Fall/Winter Course Descriptions

The Department offers 100-level, 200-level, 300-level, and 400-level Political Science (POL) courses.

PLEASE NOTE

• Course descriptions are not final and may be changed at or before the first class.
• For enrolment instructions, students should consult the Faculty of Arts & Science Fall 2024 Timetable.
• Prerequisites will be enforced rigorously. Students who do not have the relevant prerequisite(s) may be removed from the course after classes begin. Specific questions regarding prerequisites for a course can be answered by the course instructor. Where there are two instructors of a course, an asterisk (*) indicates the Course Coordinator.

**This page will be updated regularly. Please check here for curriculum changes.

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Course Nomenclature

• Y1-Y is a full course, both terms.
• Y1-F is a full course, first term (fall session)
• Y1-S is a full course, second term (winter session)
• H1-F is a half course, first term (fall session)
• H1-S is a half course, second term (winter session)

100-Level Courses

POL101H1F L0101: The Real World of Politics: An Introduction 

This course introduces students to key concepts and debates in political science by exploring contemporary issues such as the politics of climate change, Indigenous rights, elections and electoral systems, social movements, and war and peace.

 

 

200-Level Courses

POL200Y1Y L5101 Political Theory: Visions of the Just/Good Society

An examination of critical encounters between philosophy and politics, in a quest to discover the just and good society. Among the theorists examined are Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes and Locke.

 

POL200Y1Y L0101 Political Theory: Visions of the Just/Good Society

What is the essence of political life, and what is its proper purpose? This course explores how key figures in political thought in the ancient and early modern era (before ca. 1700) answered these questions. Central concepts include virtue, justice, order, authority, rights, and the common good. Authors include Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke

 

POL201H1F L0101: Politics of Development

This course seeks to introduce students to the politics of development of the Global South from WWII to the present. It attempts to provide a balanced mix of current issues and structural problems of developing countries and theoretical and practical approaches to development that have shaped development strategies and outcomes. As part of that, it will examine specific issues such as the role of foreign aid and neo-liberal reforms as well as structural challenges including the politics of regime change, democratization, civil/ethnonational conflicts, environmental sustainability, and globalization.

 

JPI201H1F L0101: Indigenous Politics in Canada

This course focuses on the legal and political relationship between Canada’s Indigenous peoples and the Canadian state. The course provides a detailed genealogy of the relevant legal and political touchstones of the relationship from the Hawthorn Report in 1966 to the present-day Unist’ot’en roadblocks on Wet’suwet’en territory in British Columbia. Students will gain a sense of the historical and ongoing pendulum-like legal and political relationship between the Canadian state and Indigenous communities. Students will become familiar with a shortlist of relevant legal and political concepts: Aboriginal rights, treaty relationship, nation-to-nation, reconciliation, resurgence, honour of the Crown, duty to consult, and Indigenous spirituality.

 

POL205H1S L0101: International Relations in the Anthropocene

Humans have altered the planet so dramatically that some geologists have coined a new epoch: the Anthropocene. Is our study of global politics up to the challenge of
human-driven environmental change? In this course, we consider multiple perspectives on IR to make sense of geopolitics on a changing planet.

POL208H1F L0101: Introduction to International Relations

This course examines a number of major themes and issues in global politics such as interstate war, nationalism, state formation, nuclear weapons and the global order.

 

POL208H1S L5101: Introduction to International Relations

This course examines fundamental themes and issues in international politics, including interstate war, international institutions, nationalism, international norms and morality, nuclear weapons, and the international order.

 

POL212H1S L0101: Understanding War

General introduction to the study of war, covering basic concepts and theories and surveying a selection of key topics and debates, including: what is war; why countries fight wars; who starts wars, and against whom; how to prevent war; how wars are fought; how wars end; and what is the future of war. Sessions will revolve around a few essential readings, which must be completed before class and will serve as a basis for various in-class and in-tutorial activities including presentations, case studies, simulations, and games.

 

POL214H1F L5101: Canadian Government

This course aims to introduce students to the essential elements for understanding the electoral process. The course will first present an introduction to the origin and objectives of elections. It will then address electoral procedures and their impact on electoral participation, party systems and the determinants of vote choice.

 

POL214H1S L0101: Canadian Government

This course will introduce students to core concepts in the study of Canadian politics, including Canada’s historical foundations, its current institutional context, and key political actors. The first half of the course will focus on Canada’s governing institutions and significant political actors including the courts, Parliament, the electoral system, political parties, voters, and social movements. In the second half of the course, we will explore the social and political forces that shape politics in Canada including regionalism, federalism, colonialism, and multiculturalism. Students will consider the complex relationships between social forces and Canada’s political institutions.

Exclusions: POL214Y1/POL214Y5/POL215H5/POL216H5/POL224H1/POL224Y1/POLB50Y3
 

POL218H1F L0101: State, Society and Power in Comparative Perspective

This course is designed to introduce students to major issues and challenges that shape states, determine how they are governed, and how they change. The course helps to explain major events such as state transformation, democratization, authoritarian rule, civil conflict and social mobilization.

 

POL219H1S L0101: Unpacking Political Systems: Institutions and Behaviour in Comparative Perspective

The discipline of Political Science, since its establishment in the late nineteenth century, has concerned itself with the study of institutions. This course will explore the effect of institutions on power, coups and attempted coups, segregation and racial discrimination, women’s rights, LBGTQ+ rights, economic reform and inequality, immigration and immigration policy, and the segregation and sterilization of people with mental disabilities, among other topics. Institutions examined will include classic formal institutions (electoral systems, constitutions, courts, executives, legislatures, party systems), intermediate institutions (trade unions and interest groups), and sub rosa institutions (homes for the feebleminded and residential schools).

Prerequisites: 4.0 credits, or 1.0 credit in POL/ JPA/ JPF/ JPI/ JPR/ JPS/ JRA courses
 

POL222H1F L0101: Introduction to Quantitative Reasoning I

Introduces the foundations of quantitative empirical research methods - increasingly popular and important part of political science research and public policy debates - to enable you to interpret and evaluate the results of the studies that employ these methods. Topics include quantitative study of politics, causal theory, and quantitative empirical research designs.

 

POL222H1F L0201: Introduction to Quantitative Reasoning I

Introduces the foundations of quantitative empirical research methods - increasingly popular and important part of political science research and public policy debates - to enable you to interpret and evaluate the results of the studies that employ these methods. Topics include quantitative study of politics, causal theory, and quantitative empirical research designs.

Exclusions: POL242Y5/ECO220Y1/PSY201H1/SOC202H1/STA220H1
 

POL222H1F L5101: Introduction to Quantitative Reasoning I

Introduces the foundations of quantitative empirical research methods - increasingly popular and important part of political science research and public policy debates - to enable you to interpret and evaluate the results of the studies that employ these methods. Topics include quantitative study of politics, causal theory, and quantitative empirical research designs.

 

POL223H1S L0101: Globalization and Development: Issues and Challenges

Since the era of European colonialism and the onset of industrial capitalism, the world has seen the expansion and deepening of social, cultural, political, and economic relations across time and space. Today, this process of globalization has increased in speed and reach, such that, our daily activities are affected significantly by practices and decisions made in distant places. The impacts of the accelerated mobility of people, commodities, information, and ideas on socio-economic development are unevenly distributed geographically, privileging and depriving some at the same time. This course examines globalization’s contradictory effects, especially as they are lived and felt by people in the Global South. We will focus our attention on some of the following issues: new gendered and racialized patterns of labor, inequality among nations, climate change and ecological sustainability, criminal violence, international migration, and social movement responses to globalization from above.

 

POL224H1S L5101: Canada in Comparative Perspective

This course introduces students to Canadian politics using a comparative approach. It provides essential knowledge about the variety of political regimes around the world, with concrete examples emphasizing the comparison of Canada with other countries. Topics covered include the evolution of democracies, political institutions, electoral systems, ideology, the role of the state in the economy, as well as contemporary issues such as cultural diversity, representation and inequalities.

