Summer Course Descriptions

POL303H1S L0101: Women in Western Political Thought

In this course we will recover a variety of ways that women writers within the western history of political thought conceived of issues of desire, love, sex, gender, and intimate relationships as they relate to core topics in political theory such as wisdom, knowledge, justice, equality, and freedom. The course begins in the Ancient Greek tradition, and then jumps to the late medieval period before moving through the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods in the Italian, English, and French contexts. To help us ground our discussions, the course readings have been placed between two philosophies of love, Plato’s Symposium and bell hook’s All About Love.

Texts: Hooks, bell All About Love; Plato, Symposium; Christine de Pizan The Letter of the God of Love, The Book of the Duke of True Lovers; Moderata Fonte, The Worth of Women: Tullia d’Aragona, Dialogue on the Infinity of Love; Veronica Franco, Poems and Selected Letters; Margret Cavendish, The Convent of Pleasure; Ninon de l’Enclos, Life Letters and Epicurean Philosophy, Mary Astell, Reflections on Marriage.
Format and Requirements: Participation (20%); Essay Proposal (15%); Term Essay (35%); Final Exam (30%)
Prerequisites: PHL265H1 or POL200Y1 or POL200Y5 or POLC70H3 or POLC71H3
Exclusions: POLC76H3/POLC77H3
 

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.’

Prerequisites: 1.0 credit in POL/ JPA/ JPF/ JPI/ JPR/ JPS/ JRA courses
Exclusions: POL305Y1 or POL360H5 or POLC91H3 or POLC99H3

POL317H1F L0101: Comparative Public Policy

This course serves as an introduction to public policy, with a focus on wealthy democracies. We will begin by looking at the questions that motivate many studies of policy: Who controls the actions of democratic states? Whose preferences are enacted? Why do policies differ across time and space? Why do they change? These questions cut to the heart of all democratic theories. They are also crucial to understanding your roles as a participant in a democratic society, whether as a voter, a policy-maker, a tax-payer, or a service user. We will then examine four clusters of policies. When we are finished, you will be able to describe policy variation on these issues. This description will enable you to analyze theories of policy formation, making a critical judgement about their explanatory power. Finally, you will also be able to communicate your description and analysis with others.

Format and Requirements: Participation, attendance, policy memoranda (2), and long essay.
Prerequisites: 1.0 credit in POL/ JPA/ JPF/ JPI/ JPR/ JPS/ JRA courses

POL321H1S L0101: Modern Political Thought: Progress Through History

This course examines themes in the political thought of the modern era through the careful reading of texts that date from the 19th through the early 20th centuries. This course explores various theories of progress and contrasts them with viewpoints that challenge or question these ideas. It questions whether beliefs in humanity’s progressive liberation build on the same developmental and civilizational theories that legitimated slavery and colonialism. More specifically, its examines whether the rise of modern scientific thought enhances human freedom or gives rise to new forms of subjection. Finally, it considers the implications of our political agency and our power to intervene and reshape our political circumstances once we believe that history unfolds according to a particular pattern or predetermined path. To tackle these inquires, this course contrasts works from East Asian, African American and South Asian intellectuals into critical conversation with Euro-American “canonical” texts. Sequel to POL320HIF

Texts: Nakae Chomin, A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government; Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Elements of the Philosophy of Right; Karl Marx, Selected Writings; Mohandas Gandhi, “Hind Swaraj” and Other Writings; Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality and Ecce Homo and Beyond Good and Evil; W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk.

Format and Requirements
Participation: 10%, Essay: 25%, Midterm: 35 %, Final Exam, 30%

Prerequisites: POL200Y1/ POL200Y5/( POLC70H3, POLC71H3)

POL326H1F L0101: The Politics of U.S. Foreign Policy

This course explores the making of foreign policy in the U.S. through a detailed examination of the institutions of the U.S. government involved, as well as the forces acting upon them to shape policy. After exploring theoretical approaches to the subject, it examines the evolution of the constitutional context within which U.S. foreign policy has been articulated, the bureaucracies involved in shaping policy, the impact of elections, groups and the mass media.

Prerequisites: POL208H1 or POL208Y1 or POL209H5 or POLB80H3
Exclusions: POL326Y1 or POL327Y5

POL340H1F L0101: 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.

