Description
Students choose (one of) the thesis seminar(s) offered within their specialisation. It is strongly recommended that students start thinking about the topic of their thesis before the start of the classes. Attendance is compulsory for all classes. Detailed information about the study material and the writing process can be found on Brightspace.
Course Objectives
Objective 1: To deepen the understanding of theories and methods related to research on the theme of the Master Specialisation.
Objective 2: Applying them to a specific topic as part of the student’s Master thesis project.
General Introduction Meeting
See 'Information and Deadlines' for the time and date of the introduction meeting.
Thesis Seminar Themes:
Theme 101: National and International Determinants of Foreign Policy (Dr. N. Blarel)
The purpose of the thesis seminar is to help you write your master thesis. It will provide substantive and methodological instructions so that you can produce a structured and coherent thesis proposal and master thesis. This thesis seminar focuses on research questions opening the black box of domestic politics and policymaking in an effort to understand states’ choices in international politics. In the last two decades, issues that were once considered as the exclusive preserve of ‘domestic’ politics have now crossed territorial borders to become precursors of ‘international’ politics. Consequently, a traditional state-centric approach to explain discrete foreign policy decisions is no longer acceptable, if it ever was. Any complete understanding of international politics requires a movement along the traditional levels of analysis to incorporate an assessment of the multi-causal and multi-step dynamics that shape foreign policy-making. In this seminar, students are encouraged to make use of existing conceptual approaches to explain particular foreign policy decisions. The focus of this thesis seminar is defined broadly to allow students who are interested in these topics to benefit from working together on their proposals and theses. The emphasis here will be on qualitative research. However, quantitative research is also welcome.
Theme 102: International Politics of the Global South (Dr. E. Nartok - v.d. Kist)
This thesis seminar sets out to understand dynamics, challenges, and opportunities faced by countries in the Global South. It examines key themes such as development, conflict, geopolitical shifts, and the role of emerging economies. Students will analyze the historical and contemporary relationships in the Global South, addressing issues like inequality, colonial legacies, race, racism, gender, peace and security, diplomacy, post-conflict transitional justice, sustainable development, climate change and the protection of the environment, humanitarian aid, global health, infrastructural investments, and South-South and North-South cooperation. Through a combination of disciplinary and interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks, this seminar aims to equip students with deep insights and analytical skills essential to write a master’s thesis on the issues related to the Global South while understanding and engaging with the complexities of global affairs in the 21st century. This seminar is open to qualitative research methods.
Theme 103: Power, Politics and Digital Transformation (Dr. B. Rezaeedaryakenari)
Theme 104: International Security (Dr. A. Post)
This thesis seminar explores key issues in contemporary international security, with an emphasis on rigorous research design via causal inference. It addresses a broad range of topics related to war and peace, including military coercion, crisis bargaining, alliances, nuclear strategy, and emerging technologies. Students will develop thesis projects that contribute to ongoing scholarly debates and generate empirically grounded, policy-relevant insights. Illustrative research directions include the dynamics of signaling, credibility, and reputation; the conditions under which military deployments produce unintended consequences; strategies for simultaneously reassuring allies and deterring adversaries; the effects of leadership rhetoric on escalation dynamics; and the implications of emerging technologies for international norms and institutions. Students will select and apply the most appropriate methodology for their research question, with each project required to propose and test a causal argument. To this end, this seminar introduces a range of methodological approaches, including qualitative case studies, text-as-data methods, experimental design, and quantitative statistical analysis.
Theme 105: Global Politics (Dr. D. Ellison)
This seminar will support thesis projects with broad interests to the study of issues in global politics.It considers a range of topics connected to perceptions of global order, power transitions between states, the relationship of ideology and religion to order, (neo-)imperialism, and the relationship of 'bottom-up' politics (such as protest movements) to questions of global politics. Critical and non-Western cases and methodologies will feature strongly. Students will be introduced to these topics while engaging with the critiques and debates within each, as well as the meta-analyses of the relationship of studying and writing on international politics to shaping it. Through specific disciplinary (e.g., international relations theories, comparative politics, and critical security studies) and non-disciplinary approaches (e.g., historiography, political economy), students will engage with the complexity of answering questions related to global orders, international peace, and cooperation. This seminar aims to equip students with both the methods and familiarity with critiques to engage productively with a long-established sub-field.
Registration
See 'Information and Deadlines'
Examination
Research Proposal
The research proposal includes a problem statement, theoretical foundation, conceptualization as well as a sound explanation of the methods and techniques for data collection and analysis.The proposal must be approved by the supervisor and a second reader. The second reader will be designated by the Director of Studies. Please note that teachers are not obliged to provide thesis supervision if the proposal is not approved.
Master Thesis
The MSc thesis needs to comply with high standards of academic research. The thesis must be between 8.000 and 10.000 words, including tables, footnotes and bibliography. The thesis evaluation form with the evaluation criteria will be published on Brightspace.
Students that drop or fail the course have to retake the complete thesis seminar (in the 2nd semester of the next academic year). Students should contact the Exam Committee if they are unable to complete the master thesis by the deadline due to circumstances beyond their control.
Timetable
See 'MyTimetable'