Exclusions: POL111H5/ POL214H1/ POL214Y1/ POL214Y5/ POL215H5/ POL216H5/ POL224Y1/ POLB50Y3
 

POL232H1S L0101: Introduction to Quantitative Reasoning II

Building up on POL222H1, this course examines the theoretical foundations of quantitative empirical research, such as probability theory, statistical inference, and linear regression analysis, and introduces students to data analysis using a statistical software package. Students will gain hands-on experience with the analysis of empirical data, which should prove useful not only during the rest of their academic curriculum, but also throughout their career. By the end of the semester, students will be able to conduct basic data analysis independently

 

POL232H1S L0201: Introduction to Quantitative Reasoning II

Building up on POL222H1, this course examines the theoretical foundations of quantitative empirical research, such as probability theory, statistical inference, and linear regression analysis, and introduces students to data analysis using a statistical software package. Students will gain hands-on experience with the analysis of empirical data, which should prove useful not only during the rest of their academic curriculum, but also throughout their career. By the end of the semester, students will be able to conduct basic data analysis independently

 

POL232H1S L5101: Introduction to Quantitative Reasoning II

Building up on POL222H1, this course examines the theoretical foundations of quantitative empirical research, such as probability theory, statistical inference, and linear regression analysis, and introduces students to data analysis using a statistical software package. Students will gain hands-on experience with the analysis of empirical data, which should prove useful not only during the rest of their academic curriculum, but also throughout their career. By the end of the semester, students will be able to conduct basic data analysis independently

 

300-Level Courses

POL301H1F L0101: Colonial Legacies and Post-Independence African Politics

This course highlights the critical roles of pre-colonial and colonial histories in shaping contemporary political and economic developments in Africa. It covers the emergence of colonial states, the central legacies of colonial rule, and the impact of colonialism in shaping processes of state and nation building from independence to the present.

 

POL304H1S L0101: Topics in Methods:

Quantitative Study of War

This course focuses on scientific explanations for militarized conflict and war. This means that rather than treating every war as a unique event, we investigate what characteristics make war more likely and which promote peace. In addition to learning theoretical explanations for why wars occur, students will evaluate these theories using common conflict datasets. They will also engage with how these datasets are created and the relationship between theory, measurement, data collection, and empirical testing.

 

POL305H1F L0101: Introduction to Latin American Politics and Societies

This course offers students a critical introduction to the cultures and politics of Latin America. Our approach will be multi-disciplinary and will consider – among other themes and inquiries – the region's colonial legacy, 19th century caudillismo and republicanism, 20th century developmentalism, and the environmental, social, and economic challenges of the present. Students will also be introduced to a range of issues and debates from Latin American and North Atlantic social science, activist, and critical theory circles on the changing face of state sovereignty and regional integration, indigenous movements, populism, revolution, human rights and civil society, the legacies of (neo)colonialism, neoliberalism, and ‘21st century socialism.’

 

POL307H1S L0101: Japanese Politics

This course introduces students to the politics, political economy, and international relations of Japan. We will cover the role of political parties, the bureaucracy, and private actors; economic development and stagnation; relations with the United States and regional neighbors. The course places a particular emphasis on contemporary challenges facing Japan, including energy policy and climate change, demographic decline, Japan’s contributions to the liberal international order, and Japan’s response to geopolitical challenges, such as North Korea and the rise of China.

 

POL310H1S L0101: Nationality Building in Central Europe

This course is a case study of nationalism based on the experience of a stateless people in Europe called Carpatho-Rusyns. Emphasis is on how factors such as historical ideology, language, education, religion, and politics are used by the intelligentsia to create a national consciousness among the inhabitants.

 

JPS315H1S L0101: LGBTQ Politics

This is an interdisciplinary course examining the development of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) movement and its interaction with the
state in the US and Canada.

(Given by the Department of Political Science and the Sexual Diversity Studies Program)

 

POL316H1F L0101: Contemporary Canadian Federalism

Is Canadian federalism working? This course explores how the rules and norms of Canadian federalism play out in practice. In the first part of the course, we examine theoretical underpinnings in the study of federalism in Canada and globally, such as classical federalism, co-operative federalism, and open federalism. Then, we will survey intergovernmental policy processes and ask whether federalism is working for people in Canada, including marginalized groups. Topics include the distribution of power, constitutionalism, judicial review and the notwithstanding clause, fiscal federalism, the social union, Indigenous governance, treaty federalism, and separatism in Quebec and the West.

 

POL320H1F L5101: Modern Political Thought: Freedom and Equality

An exploration of ideas of freedom in the rise of the modern age from the 18th and 19th centuries, from the Age of Enlightenment to the Age of Democratic
Revolutions. Thinkers studied include Rousseau, Burke, and Wollstonecraft

 

POL321H1S L5101: Modern Political Thought: Progress Through History

An exploration of modern political thought from the 19th to the beginning of the 20th centuries. Themes include the idea of progress through history and its implications for politics, as explored by thinkers such as J.S. Mill, Marx, Hegel, and Nietzsche.

 

POL324H1S L5101: European Union: Politics, Institutions and Society

This course provides an in-depth understanding of the history, institutions, laws, and policies of the European Union (EU). We will debate alternative explanations for the political development of the EU, unearth the events and actors that have shaped European integration, and place the EU in a broader comparative perspective. We will also grapple with key social and political debates facing the EU today, such as debates concerning the democratic legitimacy of the EU, immigration and the EU’s handling of the refugee crisis, the rise of Euroskepticism and Brexit, the rule of law crisis and autocratization of some EU member states, and how the war in Ukraine has impacted the trajectory of European integration.

 

POL325H1S L0101: Contemporary Latin American Politics

This course studies left of centre regional hegemony at the turn of the twenty first century and the subsequent reaction. Key questions addressed include: globalization and neoliberal structural adjustment; resource extraction and sustainable development; regional integration; social movements, with particular emphasis on women’s, indigenous, and environmental movements; and the role of China in the new Latin America.

 

POL327H1F L5101: U.S. Foreign Policy in a Complex World

This course explores the foreign policy of the U.S. through a series of regional and thematic case studies. It begins with a historical review of U.S. foreign policy in the evolution of the U.S. as a major global power, prior to WWII. Among the case studies of U.S. foreign policy included are international organization and law, terrorism, environment (climate), Latin America, Europe, Middle East, China/East Asia, Africa and Russia.

 

POL328H1S L0101: Politics and Government in South Asia

This course introduces students to politics in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka in the period after independence from colonial rule. The themes discussed during the course will be those that are important both to South Asia as well as to a general study of politics in developing countries. Topics include colonial legacies, nation and state building, democracy and authoritarianism, state institutions, political parties, and ethnic and identity politics.

 

POL329H1S L0101: Experiences of Conflict

The course reviews selected novels that deal with personal and collective experiences of conflict. It focuses on representations of how conflict is experienced. It gives students a practical understanding of the human dimension of selected major conflicts and explores possibilities for personal and social resistance to injustice and violence. Special attention is paid to questions of identity formation and moral choice in contexts of war and nationalism.

 

JPA331H1S L0101: Rise of China as a Global Power

This course will take students through important domestic institutions and events in China that shape its current political landscape. Students will be prompted to think about the implications of domestic political factors for China’s rise as a global power. The course examines major China’s adventurism abroad, such as the Belt-and-Road Initiative, and what increasing footprints of Chinese state and private firms overseas mean for international politics.

