Available for: Exchange students. Exercises, cases and essays online in English.
(Perustutkinto-opiskelijoille suomenkielinen toteutus syksyllä 1.-2. periodeissa.)

Preceding studies:

Recommended: Basic and Intermediate studies in Accounting (min 50 ects).

Sufficient English language skills.

This course is organized in the form of Tampere Russia Club which is a forum that brings together visiting lecturers representing the academia, public sector organisations, businesses, NGOs, etc. Students taking part in the course play an active part in organising the meetings of the Club. Together with the responsible teacher, they plan and run the programme of the seminar, chair lectures, advertise the events and write reflective posts to the course blog.

The course is compulsory for the students of the RES Master's Programme. Other students wishing to take part in the course must sign-up by 14.9. (anni.kangas@uta.fi).

This course brings key concepts in International Relations into a dialogue with events and dynamics in Russian and European relations. We will familiarize ourselves with concepts such as integration, empire, foreign policy, globalization, hegemony, human rights, levels of analysis, nationalism, peace and war, power, sovereignty, territoriality, and borders.

The course is compulsory for RES Master's Programme students. Other students should sign-up by 3.9. (anni.kangas@uta.fi).

The course will cover a range of approaches that can be described as ’cost-benefit analysis’ and which have been used to assess some of the advantages and disadvantages of a vast range of policies and projects. Such methods have been applied widely in the health care sector, but the course will also present case studies of applications to many other areas of government policy.

Starting with an overview of some of the theory underlying economic evaluation as well as some of the ways in which it is practiced in the health-care sector and when assessing social care services, the course will then continue with the more practical application of economic evaluation to a number of fields. The latter part of the course will show how to generate cost-effectiveness data through decision analytic modelling and use them in decision making, with applications to public policies, namely mass screening in public health and school dropout in education.

This course is aimed for post-graduate students in health sciences, economics, social sciences or other policy-related subjects. Advanced graduate students in these fields of research are also welcome.

It is commonly argued that the European Union suffers from a democratic deficit. Yet both academics and politicians are divided about both the existence of such deficit and about ways of addressing it. Drawing on a wide range of recent publications, the course examines various dimensions of the alleged democratic deficit from lack of citizen engagement to scenarios of genuine supranational democracy.

Email registration by 12 October essential

Contents

It all used to be so neat and tidy – either a single-party, majority Conservative government or a single-party, majority Labour government. That was the classical two-party Westminster model. Then in 2011 the election produced a ‘hung parliament’ and a continental-style coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Two referenda – on a new electoral system and Scottish Independence – and then, in May 2015, against all the opinion polls predictions, a return to a very narrow single-party Conservative government. Moreover, Cameron has promised an ‘in-out’ referendum on British membership of the European Union in 2017. What’s going on in British politics? In Scotland in May 2015 the Scottish National Party won 56 out of the 59 Westminster seats ‘north of the border’ with 50% of the vote; in England the populist, anti-EU United Kingdom Independence Party attracted 14.2% of the electorate and the Greens got 4.2%. Despite the return to single-party government, British politics displays more ‘continental features’ than ever before. The course will begin with the May 2015 British general election and consider the extraordinarily changing nature of contemporary British politics.

The main themes will include:

•  The Westminster model – changed for ever?
•  The use of continental-style referenda
•  The role of the House of Commons and the devolved assemblies (Scotland and Wales)
• The rise of significant ‘third parties’ (SNP, UKIP, Plaid Cymru, Greens)
• Changing patterns of voting behaviour

Lecture Programme

October 20  The 2015 British General Election: ‘The End of British Politics’?

October 22  The ‘Continentalisation’ of British Politics: An Analytical Framework

October 27  The British Parliament: A Toothless Tiger?

October 29  Towards a Federal Britain or the Break-Up of Britain?

November 3  Where will the ‘Neverendum’ End? Scotland Towards Independence?

November 5  In/Out, Shake It All About: Party Politics and the 2017 EU Referendum

November 10 Must Labour Lose?

November 12 Plus ça change…..

Email registration by 12 October essential

This course provides an introduction and overview over the disciplines of political and critical discourse analysis. The course will focus on various approaches to political discourse analysis as a tool for analyzing power relations. There is no set single approach, as the field is quite porous. The related works of scholars will be made available for the students for reading, analysis, and reflection during the course.  After the course, the students are expected to better understand the various approaches to political discourse analysis and are better equipped to utilize these theories in their forthcoming work. The students will be more adept at spotting discursive practices in political speech and the media and evaluate possible underlying modes of argumentation.  The language of the course is English, so students are expected to be reasonably proficient in reading and writing academic texts in this language.

Enrolment via email to teacher responsible. Optimal group size is 20 students, so places on the course are limited. Enrolment prioritized for political science students, otherwise in order of registration.

The course includes a written asignment

Please note that the schedule is subject to changes

The course critically examines the underlying structural and institutional causes of the Euro crisis. After completion, students will have a better understanding of the basic features of economic governance under the Economic and Monetary Union and the governance reforms implemented during the euro crisis. Students will be able to orient current developments within an appropriate historical context and understand the limitations this history imposes on the contemporary policy landscape.

