prove demanding and, more often than not, disillusioning, but also rich, rewarding and relevant. It is not for nothing, after all, that we still claim to be living in post-modern times...

Tuesdays, 16:00 - 17:30
Room:  216 (HF-Gebäude, building 216)
Lecturer: Dr. apl.Prof. Stefan Neubert
Course information via KLIPS 2.0

For the purposes of this seminar, migration literature will be defined as fiction about the experience of migration, not necessarily fiction written by migrant writers, even though both often coincide. This experience of displacement can have economic, political and religious reasons and varies not only across ages and nations but also from one generation to the next. Representations of migration in the five novels we are going to discuss cover the stories of four Chinese mothers and their American-born daughters, the failed American Dream of impoverished illegal Mexican immigrants to the United States, a problematic British-Pakistani girlhood friendship, the troubled trajectory of a Jamaican couple coming to Britain on the Empire Windrush in 1948 and the fate of an early 19th-century Englishman who is transported to Australia as a convict. Depending on the age, gender and class of the character focused upon, subgenres of these migration novels range from Bildungsroman and coming of age novel to historical and sociopolitical novel. Texts you need to buy and read in advance: Amy Tan: The Joy Luck Club (1989); T.C. Boyle: The Tortilla Curtain (1995); Meera Syal: Anita and Me (1996); Andrea Levy: Small Island (2004); Kate Grenville: The Secret River (2005). Course evaluation will be based on participation in a group presentation in class and a term paper or an oral exam.

All core courses can also be chosen for the elective module.

For more information on the modules (basic and elective) see pages 7-9 of our brochure.

The institutions of the European Union

Lecturer: Dr. Tobias Kunstein, Institute of Political Science tobias.kunstein(at)uni-koeln.de

The process of integration among sovereign nation states embodied by the European Union (EU) is a unique attempt of organising the co-existence of peoples. The EU’s sui generis character – something between a federation of nation states, or “Staatenbund”, and a federal state, or “Bundesstaat” (which led the German Constitutional Court to invent the term “Staatenverbund”) – makes the EU an ideal test case for political scientists interested in international cooperation. 

Although the EU is used to sailing rough seas, recent years have seen a succession of apparently existential crises and frantic reforms. Most recently, the decision on the first-ever exit of a Member State may form a watershed moment for the Union as a whole. At the very least it implies that fast-paced institutional adaptation will continue.

The seminar aims to take a closer look at the structures underlying the EU. Based on a systematic appraisal of the Union’s institutional foundations, its strength and weaknesses will be the subject of debate and assessment. In particular, the seminar will include three sessions organised along the lines of a Tilbury debate. Students will controversially discuss a statement in two teams and try to defend a point of view that is not necessarily their own.

Introduction to German and European Law 

Lecturer: Dipl.-Jur. Nico S. Schmidt, M.A., Chair of Public Law, Public International Law and European Law – nicos.schmidt(at)uni-koeln.de

This course provides an introduction to German law and the German legal system as well as with an introduction to European law and the European legal system. The structure of the course lessons is interactive, active participation thus highly desired and expected. Therefore, every student will be given the opportunity to prepare a topic of his or her specific interest and present the results in front of the course (5 to 15 minutes). After the presentation the topic at hand will be discussed amongst the students. The lecturer will then give additional information on the topic and lead through the rest of the lesson. The students have to write a paper on their topic (3 to 5 pages). This paper shall be handed in one week after the oral presentation.

1) Course introduction (18th of October)

Part I: Introduction to German Law

2) Areas of Law, Sources of Law (25th of October)

– no lecture on the 1st of November –

3) Court system, sources of legal information, legal education and carreers (8th of November)

4) Constitutional Organs (15th of November)

5) Constitutional Organs (22nd of November)

6) Fundamental Rights (29th of November)

7) Fundamental Rights (6th of December)

8) Private Law (13th of December)

9) Criminal Law (20th of December)

– no lectures from 23rd of December until 6th of January –

Part II: Introduction to European Law

10) European Law/Law of the EU, History (10th of January)

11) Court system (17th of January)

12) European single market (24th of January)

13) Linguistic regime (31st of January)

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Schulz-Nieswandt

Inclusion as the radical alternative to the cultural reality of social exclusion of the homo patiens is an anthropological paradigm of philosophy of law. This leads to the idea of going beyond social structures of center and periphery in society.