(Given by the Department of Political Science and the Contemporary Asian Studies Program)

 

POL337H1S L0101: The Canadian Constitution

This course introduces students to the major concepts and debates that underline the Canadian Constitution. It analyzes the moral foundations, historical events, political forces and legal ideas that have shaped the Canadian constitution; the roots, legacies, and judicial interpretation of the Constitution Act 1867, the Constitution Act 1982, and in particular the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; the constitutional framework of federalism; the politics of constitutional change; ‘rights talk’ and the judicialization of politics. The course is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the constitutional history of Canada, the constitutional foundation of government institutions, the process of constitutional patriation, federalism, and Indigenous rights. The second part is dedicated to the Charter, its operational framework, main provisions, and its impact on Canadian law and politics over the last forty years.

 

POL338H1F L0101: Queer International Relations

Are States straight? How does racialized homophobia shape the international order? This course tackles these and other questions at the intersection of sexuality and IR. We examine concepts like sovereignty through a queer lens and explore issues like transphobia in right-wing populism and the institutionalization of SOGI terminology at the UN

 

POL340H1F L5101: International Law: Foundations

This course will introduce students to the primary sources of international law (treaties and customary international law) and the legal attributes of the core actors in the international system, including states, international organizations and individuals. Related topics will include governance of territory and the seas.

 

POL341H1S L5101: International Law: Operation of the International Legal Order

This course will expose students to the operation of international legal order with respect to the use of armed force, the law of armed conflict, and the protection of human rights. Students will also be introduced to how dispute settlement works between states.

 

POL347H1F L0101: U.S. Government and Politics: Constitutional Structure and Development

This course examines the constitutional foundations of American politics—the separation of powers, federalism, and rights. Major themes include the historical origins of the American constitution, the transformation of American constitutionalism from the Civil War to the New Deal, and the struggle over the meaning of American
constitutionalism in the 21st century.

 

POL350H1S L0101: Politics of East Central Europe

This course examines political change in East Central Europe—with limited discussion of Western Europe and Russia for comparison—from the Middle Ages to the present day. How are democracies created and why do they collapse? What is the relationship between democracy and capitalism? Why did early modern states take on such diverse forms, and what was the impact of these variations on subsequent trajectories of democratization and economic development? Did Eastern and Western Europe diverge politically and economically centuries ago, or is the idea of a longstanding east-west divide merely an artifact of Cold War geopolitics? Although we will read the work of historians as well as that of political scientists, this course is not a general survey of East European history; we will concentrate on (classic and more recent) theories and interpretations of state formation, democratization, and long-run growth. Accordingly, some prior knowledge of the broad outlines of European and global history is recommended, though not mandated.

 

POL351H1S L0101: Gender, Politics, and Public Policy in Comparative Perspective

An introduction to gender, politics, and public policy that examines how political systems and public policies shape gender relations and gender-based inequalities. Cases to be drawn on include Canada in a global and comparative context. The course is structured as a policy solutions lab that critically examines the potential for public policies to enhance gender equality and by what means.

 

POL352H1F L0101: Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods

This course introduces students to qualitative research methods in political science. It examines what qualitative social science research entails and how and why qualitative research is conducted in political science. The course then examines the range of qualitative research methods used in political science (e.g. archival methods, political ethnography, interviews), and gives students some hands-on experience using qualitative research methods. The course prepares students to carry out future research projects using qualitative methods

 

POL354H1F L0101: Politics and Society in Russia

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marks a turning point, not only in the post-Cold War international order, but also in the development of the Russian polity and economy. How did we get here? Who is Vladimir Putin, how did he rise to power, and how has his regime changed over the past two decades? We will take a historical approach to these questions, examining the evolution of Russian politics and society since the collapse of the Soviet Union. After acquiring a basic knowledge of Russia’s political development since Gorbachev, students will explore a variety of themes in contemporary politics, including public opinion, the media, economic reform, civil society and interest groups, state building, federalism, regional diversity, and Russia’s behavior on the international stage. This last theme brings us full circle, back to Putin’s war in Ukraine and its near-future implications. Here, we will consider not only the prospects for Russia’s political future but also how the country might adapt to the other challenges it will face in coming decades—especially climate change.

 

POL356H1F L0101: Canadian Political Parties and Elections

Elections and political parties play a key role in Canadian politics. In this course, we will evaluate the purpose and goals of elections as it relates to democratic representation in Canada. We will also analyse the development of political parties in light of those goals. By the end of the course, students will develop a strong knowledge of federal and provincial elections and political parties, as well as their impacts on the lives of people in Canada. Topics include historical and theoretical perspectives, representation, ideology, leadership contests, financing, candidate selection, party discipline, and electoral reform.

 

POL358H1F L0101: Conflicts, Minority Rights and Para-States in Europe

This course examines a number of unresolved issues in Europe that are largely shaped by real and perceived shortcomings in minority rights. After a section on Roma
Rights in Central Europe, our focus turns to the origins and outcomes of largely separatist wars in Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine and the peace
agreements that followed.

 

POL359H1S L0101: Enlarging Europe: The European Union and Its Applicants

European integration is one of the most important and most successful political experiments in recent history. This course looks to the recent trends in this process, as well as its future prospects for states that are still outside the Union. It will examine the consequences of enlargement and deeper integration for the internal dynamics of the Union. However, the emphasis is on the impact that integration and the prospects of integration have on the potential member states and the countries bordering the Union. The course provides a brief overview twentieth century Europe and the salient issues in the past enlargement rounds, furnishing the context for the study of current and future integration efforts. Readings will cover the 2004 and 2007 enlargement rounds to Central and East European countries, continuing with efforts related to South-Eastern Europe (the Balkans), as well as Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.

 

POL360H1S L0201: Topics in Latin American Politics

Political Ecology and Extractivism in the Americas

This course offers an in-depth analysis of controversies in Latin American politics since the start of the twenty-first century. Emphasis will be given to the rise and fall of the so-called ‘Pink Tide’ of left of centre governments, but also on the social movements and political economic conditions that made them possible. In addition to country-specific case studies on, for example, Brazil, Bolivia, and Venezuela we will also study thematic and regional concerns, including structural adjustment and economic development policies, environmental challenges, crime and governability, and changes in the global economic system. A background in Latin American politics and history is strongly encouraged.

 

JPR364H1F L0101: Religion and Politics in the Nation State

This course will engage with contemporary debates on religion and politics in the context of the nation-state in our post-9/11 world, and will do so comparatively across a wide range of contexts. The emphasis will be on understanding the evolving relationship between religion and politics in liberal democracies, and examining challenges facing democratic politics from the religious sphere, both in the West, where secular liberalism is the dominant framework for discussing these questions, and in Africa, India, and the Middle East, where such a framework is more likely to be contested. The themes explore will include secularization, religious pluralism and tolerance, human rights regimes, the idea of “civil religion,” the impact of religion on party politics, the formation of identity and political community, the legal regulation of sometimes-competing claims based on religious faith, gender, and sexuality, and the rise of extremist forms of religious politics, conspiracy thinking, new online communities that lead to dangerous political outcomes, such as ‘QAnon’ and ‘Plandemic’. Cases studies will include the USA, Canada, France, Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria.

(Given by the Departments of Political Science and Religion)

 

JPR365H1F L0101: Global Religion and Politics

This course will engage with contemporary debates on religion and politics in the international context in our post- 9/11 world, and will do so comparatively across a wide range of contexts.

The emphasis will be on understanding the evolving role transnational religion has played in the past three decades, where new global networks have emerged as central global actors. We will focus empirically on the rise of radical reformist Islam and evangelical Christianity, the two most dramatically successful forms of religiosity around the world today. We will study the implications for the foreign policies of key nation-states, as well as the forces that have contributed to the prevalence of contestatory religious politics and networks as new and poorly understood global actors. International religious freedom, human rights, the role of media and mediation, the place of religious or theological doctrines or imaginaries in constructing and motivating a range of political goals, many involving the use of violence. We will focus as well on the global spread of extremist forms of religious politics, conspiracy thinking, new online communities that lead to dangerous political outcomes, such as ‘QAnon’ and ‘Plandemic’. Many of the cases will focus on the non-Western world, especially the Middle East and Africa.

