In the first semester you will start with the Specialisation Course, which presents the state-of-the-art in the Comparative Politics subfield, and take two electives on comparative politics topics of your choice. Together with students from the other political science programmes you will also follow a course that explores the increasing transnationalisation of politics.
In the second semester you will write your Master’s thesis based on your own empirical research. Writing of the thesis takes place in a Research Project, under supervision of one of our members of staff.
The Master’s thesis research project is literally your masterpiece. It is an independent research project supervised by an expert. The topic of your research is preferably closely linked to the research of the group but can also be chosen freely as long as an expert on the topic can be found to supervise you. The thesis should be between 10,000 and 16,000 words long.
This course in comparative politics aims to provide a broad understanding of key questions and methodologies. Students explore classic and contemporary works on political order, conflict, and research design principles. Weekly topics range from defining politics to understanding the emergence of states, shaping societies, and analysing democratic and autocratic regimes.