Interdisciplinary Electives - SSC-PPE

ECO3003 Introduction to Applied Economic Modelling

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 07:07:04 +0000

This module provides students with a basic understanding of the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Modelling analysis. Students will employ the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model, a comparative static model, to conduct simulations for evaluating the impacts of different economic issues including changes in government policies, socio-economic shocks and consumers’ preferences.

PPE4008 Election, Campaigns and Democracy

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 07:06:43 +0000

Elections and campaigning are key components of democratic practices. How people vote for different political parties or candidates is shaped by institutional arrangements and campaign strategies, which in turn influence political outcome and democratic legitimacy. This module examines how different electoral systems and campaign activities affect voting behaviour and influence the criteria citizens choose to make their voting decisions.

PPE4007 International Political Economy

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 07:05:42 +0000

The module provides an introductory overview of international political economy (IPE). In the era of globalization, international economic or financial problems such as financial tsunami in 2008 have profound international and transnational ramifications. So, how will sovereign states (or non-state actors) deal with those transnational challenges that have direct impacts on economic development and national welfare?

In order to examine the problems facing multi-level players, the module explores the history of, and the current issues in IPE and introduces contending theoretical approaches of IPE to analyse them. Topics include financial de-regulation, trade liberalisation and protectionism, international investment, politics of global finance and economic regionalism.

PPE4006 Politics of Life

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 07:05:26 +0000

The politics of life has been widely studied in different academic disciplines during the last decade. Its original use is usually traced back to Michel Foucault’s notion of ‘biopolitics’, which is an investigation to the form of governance in modern state and disciplinary society through the practice of technological innovations to regulate and to normalize each aspect of human life. In this module, students are expected to explore different approaches to the politics of life according to contemporary thinkers in the focus of interdisciplinary studies: 1) the concept of life in history of thoughts; 2) the politics of life in the interrelationship between contemporary philosophy, political thoughts, social theories, life sciences and ecology; 3) the interplay between bioethics and biopolitics; 4) the politics of life in biotechnology; 5) the controversial issues of politics of life in the contexts of neoliberalism and globalization.

PPE4005 Philosophy of Political Emotion

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 07:04:27 +0000

This module explores the role of emotions in the process of democratization. In particular, how emotions function in the defence of dictatorship, in the organization of civil disobedience against dictatorship, and in the establishment of the resilience of democracy will be discussed. In light of the latest scientific and philosophical researches of emotions, we investigate the following questions: What are political emotions? By what means do authoritarian governments manipulate emotions such as disgust and shame of the public, and why are these manipulations effective means to maintain their authority? What kinds of emotion serve as the best motivation for a long-term civil disobedience against dictatorship? Can emotions such as love and compassion help smooth the functioning of democratic politics and safeguard social justices?

PPE4004 Sustainable Development

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 07:03:51 +0000

Defined as the “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”, sustainable development has become one of the hottest debated topics among politicians, scientists, economists, and philosophers. The main questions include, what is sustainable development (SD)? Why has it moved from a marginal to central position in today’s world? What are the major challenges to SD nowadays? What are the roles and techniques used by the private sector (firms) and public sector (governments, international organizations, NGOs, etc.) to further SD in the developed and developing worlds? What are the available tools and methods to access the achievement of SD? This module aims to equip students with the basic concepts and theories to answer these questions from an interdisciplinary perspective.

PPE4003 Democracy and Its Problems

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 07:03:08 +0000

This module will explore contemporary democracy and the challenges it faces. Democracy is the political system adopted by the vast majority of countries today, but what after all is democracy? There are many gaps between theory and practice. This module aims to discuss why gaps exist between basic democratic theory and its practice. From there it will explore democracy as a political system and the variety of problems it faces. The module includes four main parts: (1) exploring the features and contradictions in democracy from the starting point of democratic ideals and practice; (2) analysing the factors behind the “Third Wave” of democratization and the reasons for the appearance of “democratic regression”; (3) evaluating different types of democratic systems; and (4) examining the complicated links between democracy and market economy

PPE4002 Public Choice

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 07:02:30 +0000

Public choice is one of the chief paradigms of studying politics from the perspectives of economics. Instead of seeing the government to be the unit to pursue public interest, the public choice approach emphasizes on the maximization of self-interest as the fundamental incentive of every individual to explain political behaviour of the government and the other actors. When conventional policy studies stresses on the role of government to fix “market failure”, the public choice approach inclines to see how government’s action produces “government failure”. This module covers the theories of major scholars of public choice including Anthony Downs, James Buchanan, and Gordon Tullock, etc. The course content includes public goods paradox, regulation and rent-seeking, median voter theorem, new public management, budget-maximization and bureaucracy, game theory, and externality and transaction cost theory, etc.

PPE4001 Internship

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 07:02:06 +0000

The aim of this module is to develop students’ understanding of real-life practices and operations in related industries of philosophy, politics and economics. It provides them with opportunities to polish their creativity and to apply their book knowledge in a practical sense. It is also a great opportunity for students to build a network of contacts in a chosen career field. To ensure the quality of internship, students are required to attend a pre-internship workshop where work protocols and ethics will be introduced. The workshop will also introduce students to methods for doing participant observation, conducting informal interview and writing reflexive journal and consolidation report. Students are required to fulfil a minimum of 150 working hours within Year 2 and Year 4 in one employment approved by the instructor.

If you would like to access more information about PPE4001 Internship, please click here for further details.