(Given by the Departments of Political Science and Religion)

 

JPR374H1F L5101: Religion and Power in the Postcolony

This course examines the role of a variety of religious forms and spiritual practices in the politics of postcolonial societies, tracing their genealogies from the colonial period to the present. Cases taken principally from Africa and Asia.

(Given by the Departments of Political Science and Religion)

 

POL377H1F L0101: Topics in Comparative Politics I

Violence, Development, and Difference

International organizations such as the World Bank view violence as “development in reverse,” that is, as one of the most serious obstacles to development due to its negative effects on human welfare and economic growth. However, there are many more ways in which violence and development intertwine. Historically, one can note a mutually reinforcing relation between colonial violence and capitalist development. More recently, international development projects (such as the construction of dams for “clean energy”) have had deadly consequences for subaltern peoples and their different cultural, political, and economic ways of being in the world. This course explores the contentious links between violence and development by focusing attention on the problem of difference, that is, the diverse visions of social life held by those inhabiting the margins of the Global South.

Guided by authors that center the colonial encounter and its legacies, this course will challenge you to make sense of the relationship between violence and development on your own terms. Rather than accumulating information on a conceptual object named violence or development, the focus of our course will be on gaining a critical perspective from which to understand the pressing political issues of the global present—including the exorbitant levels of violence affecting certain parts of the world—and how colonial pasts and presents intersect with these realities.

 

POL377H1F L0201: Topics in Comparative Politics I

Development: History, Debates and Problem-Spaces

Development is one of the most controversial topics of our times. Its meaning is broad, and its trajectories are diverse. More than a qualification of certain geographies, however, development has a double meaning: the development of capitalism and the penetration of market logic on a global scale, and development as a set of interventions in third-world countries to pull these geographies into global circuits of extraction. The course introduces students to development in this double sense, the historical conditions of its emergence, including its relationship to colonialism, empire, and decolonization, and the measurements through which it circulates. Students will also explore the thriving poverty business the development project gives rise to and some of the main debates characterizing it.

 

POL377H1S L0201: Topics in Comparative Politics I

Gender & the Politics of Development

This course interrogates how gender is made an object of development. First, we look at gender as a category of analysis, the liberal underpinnings of thinking about female emancipation, and the ways in which ‘women empowerment’ has been translated into a set of interventions. Second, we look at some of these interventions, for example, financial inclusion, and political representation. We critically assess how the problem of empowerment is constructed and what is abstracted from it in order for the solutions to become portable and dissociated from their historical specificities. Finally, we will take a granular view of ways in which women rework the politics of citizenship, organize to demand better working and living conditions, and how they engage every day in alternative worldmaking.

 

POL377H1S L0101: Topics in Comparative Politics I

Becoming Israel: War, Peace and the Politics of Israel's Identity

This course will focus on Israel's balancing act between two competing objectives, one seeking to fulfill the Zionist vision and entrench "Jewishness" within the state and the other seeking to establish a democratic regime. Since independence, Israel's official ideology, Zionism, has been shaping the state's economic, political, demographic, and security policies, designed to advance the interests of the Jewish population in Israel. The Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel fall outside the sociological boundaries of the Jewish nation and present a challenge to nation-building. At the same time, Israel's commitment to democratic principles and procedures entails guaranteeing the rights and freedoms of Palestinian Arab citizens. In this course, students will explore the most salient manifestations of the tensions between Israel's commitment to Zionism and democracy, familiarize themselves with the debates about Israel's political regime, institutions, and society, and develop their positions on these divisive debates.

 

POL378H1F L0201: Topics in Comparative Politics II

Cities and Citizenship

This course considers the interaction of cities and citizens. It will examine theories of urban citizenship and contemporary practices of civic engagement. Topics include the dynamics of local governance, experiments in democratic participation, forms of neighbourhood activism, and the rise of urban social movements. Examples will be drawn both from Toronto and from cities globally.

 

POL378H1F L0301: Topics in Comparative Politics II

Law and Political Development

This course illuminates how political authority is constructed and contested, alongside the role that law and legal actors play in this process. Focusing on the historical development of territorial states, but also considering empires and international organizations, we will debate how these polities emerge, how they project their power and legitimate their authority, how people challenge and resist their rule, and how laws, lawyers, and judges impact these processes of political development. Throughout we will animate our discussions with an array of comparative examples – such as the medieval origins of the rule of law in Europe, the territorial expansion of the US federal state, and the political role that courts play in democratic and authoritarian states today.

 

POL378H1F L5101: Topics in Comparative Politics II

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most intractable and multifaceted protracted conflicts in modern times with flare-ups of violence between its various actors continuing to claim lives and to threaten wider war. This course will survey the main political junctions in the conflict and will connect them to their reincarnations in contemporary times. We will study all of this, exploring the conflict’s many layers and relating it to broader International Relations and sociological concepts from the emergence of the conflict’s political fault lines during Ottoman times through the establishment of a Jewish state and its continued modern-day development. The course will include cultural products relating to both societies, including movies, clips, songs and forms of art and cultural representations.
Tags: State and Society, Israeli Politics, Conflict Studies

 

JPS378H1S L0101: Sex and the State

What role have sex and sexuality played in the formation of the modern nation State? How has the State regulated sex? This course explores these questions with a
theoretical focus on biopolitics. We will proceed in two parts. First, we engage Foucault’s History of Sexuality and its reception by postcolonial theorists, focusing on questions of state building. The second part of the course shifts examination from State formation to contemporary forms of sexual regulation by the State. This includes maintenance of the public/private divide, citizenship law and nationalism, administrative violence and the prison industrial complex, and neoliberalism and BDSM. By the end of the course, students are able to apply core theoretical concepts and identify forms of contemporary sexual regulation in a variety of Western and non-Western contexts.

(Given by the Department of Political Science and the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies.)

 

POL378H1S L0101: Topics in Comparative Politics II

Jews and Power

The rich human fabric comprising contemporary Israeli society is divided along multiple identity-based lines. It is divided nationally (between Jews and Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel), religiously (between religious and secular Jews, Muslims and Christians), and ethnically (between Ashkenazi, Mizrahi and Ethiopian Jews). Other salient identity markers separate new immigrants from the older ones and residents of “Israel proper” from residents of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. In this course, students will learn about the complex web of cross-cutting identities within Israeli society and how these identities are (re)shaped by power. We will pay special attention to the interrelations of political power, identity politics, and public policy in Israel.

 

POL379H1F L0101: Topics in Comparative Politics III

Civil Liberties in the United States

This course offers a survey of American constitutional law in the area of civil liberties. Specific topics to be addressed include fundamental rights; freedoms of speech, press, and assembly; freedom of (and freedom from) religion; rights to privacy and autonomy, particularly in the areas of reproductive and sexual liberties; and the guarantees of due process and equal protection of the laws. To make sense of the jurisprudential developments in each of these areas, the course will also take account of broader trends in legal history, social transformation, and constitutional interpretation.

 

POL379H1S L0101: Topics in Comparative Politics III

Transnational Feminisms: Questioning Power from the Margins

Focusing on the diverse experiences of women living at the margins of nation-states, transnational feminisms have destabilized the notion that women around the world share the same type of oppression. In doing so, they have contributed important analyses of power that acknowledge the intersections between historical formations of capitalism, racism, and patriarchy. This course centers the works of women of color and “Third World” feminists and activists, exploring the conceptions of power and resistance contained in their works. Through engagement with transnational feminist theories and political manifestos, this course will invite everyone, not only women, to see questions of labor, care provision, war and violence, ecological protection, and solidarity across borders, anew. It will also challenge students to reflect on their own experience and position within global systems of domination.

