Gateways
The courses that unlock the most of the rest. Every arrow below was read out of the calendar’s own prerequisite lines.
POL208H1
Introduction to International Relations
Named as a prerequisite by 34 other courses on this list.
POL200Y1 · L0101
Political Theory: Visions of the Just/Good Society
Named as a prerequisite by 24 other courses on this list.
POL222H1 · L0101
Introduction to Quantitative Reasoning I
Named as a prerequisite by 10 other courses on this list.
All courses
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 ele…
Contemporary Challenges to Democracy: Democracy in the Social Media Age
Social media are the predominant means by which most of the world communicates and seeks and receives information today. Like all communication technologies, the character of social media ca…
What Went Wrong? A Post Mortem of Political Disasters, Catastrophic Policy Failures, and Epic Marches of Folly
Why do individuals, groups, and societies continue to be the source of catastrophes they could have seen coming? This course explores the record of avoidable disasters across different level…
Might and Right: Power and Justice in International Relations
The course explores the relationship between justice and power in the works of prominent ancient, modern, and contemporary thinkers. It adopts a problem-driven approach and engages with curr…
Political Homes
Homes are core to our identities, shaping our beliefs, our social networks, and how we interact with the world. In turn, politics determines who has a home and who is homeless, whose home in…
Beyond Voting: Introduction to Citizen Political Participation
This course introduces students to citizen political participation in democracies, with a focus on Canadian case studies. It examines theories of political participation and introduces stude…
Politics and the Arts
Political ideas can also be found the arts. We will examine a selection of plays, art, and novels that have contributed to the development of political concepts such as justice, freedom and …
The China Challenge
China’s meteoric rise to great power status has triggered an intense international debate over its global implications. While many analyst see Beijing’s rise as posing a threat to global pol…
Politics and Sports: Identity, Activism, and Political Economy
The course aims to introduce first year students to key themes, concepts, and issues in political science — power, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, nationalism, social movements, a…
Political Theory: Visions of the Just/Good Society
A selective presentation of critical encounters between philosophy and politics, dedicated to the quest for the articulation and founding of the just/good society. Among the theorists examin…
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) answere…
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 pol…
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 pr…
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 environment…
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 wea…
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 wea…
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 star…
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…
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…
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…
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 insti…
Immigration, Multiculturalism, and Citizenship in Canada
This course deals with three inter-related themes — immigration, multiculturalism, and citizenship — by focusing on a single unifying question: What does it mean to “belong” to the Canadian …
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 int…
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 int…
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 int…
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 tim…
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 exam…
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 analysi…
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 analysi…
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 analysi…
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 st…
Politics and Society in 20th Century China
This course will explore China’s efforts to construct a modern and effective political order in the face of powerful demographic and revolutionary challenges. The first half of the course wi…
Women in Western Political Thought
Examines contemporary feminist perspectives in political theory as responses to the limitations of western tradition of modern political theory.…
Topics in Methods
Various topics are taken up each year, the content of which depends on the instructor.…
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 inquirie…
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; ec…
Contemporary African Politics: Dynamics and Challenges
This course explores the main drivers of political organization and change in contemporary Africa, focusing on how national, regional, and international factors shape institutions, patterns …
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, e…
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 ter…
Canadian Foreign Policy
This course examines Canada’s foreign policy in an era of profound international change. For decades, Canada’s global role was shaped by close ties with the United States, support for the li…
Public Opinion and Voting
This course introduces students to the attitudes and behaviours of the mass public in Canada and other Western democracies. Themes include political participation, the mass media, and the na…
American Civil Liberties
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…
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 underpinning…
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 electi…
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 includ…
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 exp…
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 developm…
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 struct…
The Politics of U.S. Foreign Policy
This course aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the history, institutions and controversies surrounding the making and implementation of U.S. Foreign Policy. It be…
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 …
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 …
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…
The Rise of Global China
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 implicatio…
Using Data to Understand Politics and Society
Students will learn the research tools and methods for causal inference with political and social data, including panel and temporal design, difference-in-difference, linear regression, regr…
Global Politics and Global Political Thought
This course will examine three pressing contemporary topics (examples include: environmental justice and the natural world; race and identity politics; and international and cosmopolitan vis…
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 i…
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 …
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 sy…
International Law: Operation of the International Legal Order
This course will expose students to the operation of international legal order with respect to various international law subjects including the use of armed force, the law of armed conflict,…
Quantitative Study of War
Topics in Methods I
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 wa…
Political Psychology
Topics in Methods I
This course will allow students to understand and apply psychological theories to the study of politics, public opinion, and political behaviour in Canada and cross-nationally. It will intro…
Social Movements in Canada
This course introduces the major theoretical debates in the study of social movements through a series of Canadian case studies. Students will consider the role of protest in agenda setting,…
