This course covers a range of topics in contemporary Chinese politics and society post 1989. It exposes students to state of the art literature and probes beyond the news headlines. No prior knowledge of China required.
Area of Focus: Comparative Politics

Why do some citizens vote when others do not? What motivates voters? This course reviews theories of voting behaviour, the social and psychological bases of such behaviour, and how candidate and party campaigns influence the vote. By applying quantitative methods introduced in STAB23H3 or other courses on statistical methods, students will complete assignments examining voter behaviour in recent Canadian and/or foreign elections using survey data and election returns.
Areas of Focus: Canadian Government and Politics; Comparative Politics

This course explores post-Cold War politics in Europe through an examination of democratization and ethnic conflict since 1989 - focusing in particular on the role of the European Union in shaping events in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The first part of the course will cover theories of democratization, ethnic conflict as well as the rise of the European Union while the second part of the course focuses on specific cases, including democratization and conflict in the Balkans and Ukraine.
Area of Focus: Comparative Politics

Today's legal and political problems require innovative solutions and heavily rely on the extensive use of technology. This course will examine the interaction between law, politics, and technology. It will explore how technological advancements shape and are shaped by legal and political systems. Students will examine the impact of technology on the legal and political landscape, and will closely look at topics such as cybersecurity, privacy, intellectual property, social media, artificial intelligence and the relationship of emerging technologies with democracy, human rights, ethics, employment, health and environment. The course will explore the challenges and opportunities that technology poses to politics and democratic governance. The topics and readings take a wider global perspective – they are not confined only on a Canadian context but look at various countries’ experiences with technology.
Area of Focus: Public Law

This course investigates the relationship between three major schools of thought in contemporary Africana social and political philosophy: the African, Afro-Caribbean, and Afro-North American intellectual traditions. We will discuss a range of thinkers including Dionne Brand, Aimé Césaire, Angela Davis, Édouard Glissant, Kwame Gyekye, Cathy Cohen, Paget Henry, Katherine McKittrick, Charles Mills, Nkiru Nzegwu, Oyèrónke Oyewùmí, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Cornel West, and Sylvia Wynter.

Area of Focus: Political Theory

This course explores the structure, role and key issues associated with the Canadian judicial system. The first section provides the key context and history associated with Canada’s court system. The second section discusses the role the courts have played in the evolution of the Canadian constitution and politics – with a particular focus on the Supreme Court of Canada. The final section analyzes some of the key debates and issues related to the courts in Canada, including their democratic nature, function in establishing public policy and protection of civil liberties.
Areas of Focus: Canadian Government and Politics and Public Law

This course aims to provide students with an overview of the way human rights laws, norms, and institutions have evolved. In the first half of the class, we will examine the legal institutions and human rights regimes around the world, both global and regional. In the second half, we will take a bottom-up view by exploring how human rights become part of contentious politics. Special attention will be given to how human rights law transform with mobilization from below and how it is used to contest, challenge and change hierarchical power relationships. The case studies from the Middle East, Latin America, Europe and the US aim at placing human rights concerns in a broader sociopolitical context.

Areas of Focus: International Relations and Public Law

This course will explore how the world of criminal justice intersects with the world of politics. Beginning with a history of the “punitive turn” in the criminal justice policy of the late 1970s, this course will look at the major political issues in criminal justice today. Topics studied will include the constitutional context for legislating the criminal and quasi-criminal law, race and class in criminal justice, Canada’s Indigenous peoples and the criminal justice system, the growth of restorative justice, drug prohibition and reform, the value of incarceration, and white-collar crime and organizational liability. More broadly, the class aims to cover why crime continues to be a major political issue in Canada and the different approaches to addressing its control.

Areas of Focus: Comparative Politics and Public Law

This course examines different methods and approaches to the study of law and politics. Students will learn how the humanities-based study of law traditionally applied by legal scholars interacts or contradicts more empirically driven schools of thought common in social science, such as law and economics or critical race theory. Students will understand the substantive content of these different approaches and what can be gained from embracing multiple perspectives.

Areas of Focus: Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis, Political Theory, and Public Law

This course examines how different types of legal frameworks affect processes and outcomes of policy-making. It contrasts policy-making in Westminster parliamentary systems and separation of powers systems; unitary versus multi-level or federal systems; and systems with and without constitutional bills of rights.

Areas of Focus: Public Policy and Public Law

This course examines theoretical debates about the extent of moral and political obligations to non-citizens. Topics include human rights, immigration, global poverty, development, terrorism, and just war.
Area of Focus: Political Theory

This course introduces students to the foundations of international law, its sources, its rationale, and challenges to its effectiveness and implementation. Areas of international law discussed include the conduct of war, trade, and diplomacy, as well as the protection of human rights and the environment.
Areas of Focus: International Relations and Public Law

This course examines the interaction between law, courts, and politics in countries throughout the world. We begin by critically examining the (alleged) functions of courts: to provide for “order,” resolve disputes, and to enforce legal norms. We then turn to examine the conditions under which high courts have expand their powers by weighing into contentious policy areas and sometimes empower individuals with new rights. We analyze case studies from democracies, transitioning regimes, and authoritarian states.