 

POL380H1F L0101: Topics in International Politics

Gender and Intersectionality in Global Politics

This course will consider issues of gender and politics from the standpoint of ‘intersections’ with race and class. Intersectional feminism has emerged as a highly influential approach in Political Science and other social science disciplines, and in policy formulation from the global to the local. Specific United Nations world conferences and declarations addressing human rights, gender, race and Indigeneity will be addressed, as well as examples from Canada, the US, the UK and the global south. The intersection of social movements with current issues in Political Science internationally will be a central theme of the course. Issues to be addressed include gender, race, class, Indigeneity, climate justice and highly contested elections.

 

POL380H1F L0201: Topics in International Politics

Decision-Making in International Security

In this course, students will investigate various approaches to studying decision-making in International Security. We will cover models that draw on political psychology, social identity theory, and new research in the field of International Relations to explore how heuristics, context, organization, identity, norms, and emotion affect decision-making. Throughout the term, we will investigate which factors did (or should have) informed decision-making and how political elites wrestle with these challenges.

 

POL380H1S L0201: Topics in International Politics

Global Nuclear Politics

The taming of the atom is one of the defining features of the modern era. The awesome creative and destructive potential of nuclear energy has had enormous impact on great power politics, the environment, economic development, and international institutions. Limiting the risk of nuclear Armageddon is one of the dominant challenges in US foreign policy and global governance alike. In this course, we will study 1) why and how countries pursue nuclear weapons and what happens when they acquire them; 2) the national policies and international regimes that have been devised to curb their spread and use, while allowing for the diffusion of energy technology, 3) the transnational civil society movements that have fought to roll back the nuclear age or limit its harmful effects, and 4) the role of private actors such as scientists and corporations.

 

POL380H1S L0101: Topics in International Politics

Selected Puzzle in International Security

This course does not seek to offer a systematic review of international security. Instead, it focuses on an eclectic set of debates that continues to motivate significant research in the field. Each of these debates will allow us to explore a different facet of international security.
This is not intended to be a “how to” manual for the conduct of combat, nor an arena for endless political debate regarding the futility or brutality of war. Instead, this course focuses on developing theoretical and analytical approaches to the contemporary study of war and peace.

 

POL381H1F L0101: Topics in Political Theory

Political Agency Under Modernity

In the modern world shaped by capitalism, state bureaucracies, and colonialism, what remains of the human possibilities for freedom through politics? What features of modernity render the morality of politics so uncertain? How central is violence to our understanding of politics in the modern age? This course will explore these themes through close reading of key figures in 20th century political thought.

 

POL381H1S L0101: Topics in Political Theory

Theories of Liberal Democracy

In Western societies such as Canada, liberal democracy has been the reigning paradigm of politics since the end of the Second World War. Today, liberal democracy is in crisis in the West and globally. This course will begin with an in-depth exploration of one of the leading philosophers of liberal democracy in the 20th century (John Rawls), and explore a series of critics of liberal democracy from feminist, Black, Indigenous, non-Western, and post-human perspectives.

 

POL381H1S L0201: Topics in Political Theory

Classical Political Thought

This course examines the themes of law and ethics. We turn to classical texts because they are both foreign and familiar, thereby helping us to see ourselves and our present concerns in a new light. Through a study of selected works of ancient Greek literature and philosophy, we will pay particular attention to the theme of tragedy as not just a conflict between good and bad, but rather between clashing, even irreconcilable, understandings of what is good.

 

POL382H1S L5101: Topics in Canadian Politics

Elections and Voting

This course aims to introduce students to the essential elements for understanding the electoral process. The course will first present an introduction to the origin and objectives of elections. It will then address electoral procedures and their impact on electoral participation, party systems and the determinants of vote choice.

 

POL382H1S L0101: Topics in Canadian Politics

Canadian Parliament's Rules and Operations

This course takes an in-depth look at Canada’s parliament, exploring the interplay between parliament’s rules and operations. In the course, we will consider the purpose of parliament, and investigate the formal and informal rules that have been established to support that purpose. We will also analyse the operations of parliament and ask whether it has been effective in fulfilling its purposes. Topics include the prime minister and executive dominance, the House of Commons and Senate, committees, political parties and party discipline, legislative amendment, and parliamentary reform.

 

POL384H1S L0101: Global Environmental Governance from the Ground Up

This course focuses on non-state actors in global environmental governance, considering the motivations, actions, and strategies of non-governmental organizations, grassroots communities, and corporations. The course uses analytic tools from international relations and comparative politics to understand patterns of environmental protest, resistance, and change over time.

 

POL385H1S L0101: Issues in Contemporary Greece

Strategically located at the crossroads of three continents (Europe, Asia, and Africa), Greece has often become the epicenter of various political and cultural developments with significant international implications. In 2021, Greece celebrates the anniversary of 200 years since the beginning of the 1821 revolution against the Ottoman Empire and the long war of independence which led to the establishment of the Modern Greek State, known today as the Hellenic Republic. This course follows the journey of the Greek people, their leaders, their triumphs, their challenges, and traumas over the course of the last two centuries. Personalities and events that shaped the nation’s trajectory will be studied and critically examined to offer a clear understanding of what Greece is today and the reasons behind the country’s main political and cultural characteristics. Through lectures, readings, films, documentaries, class discussions and guest speakers, students will explore the “National Greek Issues”, will discover “Great Greeks” and their roles in shaping and modernizing Greek society, and will learn about the “Greek Diaspora” and its role in strengthening and promoting Hellenism both domestically and internationally.

 

POL386H1S L0101: U.S. Government and Politics

Who rules the United State of America? This course will investigate this question by examining how power is attained and how power is exercised in American elections, the legislative process, the bureaucracy, and the federal courts. Particular attention will be paid to the role of national interest groups, regional economic interests, and new modes of political mobilization.

 

POL387H1F L0101: Politics in Europe

This course applies the basic concepts in comparative politics to the political systems of Europe. We will cover theories of transitions to democracy, formation and development of the nation-state, political institutions and their effects, parties and party systems and elections and electoral behaviour. We will use these theories to gain a better understanding of politics in Europe. We will also address some of the major challenges that Europe and the EU have recently faced such as the eurozone crisis, Brexit, the rise of populism and extreme right parties and the challenges of immigration and incorporation of minorities. The goal is for students to become familiar with the politics and governments of contemporary Europe through the lens of current and classic themes in comparative politics.

 

POL388H1S L0101: Politics and Government of Southeast Asia

This course provides an overview of political regimes in Southeast Asia, as well as some of the main issues that shape its political life. It includes legacies of colonial rule, nationalist struggles, democratization, ethnic and secessionist conflict, as well as social movement.

 

400-Level Courses

POL405H1F L0101: The Military Instrument of Foreign Policy: Concepts and Approaches 

Graduate Course Code: POL2217H1F L0101

In light of endemic international threats and conflicts, the seminar analyses the use of the military instrument of foreign policy. We meld theoretical and pragmatic approaches. Among the subjects covered are civil-military relations, the development of nuclear weapons, deterrence and nuclear deterrence, arms control and war termination strategies.

 

POL410H1F L0101: Topics in Comparative Politics III: The Politics of Infrastructure

Graduate Course Code: POL2391H1F L0101

Infrastructure—its presence and absence—is at the centre of many contemporary struggles. This course examines the politics of infrastructure through a range of methodological approaches and empirical sites. It considers how infrastructure is produced and governed through power-laden processes, and how infrastructure shapes the material relations of ecology, citizenship, territory, authority, sovereignty, subjectivity, and collective action.

 

POL412H1S L0101: Human Rights and International Relations

Human rights have become dominant in international politics since the end of World War II. The process of creating and implementing human rights is political. We explore historical, philosophical, and empirical explanations of the roots, effects, and implications of human rights today through a variety of topics.

POL417H1F L5101: Politics of North-South Relations

This course explores the complex relations between the developed world and Global South in historical and contemporary settings. It engages critical scholarship within International Politics and International Political Economy to examine continuity and change in North-South relations such as dependency and interdependence, trade, development aid, global governance architecture, and South-South cooperation broadly defined.