Texts: Rousseau, Second Discourse and On Social Contract: Kant, “What is Enlightenment?”; Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France; Wollstonecraft, Vindications of the Rights of Woman.
Format and Requirements: Essay; Final exam.
Prerequisites: POL208H1 or POL208Y1 or POL209H5 or POLB80H3
Exclusions: POL340Y1 or POL340Y5 or POLC38H3

POL377H1F L5101: Topics in Comparative Politics I

Global Indigenous Resistances

This course focuses on the diversity of global Indigenous experiences shaped by the specific socio-cultural, political, and economic contexts in the past and present, and is intended to introduce and provide a greater understanding of Indigenous histories, worldviews, and perspectives. This course particularly focuses on the diversity of Indigenous demands for self-determination, identity, rights, and territory through various resistance philosophies and activities. The students will learn and discuss the global case studies of Indigenous resistances, analyzing their contexts, strategies used, and outcomes. Specifically, this course will address the following questions: How is Indigeneity articulated and expressed in different contexts? How are governments responding to Indigenous resistance movements? The students will learn and interrogate concepts (such as Indigeneity, race, gender, environment, land, activisms, feminisms, colonialisms, capitalism, globalization, decolonization, etc.), theoretical and praxis approaches significant to understanding contemporary Indigenous realities and Indigenous agency involved in shaping them.

Texts: All course texts (journal articles, articles from edited volumes, chapters from books) will be available through the University of Toronto Library. (Some sources might change.)
Format and Requirements: The course requirements consist of Participation (10%), 5 Reading Quizzes (5x5%=25%), 2 Reading Responses (2x15%=30%), Discussion Facilitation (5%), and Final Paper (30%).
Prerequisites: 1.0 credit in POL/ JPA/ JPF/ JPI/ JPR/ JPS/ JRA courses

POL380H1F L0101: 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.

Format and Requirements: In-person lectures. Attendance and participation in class activities: 20%; Reading quizzes: 3 throughout semester, 30% total; Group exercise and policy memo: 20%; Final paper: 30%

POL380H1F L5101: Topics in International Politics: Global China

China's global presence – characterized by its aid, investments, and engagement with multilateral forums – has left an indelible imprint across numerous regions of the global south. This advanced seminar introduces students to these issue areas, and helps student develop a toolkit of analytical skills for further studies and graduate-level research in a realm of international politics that scholars often refer to as "Global China". The course will begin with a selection of articles that focus on methodological and theoretical approaches to studying global China. The selection of books, articles, and other readings that follow are designed to offer multiple perspectives on various topics in the study of global China, and our seminar discussions will focus on highlighting tensions and synergies between the course readings.

Texts: All readings are available through the UofT library, or publicly available online.
Format and Requirements: Participation (20%); Seminar Leader (10%); Podcast (10%); Executive Summaries (30%); Final Take Home Exam (30%)

POL380H1S L0101: Topics in International Politics: Contemporary Issues in International Security

This seminar covers the key foreign policy and security related challenges and developments in the post-Cold War world. Topics include great power competition; contemporary cases of inter-state conflict; conventional, nuclear, and non-traditional warfare; terrorism and other transnational threats; security alliances in Africa and Indo-pacific; disruptive technologies, cyber warfare; and the interrelated problem set associated with climate change and environmental protection as well as energy, water, food, and health security. Departing from the conventional emphasis on military power and security alliances prevalent in mainstream International Relations (IR) literature, the course seeks a more comprehensive understanding of international security and its implications.

POL380H1S L5101: Topics in International Politics: Global Governance

A principal aim of this course is to remedy the neglect of the constitutional aspect of globalization by challenging one of its principal sources, which is the arbitrary separation of international politics and economics that has characterized much of the literature on globalization. The course will focus attention, especially on three overarching questions about the impact of the constitutional ideal, which are:

1. How has the constitutional ideal shaped the post-Soviet/post-1989 international politico-economic order in general, and the concepts of governance, security, development, peace, justice, and human rights in particular?
2. What are the consequences of ignoring the constitutional roots of the market-oriented nature of the international political order and its institutions?
3. Why did the promotion of constitutional globalization end up supporting the transnational capitalist classes and thereby fail to vindicate the optimism about “the universalization of Western liberal democracy” expressed by Francis Fukuyama in The End of History and the Last Man (1992).

