Political Theory: Legitimacy and Justice (MSc)

Programme structure

Courses

• Legitimacy and Political Obligation (10 EC). Acquaint yourself with the related issues of political legitimacy and political obligation. Analyse the logic of theories of philosophical anarchism, consent theory, principles and fair play.
• Great debates in Political Science (5 EC). Read seminal Political Science texts and familiarise yourself with the—often opposing—views of leading scholars. Discover how their ideas and approaches have inspired other researchers and discuss these with your fellow students and lecturer.
• Methods in Political Science (5 EC). Develop compelling research questions, devise sound schemes for conducting the research necessary to answer those questions, and, ultimately, follow through with the research itself.
• Elective seminars, such as Contemporary Debates on Justice, Contestation of International Authority, or States, Citizens and Migrants.
• Thesis Seminar (20 EC): Deepen your understanding of theories and methods related to research on a specific subfield of Political Science. Apply them to a specific political philosophy topic to as part of your master thesis.

Internship

The structure of the programme allows for an internship in the period early January to the end of March, followed up by taking part in the Internship Research Project Seminar. In this seminar, you will complete your thesis based on the research you conducted during your internship. The institute’s internship coordinator will facilitate placement, but the responsibility to find an organisation lies with the individual student. The organisation must allow and facilitate the student to implement a research project relevant to the organisation or its activities.

Please note that a fixed number of students will be allowed to conduct research on the basis of an internship. This is because the Institute of Political Science wants to offer students full support and guidance during and after the internship. The internship is subject to approval by the Institute. Among several other criteria, the academic level of the internship will play a key role in the decision process.