 

POL418H1S L5101: Human Security and Intra-state Conflicts in the Global South

What are the underlying causes of insecurity and instability, and what factors support or undermine attainment of durable peace after episodes of violent conflict in the Global South? This course explores these questions using comparative case studies and theoretical perspectives from political science and other disciplines on the challenges and opportunities of ending conflicts and achieving sustainable peace.

 

POL421H1F L0101: Maimonides and His Modern Interpreters

The course offers an introduction to the seminal work of Jewish philosophy, 'The Guide of the Perplexed' by Moses Maimonides. We will delve into some of the basic themes of Jewish philosophical theology and religion as they are treated by Maimonides.

Prerequisite: POL200Y1/ POL200Y5/( POLC70H3, POLC71H3)
Exclusion: RLG433H1

 

POL425H1S L0101: State and Development in Historical Perspective

What is the state’s role in economic development? What caused the industrial revolution, and why was Britain at its forefront? These questions have preoccupied social scientists and political practitioners alike since the nineteenth century, and the recent profusion of economic history research suggests that consensus remains as elusive as ever. Much of this literature takes an institutional approach, attributing north-western Europe’s economic precocity to political institutions that established secure property rights. This argument has a distinguished pedigree, but its assumptions are increasingly at odds with the findings of historical scholarship. We will work together to bridge this gap, contrasting the work of historians, political scientists, and economists on the causes of European economic growth, and devoting particular attention to the role of the state in each. We will also examine and evaluate more recent developmental models around the world, from state socialism to market socialism to the “developmental state.”

 

POL426H1S L0101: Democracy and Dictatorship

Graduate Course Code: POL2326H1S L0101

The course provides an in-depth introduction to theories of the origins of democracy and dictatorship. In the first part of the course, we examine and compare theories rooted in economic development, voluntarism, institutional design, and historical institutionalism. The latter half of the course applies these different approaches to debates over the origins of Nazi rule in Germany in the 1930s, military dictatorship in Chile in the 1970s, and non-democratic rule in contemporary Russia.

POL428H1F L0101: Federalism and Diversity in Canada (and Beyond)

This course places Canada as a key case in comparative federalism studies, with a particular focus on the management of diversity and conflict. Canada’s federal system often operates on unwritten rules, and through this course, we will examine whether and how the rules can be used to improve governance for a diverse society. Topics include intra-state federalism (in the national parliament and the courts), inter-state federalism (intergovernmental relations between provinces and the federal government), constitutionalism, fiscal federalism, the social union, Indigenous governance, treaty federalism, activism by marginalized groups, and separatism in Quebec and the West.

 

POL433H1F L0101: Topics in United States Government and Politics: Presidential Politics in America

The November 2024 presidential election will be a major event in shaping the future direction of American government and politics. In the first part of this course, we will examine the events leading up to the 2024 election, the unique characteristics of U.S. political institutions, and the issues and dynamics of the campaign. Following the election, we will analyze the outcome and consider its implications for the direction of U.S. public policy over the next four years and the longer term significance of political changes in the United States.

POL438H1F L0101: Topics in Comparative Politics I: Living in the Illicit Global Economy

Graduate Course Code: POL2321H1F L0101

For as long as the global economy has existed, it has had a clandestine “underside.” Today, illicit trade is estimated to represent as much as 20% of total economic activity in some countries. Yet for most of us, our knowledge of the global economy is limited to legally recognized profits and expenses. This course explores the illicit side of the global economy, particularly as it is experienced by those living in the social peripheries. Drawing on political, historical, and ethnographic accounts of illicit economies from across the globe we will examine how distinctions between legal/illegal and licit/illicit activities are drawn, as well as the forms of life that emerge at the interface of the state, legal economies, and illicit activities. Tacking back and forth between theoretical texts and empirical research, students will reflect on prevalent ethical judgements about illicit activities, and on how their everyday lives might be entangled with them.

POL438H1S L0201: Topics in Comparative Politics I: Judicial Politics

This course provides an in-depth understanding of the social and political origins of judicial power and the growing role that courts play in democracies and autocracies. Adopting a comparative perspective, we will probe when and why citizens, social movements, and policymakers turn to the courts and support judicial power, what factors shape how judges make decisions, when judicial decisions beget compliance and defiance, and how courts shape regime politics like democratization, democratic backsliding, and autocratic consolidation. Throughout we will bring cutting-edge research to life with concrete examples: from domestic courts like the US Supreme Court to international courts like the European Court of Justice; from judicial politics in liberal democracies like Canada, to backsliding regimes like Hungary, to consolidated autocracies like Egypt.

POL443H1S L0101: Topics in Comparative Politics II: Globalization, Democracy, and Growth

This course focuses on the link between political institutions, economic policy, and global economic integration. We will read and discuss seminal and more recent studies that explore whether globalization has altered the relationship between democratic institutions and economic policy choices in developed and developing countries. Familiarity with quantitative methods in Political Science is necessary to understand and discuss the readings as the majority of them will use such approaches.

POL447H1F L0101: Political Economy of Development

The course explores the rise, evolution, and performance of the dominant neoliberal approach to development and poverty reduction. It also assesses the feasibility and efficacy of alternative development strategies. Case studies are drawn from Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

 

JPA453H1F L0101: Authoritarianism in Comparative Perspective

This course examines the politics of authoritarianism in theory and practice. It covers major theories in authoritarian politics, ranging from selectorate theory, authoritarian institutions, impact of institutions on political outcome, ways of measuring authoritarian state power, democracy and development, to social movement and state repression in authoritarian regime, and political transitions. On empirical application, we will draw on cases from around the world, with some emphasis on Asian authoritarian states.

(Given by the Department of Political Science and the Contemporary Asian Studies Program)

 

JPF455H1F L0101: Conceptualizing Cities in a Global Context

Graduate Course Code: JPF2430H1F L0101

With over half of the population on this planet being urban, the significance of improving our understanding of cities in a global context has never been greater. This course is designed to improve awareness of cities as approached by different disciplines and in different international contexts.

(Given by the Department of Political Science and the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design)

 

POL455H1F L0101: Twentieth Century Ukraine

Graduate Course Code: POL2355H1F L0101

This course will focus on the evolution of Ukraine as a state from its failed struggle for independence after World War I, its existence as a Soviet Ukrainian state, to its full
independence after the collapse of Communist rule and the Soviet Union.

 

JPF456H1S L0101: Global Cities — Core Issues and Challenges

The core issues confronting city leaders across the globe are examined in comparative perspective and in a context of shifting global agendas. The study of cities of Latin America, Asia and Africa, are brought together in comparative context with the study of cities of Europe and North America.

(Given by the Department of Political Science and the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design)

 

JPR458H1S L5101: Postsecular Political Thought: Religion, Radicalism and the Limits of Liberalism

Graduate Course Code: JPR2058H1S L5101

The course will examine debates on postsecularism and religion’s public, political role as articulated by political thinkers such as Jurgen Habermas, by focusing on politically radical or revolutionary challenges to liberalism in the 20th and 21st century, especially from the postcolonial world, whose theoretical arguments are grounded upon or draw their inspiration from religious traditions, doctrines and practices.

POL466H1F L0101: Topics in International Politics III: Dealing with Dictators

For years, policymakers in states like the US and the UK have described a world divided between democracies and autocracies. These political discussions, however, are rarely accompanied by a rigorous understanding of regime type or capture the variegate history between democracies and autocracies. This course will focus on examining American, Canadian, and British foreign policy toward autocratic regimes (both friends and foes) since World War II. We will explore different conceptualizations of regime type(s), and investigate how institutional, ideological, and political dynamics within and between different regimes affect relations and policy. The seminar will be focused on security and defense, and course readings and assignments will emphasize how these dynamics operate in cases where policies ranged from foreign-imposed regime change, sanctions, and war to patronage and security cooperation.

