Courses

Winter Semester 2009

210161 SE M13.1/Dipl/Diss: Research Atelier
Prof. Josef Melchior
The seminar is open for the fellows of the Vienna School of Governance (ViGo) and six advanced students who are working on a dissertation on the topic of (local, national, supranational, or global) governance. The seminar will have the format of a workshop. It will focus on the presentation and discussion of the research projects of the participants and members of the ViGo-faculty will be available for feedback. The aim of the seminar is to evaluate the progress of the research projects, to discuss questions of data quality and data analysis and the necessary steps for a successful completion of the projects.


Winter Semester 2008

210069 SE Diss, H: Research Atelier
Prof. Josef Melchior
The seminar is open for the fellows of the Vienna School of Governance (ViGo) and a limited number of students that are working on a thesis or dissertation on the topic of (local, national, supranational, or global) governance.
The seminar will focus on the presentation and discussion of the research projects of the participants and supervisors will be invited to individual sessions. Conceptual, methodological and theoretical questions related to the individual research projects will be scrutinized.


Summer Semester 2008

210310 SE Diss: Cooperative Reserarch Workshop
Prof. Gerda Falkner
This cooperative form of Research Atelier builds on the groundwork of the winter term's ViGo atelier but now includes also a group of ten doctoral students from the IHS Department of Political Science, who are at the very same stage of doctoral research and who work on projects of similar orientation (mostly in the field of EU governance). This will enrich the experience of presenting and discussing one's research procedures and findings, as fresh perspectives will come in and additional comparative angles can be explored.
Additionally, professors and researchers from both the University of Vienna and the IHS will participate in the deliberations. Early on, all ViGo colleagues will receive the schedule and everybody will be invited personally to join sessions related to their expertise. This will promote the exchange between university and extra-university research.
Discussions should include both the empirical and the theoretical levels, with a focus on research design. Typically, doctoral students in their second semester have still quite a number of conceptual issues to settle but they can already give valuable feedback to their peers. In addition to project presentations with debate, recent literature in the field of governance can be discussed, for this is also of direct relevance for both groups of students.

210162 SE Diss, G6, FOSE: Governance Theory Applied
Prof. Herbert Gottweis
During the last decade the notion of governance has become a central concept in political science. At the same time, the definition of governance remains contested and different definitions and understanding of governance co-exist. In this course, we will first discuss some of the most important concepts in the current governance discussion. However, the focus of the course will be on the application of governance theory in empirical research. Each student is invited to adopt the notion of governance that he/she considers to be most appropriate or fitting for the purpose of political analysis. The selection of a particular governance concept should be clearly explained and justified. Then each student is required to choose a particular case study where a particular approach towards governance is applied. Ideally, the case study should not coincide with the dissertation topic, but be a topic of new or former empirical interest and potentially open up the space for writing a publishable paper.

150009 SE Governance in East Asia
Prof. Rüdiger Frank
The course has at its core a number of issues of governance in East Asia. The region is defined rather loosely to incorporate what is often referred to as the Asia-Pacific. Structures, modes, fields and spaces of governance are explored in a historical context, emphasizing the need to contextualize. Specialists on single topics will be invited for lectures, also hoping to increase the existing network of governance research in Vienna in the field of governance in the Asia-Pacific. In order to ensure a certain homogeneity and continuity, Prof. Frank will cover areas of general relevance or of specific need to either prepare or supplement the external lectures. The participants are expected to read the assigned materials before the single sessions in order to be prepared to actively participate in class. They will also occasionally be asked to prepare written contributions, based on which their performance will be evaluated. Class participation in strictly required and will influence the final grade. Since this is a seminar, participants are required to submit a final paper which will be due after the summer break.


Winter Semester 2007

210034 SE Diss: Researching Governance: Theory, Methodology and Methods I
Prof. Gerda Falkner
This seminar is exclusively for students of the Vienna School of Governance (ViGo). It lays the ground for their further work in the field of governance and for the forthcoming Visiting Professor's seminar towards the end of the winter term 2007. Theory, methodology and methods of researching governance will be studied on the basis of relevant general texts and of the work of the professorial team of ViGo. All ViGo professors will be invited to present their own research in the field, to explain their approaches on the levels of theory and methods, and to discuss the ViGo's PhD students.

Researching Governance: Theory, Methodology and Methods II
Prof. Eva Sørensen and Prof. Jacob Torfing
The PhD-course will run for five days and combine lectures, joint discussions and student presentations. In the morning there will be a thematic lecture that requires listening and reflection. In the afternoon there will first be a joint discussion based on a text presenting an empirical study of governance. This will be followed by student presentations that will focus on research questions, research strategies and choice of methods. Feedback will be provided from both course directors and fellow students.
Detailed information about the course

240024 SE Research Atelier
Prof. Werner Zips
The seminar is open to the fellows of the Vienna School of Governance. The fellows will present their research design which will be discussed by their colleagues and the instructor. The seminar focuses on theoretical and methodological issues of the individual PhD projects.