Email registration by January 11 essential

The purpose of this course is to provide a review of modern econometric tools that economists and other social scientist use to estimate causal impacts of policies on economic outcomes. The course starts with theoretical material covering these techniques, which is presented in a fairly non-technical manner. The second part of the course consists of guest lectures by leading Finnish scholars. They will present how modern economics research and econometrics has been used in the analysis of effectiveness of a wide range of different economic policies.

The aim of the course is to equip the students with capabilities to understand applied economic policy research, as being done by academics and economists in research institutes alike, and give the basics for apply the tools themselves in their research.  The visiting lectures provide state of the art knowledge on the particular fields in economic analysis and examples of applying econometric tools in practice.

The main textbook for the first part of the course is Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke (2014) “Mastering 'Metrics: The Path from Cause to Effect”, Princeton University Press.  The required reading list also contains selected articles and book chapters by the visiting lecturers.

Detailed Lecture Schedule

Exam dates
1st course exam: Mon May 16 at 12-16 in Pinni B3107 (no need to sign up)
1st retake: Tue June 7 at 12-16 in main building D10a+b, sign up at least 7 days before the exam at NettiOpsu
2nd retake: Mon September 12 at 8-12 in main building D10a+b

-Fundaments of key legal business law issues. General principles of contract law, especially concerning contracting and negotiations in international context.
-Key principles of Corporate Governance and limited liability companies.
-Basic concepts of international tax law.
-Managing the legal risks of taxation and tax planning and tax-related risks in cross-border business.

Course is meant for students of Master's Degree Programme in Business Competence and master level exchange students.

The global geo-political context of terrorism and war is analysed with the central focus directed to the evolution of global terrorism and the forms it has taken in the post-WWII and post-Cold War era. Terrorism is one of many challenges to the sovereign power of nation-states and the most pressing of the political problems associated with this ‘global crisis’ of terrorism will be evaluated. Students explore this challenge essentially through themes inclusive of terror organizations/movements and their development, the complex relationship between terrorism groups and insurgency movements, and the response of modern nation-states and the international community to various types of terrorist organizations. Students apply critical reasoning to complex issues through independent and collaborative research.

The course content will be drawn from but not restricted to:

1. Discussions of the socio-political origin of terrorism as a means of achieving certain ends.
2. The conceptual understanding of different types of terrorist organizations and movements including differences and similarities in sacred and secular terror and the various ideological justifications that have been employed to sanction armed insurgency and terror.
3. Case studies of specific terrorist and insurgency movements in South/South Asia, Middle East and Europe.
4. The public policy response to terror including most significantly the US response to 9/11.
5. The relationship between terrorist organizations and the mass media.
6. The relationship between national liberation struggles and terrorist organizations.

Email registration by 1 March essential

Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Module, University of Tampere

Stepping Stones to Working Life in the Field of EU-Russia Relations (STEPIN) is a bridge between the final stages of university studies at the Master’s level and the professional life. STEPIN consists of an intensive, one-week tailor-made training course on EU issues (EU-Russia relations in particular) with special relevance to the students orienting themselves in the working life. Focusing on skills and knowledge in a transversal sense, the training course provides the students with a concrete introduction to professional life in the academia, research institutes, administration, policy-making and the private sector, NGOs and civil society. It emphasizes learning by doing and active participation of the students, teaching staff and visitors, with the aim of increased familiarity with the expectations of potential employers, actual career paths and experiences, and deeper understanding of the relevance of the students’ expertise and skills and different ways of putting them to use.
 

Programme

Monday 4 April

10-12 Welcome and introduction to the STEPIN course (Hanna Ojanen); introduction to the writing exercise (Anna-Kaisa Hiltunen)

14–16 Open seminar: “Joining Hands for Syria’s Future: Prospects for Cooperation between the EU and Russia?”

Speakers
Mr. Mikko Patokallio, Analyst in Crisis Management Initiative’s (CMI) Programme Management Office (PMO).
Ms. Irina Petrova, PhD fellow at the Leuven International and European Studies (LINES) Institute, University of Leuven
Dr. Ekaterina Stepanova, Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), Moscow

Moderator
Mr. Jukka Huusko, Staff Writer at Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, former Cairo correspondent, Helsinki

Tuesday 5 April

10–12 Research as a career (guest speakers)
13–16 TV interviews, introduction and first exercises (Jussi Seppälä)

Wednesday 6 April

10–16 TV interviews and feedback (Jussi Seppälä)

Thursday 7 April

9–13 EU careers, introduction and test simulation
14–16 Lecture on the media (topic tbc) (guest speaker)

Friday 8 April

10–12 Feedback on the written exercise (Anna-Kaisa Hiltunen)
13–16 General feedback session

The number of participants will be limited to 10-15. Those interested in taking part are invited to send a letter of motivation that also includes information about the topic and stage of the applicant's Master's thesis to Jean Monnet Professor Hanna Ojanen by e-mail (hanna.ojanen@uta.fi) by 29 February at the latest.