Areas of Focus: Comparative Politics and Public Law

Topics and Area of Focus will vary depending on the instructor.

Topics will vary depending on the regional interests and expertise of the Instructor.
Area of Focus: Comparative Politics

To best understand contemporary political controversies, this course draws from a variety of disciplines and media to understand the politics of racial and ethnic identity. The class will explore historical sources of interethnic divisions, individual level foundations of prejudice and bias, and institutional policies that cause or exacerbate inequalities.

This course is an introduction to Indigenous/Canadian relations and will give students a chance to begin learning and understanding an important component of Canadian politics and Canadian political science. A vast majority of topics in Canadian politics and Canadian political science can, and do, have a caveat and component that reflects, or should reflect, Indigenous nations and peoples that share territory with the Canadian state. Both Indigenous and Settler contexts will be used to guide class discussion. The course readings will also delve into Canadian/Indigenous relationships, their development, histories, contemporary existence, and potential futures.

This course examines the ideas and success of the environmental movement in Canada. The course focuses on how environmental policy in Canada is shaped by the ideas of environmentalists, economic and political interests, public opinion, and Canada's political-institutional framework. Combined lecture-seminar format.

Areas of Focus: Canadian Government and Politics; Public Policy

This course examines relations between provincial and federal governments in Canada, and how they have been shaped by the nature of Canada's society and economy, judicial review, constitutional amendment, and regionalisation and globalization. The legitimacy and performance of the federal system are appraised. Lecture-seminar format.
Areas of Focus: Canadian Government and Politics; Public Policy

This course explores key historical and contemporary issues in indigenous politics. Focusing on the contemporary political and legal mobilization of Indigenous peoples, it will examine their pursuit of self-government, land claims and resource development, treaty negotiations indigenous rights, and reconciliation. A primary focus will be the role of Canada’s courts, its political institutions, and federal and provincial political leaders in affecting the capacity of indigenous communities to realize their goals.

Areas of Focus: Canadian Government and Politics, and Public Law

This course examines intergovernmental relations in various areas of public policy and their effects on policy outcomes. It evaluates how federalism affects the capacity of Canadians to secure desirable social, economic, environmental and trade policies. Lecture-seminar format.
Areas of Focus: Canadian Government and Politics; Public Policy

This course explores the foundational concepts of nation and nationalism in Canadian and comparative politics, and the related issues associated with diversity. The first section looks at the theories related to nationalism and national identity, while the second applies these to better understand such pressing issues as minorities, multiculturalism, conflict and globalization.

Areas of Focus: Canadian Government and Politics; Comparative Politics

Who are we as a people today? What role have consecutive vice regals played in more than 400 years of shaping our nation and its institutions? This course examines how the vice regal position in general, and how selected representatives in particular, have shaped Canada’s political system.

Areas of Focus: Canadian Government and Politics

This course focuses on analyzing and influencing individual and collective choices of political actors to understand effective strategies for bringing about policy changes. We will draw on the psychology of persuasion and decision-making, as well as literature on political decision-making and institutions, emphasizing contemporary issues. During election years in North America, special attention will be paid to campaign strategy. There may be a service-learning requirement.
Area of Focus: Public Policy

This course provides an introduction to the field of political economy from an international and comparative perspective. The course explores the globalization of the economy, discusses traditional and contemporary theories of political economy, and examines issues such as trade, production, development, and environmental change.

Areas of Focus: Comparative Politics; International Relations

This course introduces students to central concepts in political theory. Readings will include classical and contemporary works that examine the meaning and justification of democracy as well as the different forms it can take. Students will also explore democracy in practice in the classroom and/or in the local community.

Area of Focus: Political Theory

This course introduces students to central concepts in political theory, such as sovereignty, liberty, and equality. Readings will include modern and contemporary texts, such as Hobbes' Leviathan and Locke's Second Treatise of Government.
Area of Focus: Political Theory

The course investigates the concept of political liberty in various traditions of political thought, especially liberalism, republicanism, and Marxism.  The course will investigate key studies by such theorists as Berlin, Taylor, Skinner, Pettit, and Cohen, as well as historical texts by Cicero, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Hegel, Constant, Marx, and Mill.
Area of Focus: Political Theory

This course is a study of the major political philosophers of the nineteenth century, including Hegel, Marx, J.S. Mill and Nietzsche.
Area of Focus: Political Theory

This course is a study of the major political philosophers of the twentieth century. The theorists covered will vary from year to year.
Area of Focus: Political Theory