90909 - Workshop 2 (WS3)

Learning outcomes

The course aims at introducing students to the utilization of one of the main statistical packages for data analysis and presenting to them the basic elements of micro-data management and analysis. By the end of the course students will be familiar with the statistical package interface and be able to: load different types of data and different file formats into the statistical package, perform basic data management operations and conduct monovariate and multivariate statistical analyses using the software introduced during the course.

Course contents

In the first week it will be introduced the workshop and its actor constructivist approach to the study of EU foreign policy

The second and third week will be dedicated to groups' presentations on Allison's models and on the role of ideas in foreign policy-making

During the remaining weeks students will apply the actor constructivist approach to the study of the EU reaction to the war on Ukraine

At the end of the workshop students will present their main findings in the framework of a public event

Detailed instructions on the students' activities will be provided at the beginning of the course

 

Readings/Bibliography

• Allison, G. (1971). Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1ed. Little Brown, chapters, 1, 3 and 5
• Baracani, E. (2017), 'Graham Allison: Conceptual Frameworks of Foreign Policy Decision Making', in F. Andreatta (ed.) Classic Works in International Relations, Bologna, Il Mulino, pp. 127-154
• Del Reux, T. (2015), 'Bureaucratic Politics, New Institutionalism and Principal-Agent Models', in Jørgensen K., Aarstad A., Drieskens E., Laatikainen K., Tonra B., The SAGE Handbook on European Foreign Policy, pp. 152-165
• Goldstein, J. and Keohane, R.O. (eds) (1993) Ideas and Foreign Policy: Beliefs, Institutions, and Political Change, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, chapter 1
• Schmidt, V.A. (2008) ‘Discursive institutionalism: the explanatory power of ideas and discourse’, Annual Review of Political Science, 11, 303–326
• Surel, Y. (2000) ‘The role of cognitive and normative frames in policy-making’, Journal of European Public Policy, 7 (4), 495–512.
• White, B. (1999), 'The European Challenge to Foreign Policy Analysis', European Journal of International Relations, 5(1), pp. 37-66
• Young, O.R. (2017) Governing Complex Systems: Social Capital for the Anthropocene, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (chapter 6)

 

Teaching methods

- Students' presentations  (in groups)

- Class debates

- This workshop is only for attending students

Assessment methods

- Students are expected to attend every session regularly and to participate in class debate

- In addition, each student will have to prepare group's presentations

 

 

Teaching tools

- Power point presentations as well as additional material will be available on Virtuale

 

Office hours

See the website of Elena Baracani