> Inclusion as a model of thought is driven by the United Nations and also by the catalogue of basic social rights, involved in the treaties of the European Union and is connected with der European Social Policy. The analysis put the emphasis on the policy of social services of general interest in connection with the European Charta of fundamental (social) right.

We cannot understand inclusion as if we switch on and off the light. Beyond legal frameworks and economic incentives as important preconditions to generate social change by Pareto-optimal solutions in allocation, successful inclusion is a process of social change understood as cultural transformation. Inclusion as metamorphosis (Gestalt-switch) of the collective agreement about the question of a good life needs time but during this time-span, society has to organize social learning processes that transform the psychodynamics of individuals and the cultural grammar of exclusion.

> After a short overview about the theory the EU as multi-level-system and about the different dimensions and aspects of European Social Policy we want to read and discuss the central relevant legal article of the legal regime policy of the UN and of the EU and discuss as a re-construction a text of complex interpretation of the whole issue area.

Lecturer: Dr. Pamela Kilian

Economic development is, by nature, uneven. Regions are endowed with different sets of resources. Economic agents perform socio-economic actions and act in relationships at multiple scales which result in specific processes of development and socio-economic patterns. This course provides an introduction into methods and concepts of analysing economic development from a European perspective. The course starts by taking a global perspective, placing Europe within a world system of interdependently developing regions forming core-periphery structures. On these grounds, we zoom-in to the intra-continental level, looking into technological and organisational innovations, cases of structural change, industrialization and deindustrialization, economic rise and fall of regions, and the modes of governance in steering this development today.

Classes cover the following topics (in chronological order): Resources and development, Core-periphery patterns in the World System, Socio-economic structure of countries and regions, Technological change “made in Europe“, Dependancy theory in effect – Europe’s role in international patterns of development, Regional development and (mega-)urban economies, Modification of regional core-periphery patterns, Fordist and postfordist Europe, Case Studies: Germany (west) – Rhein-Ruhr Area, Case Studies: Germany (east) - Berlin, Case Study Global City London, Eurozone in crisis, How long will Europe matter? Impacts of economic globalization. Every student prepares a short paper (3-5 pages) on one of class topics and presents it briefly in class. Using literature from the reading list, students are encouraged to supplement the scientific publications with statistical data. A methodological introduction is part of the prep meeting on 17 Oct. 2016.

Dates, Topics, Readings (as end-notes, see reading list below)

17.10.2016          Prep meeting for participants of the Cologne Global Study Program

+++20.10.2016 FIELD TRIP to Frankfurt +++

24.10.2016          Introductory session: Resources and development (5)

31.10.2016          Core-periphery patterns in the World System (5)

07.11.2016          Socio-economic structure of countries and regions (5, 1, 3, 7)

14.11.2016          Technological change “made in Europe“ (5)

21.11.2016          Dependancy theory in effect – Europe’s role in international patterns

of development (5)

28.11.2016          Regional development and (mega-)urban economies (1, 5, 4, 6)

05.12.2016          Modification of regional core-periphery patterns (5, 4)

12.12.2016          Fordist and postfordist Europe (5, 3, 4)

19.12.2016          Case Studies: Germany (west) – Rhein-Ruhr Area (5, 6, 3)

09.01.2017          Case Studies: Germany (east) - Berlin (5, 6, 3)

16.01.2017          Case Study Global City London (5, 6, 3)

23.01.2017          Eurozone in crisis (7)

30.01.2017          How long will Europe matter? Impacts of economic globalization (5, 2, 6)

06.02.2017          Written test (fact-bound quiz)

Reading list

1.            Ballas, Dimitris; Dorling, Danny; Henning, Benjamin (2014): The social atlas of Europe. URL: http://lib.myilibrary.com/Open.aspx?id=620586 (accessible via university library net).

2.            Dawson, Mark; Enderlein, Henrik; Joerges, Christian (2016): Beyond the crisis: the governance of Europe's economic, political and legal transformation. http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198752868.001.0001/acprof-9780198752868 (available online via the university library net)

3.            Gebhardt, Hans; Glaser, Rüdiger; Lentz, Sebastian (2013): Europa – eine Geographie. URL: http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-8274-2720-5 (available online via the university library net)

4.            Grotz, R. (ed.) (2012): A Geography of Germany. Geographische Rundschau International Edition, Special Issue 08/2016 (will be provided as pdf).

