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The thesis seminar in political economy is directed at students approaching the end of their program of study and about to write a thesis on a topic related to international politics or political economy and intend to approach their projects from an empirical standpoint (not purely theoretical or normative perspective).

Purpose: Planning, researching, and writing your thesis offers and requires a greater level of independence than any other aspect of your coursework. This forum is meant to offer you some support through this process. Depending on the stage of your research progress, you will be expected to present memos and excerpts from your thesis, present empirical results, and bring forward outstanding issues for discussion. Beyond that, you will be asked to read and comment on the written work of your peers and engage with their projects during the seminar sessions.

Prerequisites: Writing an empirical thesis requires some prior training in research methods (statistics, econometrics, causal inference etc.). If you don’t have this background, you should at least take the ‘research design and methods’ (RDM) course offered this term. The RDM course does not substitute for (and does not teach you) specific methods but provides you with an overview of the spectrum of methods and approaches in social sciences. Ideally, you should have taken specialized methods courses certainly before starting to write the thesis (and the RDM course at the start of your studies).

Timing: Currently this seminar is allocated a weekly time slot on Thursdays. However, depending on your needs and schedules I would want to keep the timing flexible to your needs and go online or hybrid if necessary.

BA: https://campusonline.uni-bayreuth.de/ubto/wbLv.wbShowLVDetail?pStpSpNr=313397&pSpracheNr=1

MA: https://campusonline.uni-bayreuth.de/ubto/wbLv.wbShowLVDetail?pStpSpNr=314972&pSpracheNr=1

Registration: If you are hoping to write a thesis with me, please do not email me but instead sign up for the course before October 1st. In the first session you will be expected to briefly discuss your proposed topics, after which I will be able to decide whether your research will be a good fit only after the first session. Taking the course is a prerequisite for students writing a thesis with me.

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