Courses in Political Science are usually only open for incoming exchange students majoring in Political Science and for exchange students at the School of Social Sciences (Sociology, Psychology). Nominated exchange students will be contacted by their departmental exchange coordinator via e-mail at the end of November/
Exchange students from other schools and departments may only attend classes if (a) places are left for other students (b) they have basic knowledge in political science and statistics (c) the departmental exchange coordinator explicitly approves their participation. In case of further questions, please contact: int-pol
uni-mannheim.de.This lecture gives an overview of selected theoretical concepts and the main research findings in the field of Comparative Government, specifically focusing on the role of political institutions and their impact for political decision-making at all stages in the political process. The course introduces a number of core themes in the comparative study of political institutions, such as electoral institutions and their effects on turnout, voting behaviour and party strategies. In addition, the lecture focuses on the impact of different institutional designs on patterns of party competition, government formation and coalition governance. In a third step, we discuss the effects of political institutions and of personal characteristics of legislators on various aspects of decision-making within parliaments and governments.
The goals of this course are
The security of individuals and states depends profoundly on international politics. Beyond the realm of security, structures and actors of “global governance” have been proliferating for many years. They influence crucial public policies in diverse ways. This lecture surveys academic debates on key topics of international politics, including: the sources of war, peace, and terrorism, the emergence and operation of international organizations and transnational civil society, and the making of key international policy outcomes including respect for human rights and climate policies.
The goals of this course are
Schriftliche Hausarbeit / Research paper
Courses in Sociology are usually only open for incoming exchange students majoring in Sociology and for exchange students at the School of Social Sciences (Political Science, Psychology). Nominated exchange students will be contacted by their departmental exchange coordinator via e-mail at the end of November/
Exchange students from other schools and departments may only attend classes if (a) places are left for other students (b) they have basic knowledge in sociology and statistics (c) the departmental exchange coordinator explicitly approves their participation. In case of further questions, please contact: int-soc
uni-mannheim.de.Literature:
Andress, H.J., Golsch, K. and Schmidt, Alexander W. 2013. Applied Panel Data Analysis for Economic and Social Surveys.
The course provides a broad overview over methods of longitudinal data analysis, with a focus on the analysis of panel data. Compared to cross-sectional data, panel data can allow to improve causal inference. The first objective of this course is to understand why and under which conditions this is the case. In the next step, we will discuss a variety of different modeling approaches to panel data (fixed effects, random effects, first difference) and learn how to decide between these models. The lecture also provides an overview over event history models. It is highly recommended to participate in the parallel exercises to this lecture, in which the presented models are applied to real data sets.
Information for Mannheim Master in Data Science students:
Please be aware that there are only 3 places reserved for students of the Mannheim Master in Data Science. You can register via the portal until 31.01.2020. Places will be allocated randomly after this deadline. Please check on February 1, 2020 to see if you are (still) registered.
Does education increase income? Does minimum wage decrease > unemployment? Does slave trade affect current-day levels of trust? A > major goal of empirical research is to test causal relationships. > However, many of the methods used in empirical social science > research were not originally designed for causal inference, a gap > that is rapidly filled by two “revolutions”: Following the > identification revolution, researchers take the key assumptions for > identifying causal quantities much more seriously than before. And > in the wake of the potential outcomes revolution traditional > statistical methods are reframed within a formal framework of causal > inference (cf. Imai 2011). This seminar introduces students to the > basic concepts underlying causal analysis. We discuss several common > strategies to infer causality and apply them relying on classic > examples from the literature. In addition, we apply those strategies > to our own questions of interest.
This seminar covers several current debates in family sociology & social demography, such as the multiple equilibrium framework, that tries to explain both the phase of marital and fertility decline and the subsequent recovery during recent years. We will further delve into the complex mutual relationship between family structure & social inequality. We discuss how increases in income inequality may lead to increases in single motherhood, particularly among less educated women. At the same time, we consider how single motherhood decreases intergenerational economic mobility by affecting children's material resources and the parenting they experience. The seminar also covers the recent interest in multigenerational relationships which is reflected in the increasing coverage of grandparental effects in social stratification research but also by the fast-growing literature on the social demography of grandparenthood (When do people become grandparents? How involved are they in the lives of their grandchildren?). Other topics: sequence analysis in social demography (introduction to the method and some recent applications), caregiving within the family (caring for frail parents, children, grandchildren; family-work conflicts).
In sum, this seminar introduces you to a selection of current debates in research literature and hopefully helps you to develop some research ideas which could be further pursued in the subsequent research seminar.
Research on immigration, ethnic diversity and the integration of migrants and their descendants has made huge progress in the last decade. This seminar deals with important strands of current research, covering a wide spectrum of topics related to this field. They range from the causes of migration, through various dimensions of integration (cognitive-cultural, structural, social and emotional integration), to the general connection between ethnic diversity and societal context. Invidual sessions will elaborate key concepts, major descriptive facts as well as the theoretical and methodological state of the art.
Courses in Psychology are usually only open for incoming exchange students majoring in Psychology. Nominated exchange students will be contacted by their departmental exchange coordinator via e-mail at the end of November/
Exchange students from other schools and departments may only attend classes if (a) places are left for other students (b) they have basic knowledge in psychology and statistics (c) the departmental exchange coordinator explicitly approves their participation. In case of further questions, please contact: int-psy
uni-mannheim.de.