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 const…
Privilege and Race in Global Perspective
This course considers how notions of race and privilege “travel” and how they have developed and functioned in contexts outside of a North American White/non-White categorization, where they…
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 democrac…
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 incl…
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 con…
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…
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…
Democracy and Development in India
Topics in South Asian Politics
The course examines trajectories of democracy and economic development, and the interaction between these two themes in India. Topics covered in the course include state and nation-building,…
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, …
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 p…
Political Ecology and Extractivism in the Americas
Topics in Latin American Politics
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 …
Global Political Economy
This course focuses on the evolution of key aspects of world economic governance, including institutions and practices in such policy arenas as trade, money, finance, investment, migration, …
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 cont…
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. …
Political Representation
This course explores questions of political representation in Canadian politics. While the overwhelming focus will be on the Canadian case, the course often draws upon examples and readings …
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 pre…
Gender & the Politics of Development
Topics in Comparative Politics I
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…
Violence, Development and Difference
Topics in Comparative Politics
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 huma…
Becoming Israel: War, Peace, and the Politics of Israel’s Identity
Topics in Comparative Politics I
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 …
Development: History, Debates and Problem-Spaces
Topics in Comparative Politics I
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, developme…
Israeli Politics and Society
Topics in Comparative Politics I
This course examines core social and political dynamics in contemporary Israeli politics from a data-driven social-scientific perspective. The objective of the course is to provide students …
Identity Politics and National Cohesion: Insights from Modern Israel
Topics in Comparative Politics I
This course delves into the challenges to social and political cohesion in modern Israeli society, with a focus on the impact of identity politics. Highlighted by President Reuven Rivlin in …
Politics and Infrastructure Development in Africa
Topics in Comparative Politics II
This course explores the location of largescale infrastructure development in contemporary African politics and uses largescale infrastructure development as a prism through which to explore…
LGBTQ Politics
Topics in Comparative Politics II
This course explores contemporary lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) politics in Canada and the US. The first unit is an overview of identities, histories and approaches …
The Politics of Identity and Intergroup Relations in Israel
Topics in Comparative Politics II
This course will examine the role of identity in shaping political, social, and economic dynamics in Israel. Students will learn about cutting-edge social scientific research that empiricall…
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Topics in Comparative Politics II
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 clai…
The Architecture of Democracy: Institutions, Constitutions and Political Culture
Topics in Comparative Politics II
This course examines recent scholarship in comparative politics on institutions, constitutions, and democratic culture, using Israel as the central case through which broader comparative and…
Jews and Power
Topics in Comparative Politics II
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),…
Epidemics and Phobia
Topics in Comparative Politics III
This class will explore the relationship between epidemics and phobia with an emphasis on mapping and making sense of the forms that phobia takes during public health crises. We will also ex…
Transnational Feminism
Topics in Comparative Politics III
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 o…
Palestinian Politics
Topics in Comparative Politics III
This course provides a study of Palestinian politics, focusing on the historical evolution, internal dynamics, and transformations of the Palestinian national movement. Beginning in the late…
Indigenous Diplomacies and Global Governance
Topics in International Politics
This course explores the role of Indigenous diplomacies in shaping global governance, with a focus on Indigenous engagement with international institutions such as the United Nations. Studen…
Gender and Intersectionality in Global Politics
Topics in International 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 Po…
Terrorism and Insurgency
Topics in International Politics
The course introduces students to the scientific explanations for the causes and consequences of various types of non-state political violence, such as terrorism, insurgencies, political pro…
Selected Puzzle in International Politics
Topics in International Politics
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 fie…
Global Nuclear Politics
Topics in International 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, th…
The Past, Present and Future of International Cooperation
Topics in International Politics
While war and conflict seem to characterize international politics today, cooperation is far more common. In fact, for thousands of years, humans have demonstrated an impressive (and destruc…
Elites, Parties, and Democracy: Transnational Debates in Political, Legal, and Social Theory
Topics in Political Theory
The course embraces a trans-Atlantic and trans-historical perspective to examine how representative democracy has transformed throughout the long 20th century — from the advent of mass polit…
Thucydides’ War of the Athenians and the Peloponnesians
Topics in Political Theory
There is no greater work on the intersection of war and politics than Thucydides’ untitled account of the war between the Athenian and Peloponnesian confederacies that ravaged the Hellenic c…
The Conflictual Body Politic: Political Conflict in Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
Topics in Political Theory
Disagreement and conflict have perennially defined political life. Together, they also constitute one of the driving forces of democratic politics. When practiced productively, democratic co…
Contemporary Social and Political Thought
Topics in Political Theory
This course examines the evolution of political and social theory from the twentieth century to the present, with emphasis on power, epistemology, European capitalism, identity, and resistan…
Classical Political Thought
Topics in Political Theory
This course examines the themes of law and ethics. We turn primarily to classical texts because they are both foreign and familiar, thereby helping us to see ourselves and our present concer…
Political Representation
Topics in Canadian Politics
Who serves in Parliament and other legislatures? Do the backgrounds of politicians affect how policies are decided and which policies get adopted? This course explores the political represen…
Canadian Parliament’s Rules and Operations
Topics in Canadian Politics
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 i…
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, an…
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 …
U.S. Government and Politics