5.            Knox, Paul L.; Marston, Sallie A. (2013): Human geography: places and regions in global context. Chapter 8. Geographies of Economic Development.

6.            Michael, Thomas (2014): Diercke International Atlas. Westermann, Braunschweig (available in the university library).

7.            Baldwin, Richard; Wyplosz, Charles (2015): The economics of European integration. Berkshire.

Please be prepared to search and study further readings as part of the course work.

 Lecturer: Dr. Johannes Müller

Even though the Anti-Hitler coalition, which successfully re-established peace after World War II, seemed to initiate a period of international cooperation, it quickly broke down and on the contrary paved the way to an epoch of bipolar tension and antagonism. From 1945 to 1989 the entire world was under siege by a conflict that was basically European. And it was Europe that suffered most directly its consequences: Forced into two antagonistic blocs, divided by the “Iron Curtain” – with Germany cut in two at the frontline – deadly armed and constantly on the edge of a Third World War. This seminar will deal with the origins, the development and the end of the Cold War, considering its ideological background, structural shape and political aftermath. But we will also shed light on political alternatives and look at attempts to overcome the geopolitical stalemate.

It is of course a global history, but we will deliberately deal with it from a European perspective.

Course Outline

1.            – 17.10.2016

Introduction

             Formalities, Overview,

             “Europe” – “Cold War”

             Historiography/A Cold War of Historians?

             Europe after the War (1945)

2.            – 24.10. 2016

Between the Powers: From Coalition to Confrontation (1943-1948)

             Tehran, Yalta, Potsdam - Dissent among Victors

             Containment and Competition: The Marshall Plan

             Dividing Germany and dividing Europe

3.            – 31.10. 2016

Building Blocs (1947-1955)

             Korea-War, German Rearmament

             NATO and Paris Treaties

             Warsaw Pact

4.            – 7.11. 2016

At the edge of WW III (1953-62)

             Rivalries: NATO vs. Warsaw Pact - Atomic Stalemate

             Hungary 1956

             Berlin and Cuba

5.            – 14.11. 2016

The West: From Consolidation to Turmoil (1950s and 1960s)

             Economic Recovery - “No Experiments!”

             Southern Dictatorships

             Social Change and Uproar

6.            – 21.11. 2016

The East: Behind the Iron Curtain (1950s and 1960s)

             A New Society

             From Khrushchev to Brezhnev

             Socialist Alternatives: Romania, Yugoslavia, Albania

7.            – 28.11. 2016

European Integration I (1950-1970)

             From Schuman-Plan to the Treaties of Rome

             First Enlargement

8.            – 5.12. 2016

Coexistence – peacefully? (1962-1979)

             From Khrushchev to Brezhnev – The Brezhnev Doctrine             Prague

             Geopolitics: Vietnam, China, South-America/Chile, Middle East, Africa

9.            – 12.12. 2016

Europe in the 1970s

             Economic regression

             Ostpolitik

             Fading Dictatorships: Spain, Portugal, Greece

10.          – 19.12. 2016

Global Arms Race (1979-85)

             Afghanistan War

             Reagan and Thatcher – The Reagan Doctrine

Christmas & New Year Break 23.12.2016 – 6.2.2017

11.          – 9.1.2017

Western Europe under Thatcher, Kohl and Mitterand (1980s)

             Post-Industrial Europe

             New Capitalism vs. New Political Movement

12.          – 16.1.2017

European Integration II (1970-1992)

             Eurosklerosis

             Single European Act

             Maastricht Treaty

13.          – 23.1. 2017

The Gorbachev Impact: The Dissolution of the East (1985-1992)

             Reagan, Gorbachev - and John Paul II.

             Solidarnosc – Glasnost – Perestroika

             Dissolution of the Soviet Bloc

             German (Re-)unification

14.          – 30.1. 2017

The End of History ?