 

POL466H1S L0101: Topics in International Politics III: Ideas and Identity in U.S .Foreign Policy

What are the ideas thar animate U.S. Foreign Policy? How has American identity informed international security? In this course, we investigate these questions, looking at how U.S. security policy from the 19th century on the has been informed by particular conceptualizations of frameworks including liberalism, teleology, and racism. We will investigate how these frameworks have been mobilized in decisions regarding war and peace, and how they have been conditioned by, and condition U.S. relative power and particular geostrategic events.

 

POL469H1F L0101: Ethics and International Relations

The course aims to explore the requirements of justice and fairness in international affairs. It is common to theorize international relations in terms of interests and power. But even the most cursory look at what important actors actually do in their international interactions reveals that they use normative language all the time. This has not gone unnoticed, with investigations of ethics in the international arena multiplying in recent years. Drawing on readings from political philosophy, legal theory, and normative international relations theory, the course will take up practical ethical dilemmas encountered in world affairs. The main focus of the course will be on institutions. Examples will be drawn from the issue areas of trade, health, and the environment, among others.

Prerequisites: POL200Y1/ POL200Y5/ POL208H1/ POL208Y1/ POL209H5/ POLB80H3/( POLC70H3, POLC71H3)

 

POL474H1S L0101: Politics and Policy Analysis

This course will examine the field of policy analysis in modern liberal-democratic governments. We will examine different approaches, concepts, and theories of policy analysis to help us understand the core debates that have shaped its evolution and contemporary practice. We will examine recent developments such as the shift from ‘modern’ to ‘post-modern’ analytical techniques, and the ‘evidence-based’ policy movement. The various orientations and techniques surveyed will be further explored through discussion and debate centering on specific Canadian and international policy sectors and issues.

 

POL478H1S L0101: Topics in Methods: Data Management and Visualization for Political Scientists

Real world political data, such as election results, location and type of terrorist attacks, or international trade flows, rarely come in nice, clean spreadsheets. Some data files may not even fit in a computer's main memory. As data analysts, we cannot always rely on other people to get the data into formats that are convenient for us to manage.

This course provides the fundamental computational tools for managing, analysing, and presenting political data. The material will enable students to become proficient enough to actively implement the methods and tools in their own research. This will require you to practice the material outside of class.

 

POL478H1S L0201: Topics in Methods: Experiments in Political Science

Experiments are a central methodology in political science. Scholars from every subfield regularly turn to experiments. Practitioners rely on experimental evidence in evaluating social programs, policies, institutions, and information provision. The design, implementation, and analysis of experiments raise a variety of distinct epistemological and methodological challenges. This is particularly true in political science due to the breadth of the discipline, the varying contexts in which experiments are implemented (e.g., laboratory, survey, field), and the distinct methods employed (e.g., psychological or economic approaches to experimentation). This class will review the challenges to experimentation, discuss how to implement experiments, and survey prominent applications.

 

POL479H1F L5101: Topics in Middle East Politics: Rethinking Middle East Politics

How should we understand political phenomena in the Middle East beyond notions of failure and reform, or better yet, failure to reform? How can we think of the region and the collective lifeworlds people have built, as well as the multiple forms of dispossessions that characterize their lives with terms beyond authoritarianism and Islamism? This seminar presents students with three themes that have come to define this region: development, state (failure), and peace. Bringing together readings from various disciplines such as history, sociology, urban studies, and political sciences, we will address these themes as they attach to particular geographies and rethink them to rethink Middle East Politics.

 

POL479H1S L5101: Topics in Middle East Politics: Comparative Urbanisms in the Middle East & North Africa

Graduate Course Code: POL2418H1S L5101

This seminar explores what it means to generate theory from place and conduct comparative urban research. Bringing together readings from geography, anthropology, sociology, and political science, which take the city as their object of analysis, we will discuss the role of planning, speculation, technology, and nostalgia in shaping cities to pluralize the terrains from which we think not of one urbanism or urbanization process, but of multiple urbanisms that characterize the Middle East and North Africa region.

 

POL484H1F L0101: Topics in Political Thought I: Democratic Theory

This course will examine contemporary theoretical debates over the meaning of democracy. Approaches to democratic theory will include liberalism, neo-republicanism, deliberative democracy, and agonistic democracy. Themes will include “epistocracy,” elite democracy, representation, populism, transnational and cosmopolitan democracy, and comparative democratic theory.

 

POL484H1S L5101: Topics in Political Thought I: Privilege and Opportunity

Explores the concepts of social and political privilege; social and economic opportunity; and the possibility of seeing expansion of opportunity as the proper response to at least some kinds of privilege.

 

POL485H5F L0101: Moral Reason and Economic History

Graduate Course Code: POL2019H5F L0101

This course looks at what some of the ‘great’ philosophers have said about economics, and what some of the ‘great’ economists have said about moral philosophy. The course is modeled after Hegel’s approach in The Philosophy of History. The point is to ask what the interaction between moral philosophy and economics can tell us about history and our own time. Among others, the thinkers discussed include Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Calvin, Smith, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Lukacs, Hayek, Rawls, Habermas, Marshall and Keynes.

 

POL485H1F L5101: Topics in Political Thought II: Plato on Justice and Political Virtue

In this course, we will investigate how a prominent group of ancient intellectuals called ‘sophists’ conceived of political virtue and the nature of political society. Plato’s dialogues are important witnesses to lively debates about rival conceptions of justice among these intellectuals. How did they conceptualize political society and its ‘political science’? Is justice a capacity innate in all human beings, or a democratic ploy to constrain the truly able? Themes we will explore in the context of this investigation include the role of punishment, shame, greed, rhetoric and free speech. We will also reflect on the question of what role philosophy has to play in political society.

 

POL485H1S L0101: Topics in Political Thought II: Spinoza and the Invention of Liberal Democracy

Graduate Course Code: POL2027H1S L0101

In keeping with the Department’s current focus on liberal democracy, we will read the works of its theoretical founder, Spinoza. We will focus on his Theologico-Political Treatise and consider why his invention of liberal democracy was inseparable from his founding of modern Biblical criticism.

 

POL486H1F L0101: Topics in International Politics I: Is the World Falling Apart?

TBD

 

POL486H1S L0201: Topics in International Politics I: The Soviet Collapse

This course tries to understand how one of the most successful empires of modern times collapsed seemingly overnight. We focus on the domestic and internal sources of this profound transformation by looking at the forces and personalities inside the USSR. Our time is short so we will get partial, confusing, and sometimes contradictory answers, using a small and inherently biased sample of the literature. Nevertheless, we will do our best to consider this historical event from a variety of perspectives, and perhaps even speculate about what it means for Russian politics today.

 

POL486H1S L0101: Topics in International Politics I: Women at the Helm - Gender, Leadership, and Global Politics

Graduate Course Code: POL2205H1S L0101

The growing number of women in executive office has raised questions about how our existing theories—theories often created by and to explain the experiences of men—can account for how women come to power and how they perform in office. This class surveys how gendered norms and political structures affect the election, behavior, and political fate of women heads of government. Students will engage with various approaches to the study of gender and leadership in International Relations and explore cases of stateswomen who led empires and states.

 

POL487H1F L0101: Topics in International Politics II: Psychology of International Security

This course provides an in-depth engagement with the political psychology of international security. We first take up fundamental political questions – like "what is power?" and "what is war?" – and engage the diverse answers that psychological international relations scholarship currently provides. Noting that war is the most destructive invention in human history, we then use these lenses to engage the value-add of psychological explanations for why states fight. The final third of the course uses all of this theoretical and empirical knowledge to examine security and war in our lifetime, beginning with the emergence of "terrorism" as a security issue in the post-Cold War era and looking forward to questions like China’s reemergence.

