If you are interested in one of our undergraduate programmes, please join us in person in London on Tuesday 4 July for our taster courses. You will have the chance to experience a French Studies course and/or an International Politics course, as well as meet staff and student ambassadors.

Date: Tuesday 4 July 2023

French Studies Taster Course

• 13:30 - 14:15 GMT - French Studies taster course
• 14:30 - 15:00 GMT - Introduction to life at ULIP
• 15:00 - 16:00 GMT - Coffee & Tea reception with staff and students

International Politics Taster Course

• 14:30 - 15:00 GMT - Introduction to life at ULIP
• 15:00 - 15:45 GMT - International Politics taster course
• 15:45 - 17:00 GMT - Coffee & Tea reception with staff and students

If you are considering the International Politics with French programme, or the French Studies with International Relations programme, please feel free to register for both taster courses.

French republicanism and its discontents

In France, the idea of the “nation” and of the “Republic” are deeply intertwined. To be French means to be a republican. The notion of the Republic is commonly and interchangeably associated with a political system and its institutions; a historical moment (the French Revolution of 1789); a set of ideas (Enlightenment philosophy, political liberalism, the Rights of Man, laïcité); symbols (the tricolour flag, Bastille Day, the Marseillaise); and universal values (liberté, égalité, fraternité).

Reminders of France’s republican identity are everywhere: from street names to school classrooms to the façades of public edifices. In addition to these countless visual reminders, public discourse is replete with republican references. French politicians are adept at “republicanizing” party names (Les Républicains, La République en Marche) and speeches through concepts such as “ordre républicain”, “école républicaine”, “police républicaine”.

From the French #MeToo movement to the Justice pour Adama movement, a new generation of activists are challenging dominant framings of French republicanism and developing new understandings of "what it means to be French" in contemporary France. In this taster course, we will discuss the significance of "republicanism" in contemporary French politics.

Click here to register.

Is there a difference between real and fake human rights? Who decides?

Philosophers and lawyers argue amongst themselves about how real human rights (freedom from torture?) can be distinguished from fake ones (a right to the internet?). This debate, however, is also a political one. The last four decades have seen increasing struggles at the United Nations and elsewhere over who gets to define human rights in practice.

This Taster Course illustrates some dramatic real-world consequences of these apparently theoretical questions.

Click here to register.