15.          – 6.2. 2017

Final Exam

Recommended Literature

Best introduction to the Cold War:

Gaddis, John Lewis: The Cold War, Penguin, London 2005

Best overview about Post-War Europe

Buchanan, Tom: Europe’s Troubled Peace. 1945 to the Present, Wiley Blackwell, Chichester 2012²

Further Readings:

Gilbert, Mark: Cold War Europe. The Politics of a Contested Continent, Rowman&Littlefield, Lanham 2015

Gilbert, Mark: European Integration. A Concise History, Rowman&Littlefield,

Lanham 2012

Judt, Tony: Postwar. A History of Europe Since 1945, Penguin 2005

Larres, Klaus (ed.): A Companion To Europe Since 1945, Wiley Blackwell, Chichester 2014

Leffler, Melvyn P. & Westad, Odd Arne: The Cold War, Vol. I-III, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge 2012

Mazower, Mark: Dark Continent. Europe’s Twentieth Century, Penguin, London 1999

Wegs, J. Robert & Ladrech, Robert: Europe Since 1945. A Concise History, Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire 20065

Young, John W.: Cold War Europe 1945-1989. A Political History, Edward Arnold, New York 1991

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Daniel Buncic

Formerly, languages without tenses or without relative pronouns, languages in which the idea of ‘nobody came’ is expressed as ‘anybody did not come’, or languages which express ‘Bill is as tall as Phil’ as ‘Bill is tall and Phil is tall’ were considered ‘exotic’. Nowadays we know that it is the European languages that are peculiar in many ways. Consequently, we can now ask the question what is special about European languages in contrast to other languages of the world.

In this core course we will try to answer this question for all the levels of language: Apart from grammar (morphology and syntax) we will talk about sounds (phonetics and phonology), letters (graphematics), words (lexicology), politeness and address (pragmatics) as well as standard languages, dialects, slangs, and language policy (sociolinguistics). We will always compare typical characteristics of European languages with non-European languages and point out individual features of European languages that stick out from the European pattern. For languages spoken both in Europe and in other regions (e.g. English, French, Russian) we will examine differences between the European and the non-European varieties.

This course does not require linguistic skills. Linguistic concepts needed to understand the specificities of European languages will be explained while we go, using our target languages as examples, so that it will not get boring for those who already know the fundamentals of linguistics.

Prof. Dr. Buncic

The CCLS Lecture Series offers a forum to linguists from many different areas to present findings from current research. In this way, students will have access to up-to-date work done locally at the University of Cologne, as well as to work done internationally. Topics will cover a variety of languages, methodological approaches, and theoretical perspectives (see course list for detailed information). Individual class sessions will be divided up in a lecture part and a question and answer session. Open to all interested.

Prof. Dr. Ebner

In the seminar “Transitions from School to Work – A Life Course Perspective” we first discuss theoretical foundations of life course and social mobility research. In the next step, transitions and inequalities in education systems will be addressed. Such transitions from primary school to secondary schools or at a later point in life to the higher education system are highly dependent on family background characteristics. Educational certificates then determine labor market opportunities, such as unemployment risks and income. Other characteristics shaping employment careers are first, ascriptive individual characteristics like gender, age or migration background; second, market characteristics and third, institutional characteristics like employment protection legislation, the welfare state and industrial relations.

Prof. Dr. Kohnen

This lecture has two aims. First, it will give a short general outline of the major periods in the history of the English language, with their most important social, cultural and linguistic developments. Secondly, it will present a more detailed description of the Early Modern English period. This period covers the time from the incipient standardisation of written English (in the middle of the 15th century) to the beginnings of its codification (in the early 18th century). Seen from today, Early Modern English strikes us as a period of great creative freedom, which has produced long and rambling texts as well as the most spectacular works of English literature. The lecture will not only deal with developments in the fields of phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicography, but also focus on topics of historical text linguistics and historical pragmatics.

Prof. Dr. Fuchs

Course description

This course will place the European Union in the context of the contemporary global economy and consider its socio-economic development in the light of recent economic geography research on industrial clusters (or, industrial “ecosystems”) on the one hand, and “global production networks” on the other.