POL382H1F L0101: Topics in Canadian Politics: Indigenous Nations and the Canadian State

By the end of this course, I hope students will be able to consider and look at the following concepts relating to Indigenous/Canadian relations as well as with the field of political science:

• Be more adept at reading political science literature, identifying the main arguments, points and potential ‘gaps’ in the literature/argument.
• Assessing the literature at hand through critical responses.
• Understand the historical and contemporary causations and situations relating to Indigenous/Canadian relations, policy, and politics.
• Understand that Indigenous nations and peoples in relation to Canadian politics, political science, and, to the Canadian state, are far bigger and complex than we are taught throughout our time in education.

Format and Requirements: Participation (15%); Written Test #1 (20%); Written Test #2 (25%); Exam (40%)

400-Level Courses

POL402H1S L0101: Problems in the Political Thought of the Socratic School

What’s love got to do with it? Eros and Citizenship

In this course, we explore several perspectives on what the proper bonds of political society should entail. Critics of classical liberalism have argued that its individualistic foundations have led to societies in which citizens feel weak ties to one another. By way of remedy, some have looked to the Socratic school in order to retrieve and rehabilitate a more robust understanding of citizenship. To assess the possibilities and potential of such a retrieval, we will carefully investigate the concepts of civic rights and duties, friendship (philia), longing or desire (eros), and different conceptions of the relationship between citizens and their city as they appear in the writings of Aristotle, Plato, and Thucydides

Texts: Aristotle, Politics and Nicomachean Ethics; Plato, Republic and Symposium; Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War
Format and Requirements: Our meetings will take the form of a seminar, with the course instructors providing comments to guide us through the readings and spark a group discussion.
The marking breakdown will be as follows: Participation: 25%;2 Reading Reflections: 10% (5% each); Argumentative Essay: 30%; Final Exam: 35%

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 salient factors in North-South relations such as dependency and interdependence, trade, development aid, global governance architecture, and South-South cooperation broadly defined.

Format and Requirements: Two two-hour seminars per week.
Prerequisites: POL201H1 or POL201Y1 or POL208H1 or POL208Y1 or POL209H5 or POLB80H3 or POLB90H3
Exclusions: POL417Y1

POL418H1S L0101: 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.

Prerequisites: POL201H1 or POL201Y1 or POL208H1 or POL208Y1 or POL209H5 or POLB80H3 or POLB90H3
Exclusions: POL417Y1

POL431H1S L0101: Graduate Course Code: POL2431H1S L0101

Dynamics of Political Change in Contemporary China

Selective examination of issues and themes in China's post-Mao reform effort with particular emphasis on the challenges faced by China’s leadership in managing an increasingly complex market authoritarian state and society. contemporary social, political and economic developments. Emphasis is on the period since Xi Jinping’s assumption of power in 2012.

Format and Requirements: Two two-hour seminars per week. Course requirements: essay, critiques and class participation.

POL467H1S L0101: The Politics of Immigration and Multiculturalism in Canada

This course examines Canadian immigration and multiculturalism from theoretical, empirical and applied perspectives. It includes a discussion of normative foundations, an analysis of the components of the policy framework, and an assessment of the impact of immigration and multiculturalism on other aspects of social, cultural and political life.

Prerequisites: POL214H1/ POL214Y1/ POL215H5/POL216H5/ POL224H1/ POL224Y1/ POLB50Y3

POL487H1F L0101: Graduate Course Code: POL2206H1F L0101 Topics in International Politics II

Women at the Helm: Gender, Leadership, and Global Politics

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.

Format and Requirements: Course requirements and assignments include exams, quizzes, policy briefs, essays, and active participation.
Prerequisites: POL208H1 or POL208Y1 or POL209H5 or POLB80H3

POL487H1S L5101: Topics in International Politics II

Dynamics of Civil Wars and Political Violence

What is a civil war, and what does it look like? How do civil wars affect societies during and after the war? This course explores these questions by investigating different topics on civil wars, organised into causes, dynamics, and the aftermath of civil war. Students will engage in a debate on topics such as: competing causes of civil wars and variations in violence, the political economy of civil wars, patterns of violence, the varying aftermath of civil wars, and whether memories of war and violence become a realm of politics

Format and Requirements: Essays, presentations, in-class participations
Prerequisites: POL208H1 or POL208Y1 or POL209H5 or POLB80H3

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 (www.politics.utoronto.ca), 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.

Exclusions: POL495Y1

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.