 

POL487H1S L0101: Topics in International Politics II: The Changing Face of Armed Conflict: From Interstate War to Asymmetric Warfare

Graduate Course Code: POL2206H1S L0101

TBD

Prerequisites: POL208H1 or POL208Y1 or POL209H5 or POLB80H3

 

POL487H1S L0201: Topics in International Politics II: The Planet's Last Frontiers: Governance of Antarctica, Oceans and Outer Space

This course will examine the law, politics and environmental challenges surrounding three parts of the Earth that belong to no one (i.e. res nullius): Antarctica, the high seas (and a variety of associated environmental issues) and outer space. We ask several questions related to each of these areas:

1. What environmental threats do they face?
2. How have these threats been addressed – both through international environmental law, and other policy approaches?
3. Have these approaches been successful, and why or why not? We review the history and mechanics of international environmental law to understand the tools available to manage these areas, and then investigate each area in detail to understand current management practices and challenges. We will then turn to the legal and political responses.

Format and Requirements: Seminar

 

POL487H1S L0301: Topics in International Politics II: The Global Politics of Science Fiction

This course examines the intersection of science fiction and global politics. We will engage with classic and contemporary sci-fi works that touch upon key IR concepts like anarchy, empire, arms races, and hegemony.

 

POL490H1F L5101: Topics in Canadian Politics I: Political Discourse in Canada

This course analyzes the unequal distribution of political power in Canada through the lens of political discourse. What is the relationship between political discourse and effective representation? This course explores diverse approaches to political debate and decision-making from within key democratic institutions and civil society. Parliamentary discourse in the style of Canada's adversarial Westminster system is compared with the northern consensus-seeking adaptations of Indigenous territorial legislatures. The transformation of political discourse in the 21st century is examined, from the feminization of discourse, to e-democracy and online debate, to the ongoing process of political disagreement in the form of ideology and polarization. Qualitative and quantitative methods for the analysis of discourse are also compared. This course studies the relationship between discourse, representation, and power in Canada.

 

POL490H1S L0101: Topics in Canadian Politics I: Identity Politics in Canada

Canada is often described as a diverse country, and much of our political activity involves balancing group interests. In this course, we will examine the foundations of identity politics in Canada, including theoretical and historical perspectives. We will also explore contemporary issues and strategies of identity groups in Canada who are seeking to bolster or defend their interests. Topics include the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, colonialism, bilingualism, multicultural policies, federalism, separatist movements, and activist movements including women’s rights, 2SLGBTQI+ rights, Black Lives Matter, Idle No More, and Every Child Matters.

 

POL491H1F: Topics in Canadian Politics II: Political Participation: Who Gets Elected?

Graduate Course Code: POL2103H1F

Who serves in Parliament and other legislatures? Do the backgrounds of politicians affect how policies are decided and which policies get adopted? This seminar explores the political representation of different groups in society, and the consequences of representation for policy outcomes. Topics include the representation of women, racial and ethnic minorities, class interests, youth, LGBTQ+, religious groups, and other social divisions.

 

POL491H1S L0101: Topics in Canadian Politics II: Institutions and Behaviour in Canadian Parliament

In this course, we ask how institutions shape the behaviour of legislators in Canada’s parliament. We will explore key rules and norms of parliament and examine their foundations. In tandem, we will investigate the behaviour of prime ministers, cabinet members, backbench MPs, senators, and other political actors to gain a better understanding of what motivates parliamentary behaviour. Through the course, students will gain a deep understanding of why parliamentarians behave the way they do and how their behaviour affects governance and the lives of people in Canada. Topics include the Crown prerogative, responsible government, party discipline and caucusing, executive dominance, policymaking in parliamentary committees, and the Senate reforms.

 

POL492H1: Topics in Comparative Politics IV

Selected issues in comparative politics. Vary from year to year.

POL492H1F L0101: Topics in Comparative Politics IV: Comparative Law and Social Change

Graduate Course Code: POL2392H1F L0101

This course explores the ways in which law figures into political struggles. We will examine comparative case studies from around the world to analyze how national and international legal institutions, legal professionals, and rights discourses are routinely mobilized by individuals and groups seeking to instigate social change.

 

POL492H1S L0101: Topics in Comparative Politics IV: American Political Development

Graduate Course Code: POL2392H1S L0101

An examination of the content, dynamics, and study of American political development. Possible topical focuses include: mechanisms and narratives of political development; state formation and institutional development; and race, ethnicity, and civil rights.

 

POL496H1F L0101: Independent Studies

Independent Study courses are arranged by senior undergraduate students who wish to pursue a detailed research project under individual supervision. Departmental registration is required.

Complete an Independent Studies application form, available from the Undergraduate Office or the Departmental website, and return it to Room 3027 SSH by the first day of class.

Only students who meet the following criteria are eligible to apply:

1. You must have completed introductory courses in the area in which you wish to conduct your research;
2. None of the current Departmental course offerings should cover the materials you wish to study;
3. There must be a Faculty member from the Department of Political Science who has expertise in the area and who is willing to supervise your course of study;
4. You must not have previously completed an Independent Studies course through this Department.

Students are not entitled to take more than 1.0 FCE Independent Studies course in Political Science.

 

POL496H1S L0101: Independent Studies

Independent Study courses are arranged by senior undergraduate students who wish to pursue a detailed research project under individual supervision. Departmental registration is required.

Complete an Independent Studies application form, available from the Undergraduate Office or the Departmental website, and return it to Room 3027 SSH by the first day of class.

Only students who meet the following criteria are eligible to apply:

1. You must have completed introductory courses in the area in which you wish to conduct your research;
2. None of the current Departmental course offerings should cover the materials you wish to study;
3. There must be a Faculty member from the Department of Political Science who has expertise in the area and who is willing to supervise your course of study;
4. You must not have previously completed an Independent Studies course through this Department.

Students are not entitled to take more than 1.0 FCE Independent Studies course in Political Science.

 

POL497H1F L0101: Independent Studies

Independent Study courses are arranged by senior undergraduate students who wish to pursue a detailed research project under individual supervision. Departmental registration is required.

Complete an Independent Studies application form, available from the Undergraduate Office or the Departmental website, and return it to Room 3027 SSH by the first day of class.

Only students who meet the following criteria are eligible to apply:

1. You must have completed introductory courses in the area in which you wish to conduct your research;
2. None of the current Departmental course offerings should cover the materials you wish to study;
3. There must be a Faculty member from the Department of Political Science who has
4. expertise in the area and who is willing to supervise your course of study;
5.  You must not have previously completed an Independent Studies course through this Department.

Students are not entitled to take more than 1.0 FCE Independent Studies course in Political Science.

 

POL497H1S L0101: Independent Studies

Independent Study courses are arranged by senior undergraduate students who wish to pursue a detailed research project under individual supervision. Departmental registration is required.

Complete an Independent Studies application form, available from the Undergraduate Office or the Departmental website, and return it to Room 3027 SSH by the first day of class.

Only students who meet the following criteria are eligible to apply:

1. You must have completed introductory courses in the area in which you wish to conduct your research;
2. None of the current Departmental course offerings should cover the materials you wish to study;
3. There must be a Faculty member from the Department of Political Science who has expertise in the area and who is willing to supervise your course of study;
4. You must not have previously completed an Independent Studies course through this Department.

Students are not entitled to take more than 1.0 FCE Independent Studies course in Political Science.

 

POL499Y1Y L0101: Senior Thesis and Thesis Seminar

A 40 to 60 page (15,000 to 20,000 word) research paper (75% of final mark) written under the supervision of one faculty member and a companion thesis seminar (25% of final mark). The seminar provides a forum for students to periodically present and discuss their ongoing research and to examine issues and approaches related to the structure, organization and presentation of the thesis.

Obtain application forms from the Undergraduate Office, SSH 3027 or download from the Department’s website.