Contents

Innovative firms tend to be concentrated in specialized industrial clusters. The questions that will be asked during the course are: why is this the case; what kinds of environmental circumstances support innovation activity? This is the topic of a vast academic and policy literature; cities and regions want to understand it to create environments supportive of innovation to facilitate successful regional economic development in the long term; corporate decision-makers and entrepreneurs are interested in it because they want to choose fitting locations for their most dynamic activities. The course will take us through current thinking on the nature of the innovation process and its relation to cluster dynamics and sustainable regional development. This discussion is placed in the context of global economic dynamics, to understand Europe’s current competitive position. Empirical examples are presented from clusters in manufacturing, service, cultural industry, and clean technology clusters.

Learning outcomes

Participants will be able to deepen their understanding of the position of the range of European regions in the contemporary global economy, and the challenges that these regions are currently facing. They will be able to evaluate various types of spatial industrial clusters as operational environments of (innovative) firms and the role of clustering in the economic development of Europe’s cities and regions. These skills are important assets for operations in both private businesses and in regional development policy making.

Sarah-Lena Böning

The course Comparison of Health Care Systems aims at a theory and typology driven comparison of health care systems, in order to get to know the range of possible health policies. Different health policies are evaluate and best practices identified, discussing policy shifts and the role of policy diffusion. The course follows an interdisciplinary approach and includes different perspectives.

Students are familiar with the normative and methodological principles relevant for the conceptual organisation of health care systems and compare different international systems concerning their organisational and operational patterns. They analyse interdependencies and functional operations in health care systems and evaluate their effectiveness, efficiency and transparency. They also draw conclusions resulting from the international comparison of health care systems and apply them to concrete topics. Students identify policy learning and policy diffusion in this field. Special attention is draws to the role of the EU and international organizations.

Prof. Dr. Carol

Syllabus only available in German, course was taught in English though.

Welche ethnischen Unterschiede gibt es in Bildungsverläufen und welche gesellschaftlichen Konsequenzen entstehen durch Bildungsungleichheit? Wie lassen sich Bildungsunterschiede erklären? Im Rahmen des Seminars ‘Bildung und Migration’ gehen wir hierbei insbesondere auf Unterschiede in der Ressourcenausstattung und Unterschiede zwischen Herkunftsländern ein. Wir lesen aktuelle Studien darüber, inwiefern die schulischen Leistungen und die angestrebten schulischen Leistungen auseinanderklaffen und ob es hierbei Geschlechterunterschiede gibt. Dabei schauen wir uns genauer an, wie der Übergang zu weiterführenden Schulen gelingt und ob hierbei Diskriminierung entsteht. Wirkt sich die Entscheidungsfreiheit der Eltern für eine Schule positiv auf Bildungserfolg aus, oder fällt dies eher zum Nachteil von Kindern mit Migrationshintergrund aus? Was passiert, wenn viele Kinder mit Migrationshintergrund in Klassen und Schulen segregiert sind? Stellen konfessionelle Schulen, wie James Coleman schlussfolgerte, eine Alternative zu gemischten Schulen dar? Welche Konsequenzen hat segregiertes Lernen für interethnische Kontakte und Kooperation? Gleichzeitig können in Schulen, wo Schüler mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund zusammen lernen, interethnische Konflikte entstehen. In diesem Zusammenhang diskutieren wir Studien, die sich mit Bullying und Aggressionen auseinandersetzen. Die abschließenden Sitzungen bieten die Möglichkeit, Themen vorzuschlagen, sich mit methodischen Fragen auseinanderzusetzen und eigene Ideen zu entwickeln.

Prof. Dr. Junker

Course syllabus not available. 

Dr. Sattler

Stigmatization is all around us. Stigma exists towards people with different gender (i.e. sexism), race (i.e. racism), ethnicity (i.e. ethnocentrism), age (i.e. ageism), etc. Thus, stigma refers to a process in which specific marks or cues trigger cognitive (stereotypes), emotional (prejudice), or behavioral (discrimination) responses. These responses include convictions that certain people are dangerous; negative emotions such as fear, or segregating these people. Thus, stigma can represent a barrier to personal aspiration and life opportunities and interfere with the ability to seek housing, find jobs, get insurance, receive treatment, etc. It is thereby one mechanism of creating, maintaining, or increasing social inequality.

This seminar aims to increase our understanding towards the different facets of stigma such as approaches of how to measure, explain, and counteract stigma. Thereby, this seminar also intends to use this gathered knowledge in a practical and research-oriented way. Besides presentations, the seminar includes interactive elements such as discussions and group works.