Who rules the United States of America? This course will investigate this question by examining how power is attained and how power is exercised in American elections, the legislative proces…
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…
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 …
The Military Instrument of Foreign Policy: Concepts and Approaches
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 su…
The Politics of Infrastructure
Topics in Comparative Politics III
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 …
Political Life After Death
Topics in Comparative Politics III
Political life after death explores the implication of the dead in political life. The course examines the ways in which the dead and efforts to deal with the dead shape politics. It also ex…
Human Rights and International Relations
Over the last few centuries, the idea of human rights has influenced the practice of international politics in numerous ways, for better and for worse. This course examines this phenomenon i…
Human Rights and International Relations
Over the last few centuries, the idea of human rights has influenced the practice of international politics in numerous ways, for better and for worse. This course examines this phenomenon i…
Experiments in Political Science: Foundation
Experiments are a central methodology in political science. Scholars from every subfield regularly turn to experiments. Practitioners rely on experimental evidence in evaluating social progr…
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…
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 c…
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 whethe…
Maimonides and His Modern Interpreters
This 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 philosoph…
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 comparat…
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 politica…
Democracy and Dictatorship
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 dev…
American Political Development
This course explores both the substance and the theory of APD, using the second as a lens through which the first can be analyzed and interpreted. We begin by examining the methodologies, me…
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 unwr…
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…
Presidential Politics in America
Topics in United States Government and Politics
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 event…
Business and Politics: Power in a Global World
This seminar explores how business actors exercise political power in a globalized world. We examine the role of public authority in regulating firms, the formation of business interests, an…
Living in the Illicit Global Economy
Topics in Comparative Politics I
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 countrie…
Cities, Law and Politics
Topics in Comparative Politics I
The 21st century has been hailed the “century of the city”. The figures behind this label are mind boggling, considering that the world’s urban population has increased nearly thirtyfold sin…
Topics in Methods II
Content depends on instructor. This course will be used for a new or short-term 400-level methods course, which requires only POL222H1, Introduction to Quantitative Reasoning I as its prereq…
The Foundations of Political Economy: Theories of State and Market
Topics in Comparative Politics II
This advanced seminar explores the core social science theories looking at the relationship among state, economy, and society. The course requires close reading of texts, spanning from the f…
Comparative Constitution-Making: National and International Politics
Topics in Comparative Politics II
Constitution-making has become a central arena of national and international politics, especially since the end of the Cold War. This course examines how constitutions are drafted, amended, …
Politics of Growth in Developing Countries
The course examines the politics of economic growth in developing countries. It focuses on political factors to analyze why some developing countries have done better in terms of growth than…
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 alternativ…
Conceptualizing Cities in a Global Context
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 …
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 …
Postsecular Political Thought: Religion, Radicalism and the Limits of Liberalism
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 re…
Fanaticism: A Political History
This seminar in theory will explore the modern history of the concept of ‘fanaticism’ and its role in the development of political modernity. A focus on the concept of the “fanatic” (and its…
Military Instruments and Foreign Policy
This course analyses the relationship of military force to politics: nuclear war and deterrence, conventional war, revolutionary war, terrorism and counter insurgency are examined from the p…
International Organization
Topics in International Politics III
After World War II, there was a vast expansion in the number, scope, and complexity of international organizations. Over time, formal institutions like the United Nations, the World Health O…
Dealing with Dictators
Topics in International Politics III
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…
Ideas and Identity in U.S. Foreign Policy
Topics in International Politics III
What are the ideas that 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 p…
Global Indigenous Politics
Topics in International Politics III
This seminar centers on the crucial role of Indigenous Peoples as influential non-state actors in the international system. It explores global, regional, and domestic issues in the implement…
Ethics and International Relations
The course explores the possibilities for ethical action in international affairs. It is common to theorize international relations in terms of interests and power, but this fails to account…
Media and Politics
News media have long played an enormous role in democratic politics by shaping the behaviour of citizens and political elites alike. Technological changes over the past several decades have …
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 und…
Postmodern and Contemporary Thought
This course concerns the development of postmodern thought and its passage into the posthuman. The course begins with a brief discussion of a number of themes in Western philosophy that unde…
Comparative Approaches to Law and Policy
Topics in Public Policy
This seminar focuses on the ways in which law and policy influence one another, exploring questions related to judicial policymaking and constitutional design, the relationship between high …
Experiments in Politics: Application
Topics in Methods
This course is designed to provide the tools necessary to design and implement social science experiments along with the skills for analyzing and interpreting experimental results. We will d…
Comparative Urbanisms in the Middle East & North Africa
Topics in Middle East Politics
This seminar examines cities of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) through the lens of comparative urbanism. It moves from classical “Islamic city” debates and colonial planning to info…
Rethinking Middle East Politics
Topics in 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 life…
State Formation and Authoritarianism in the MENA Region
Topics in Middle East Politics
The course examines the history and contemporary politics of the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). Themes examined include: states and state formation in historical perspective, th…
Studies in Comparative Political Theory
We will critically examine what “comparative political theory” is and what it would mean to genuinely “deparochialize” political theory, that is, to de-center Euro-American thought in the st…
Data Visualization for Political Science
This course provides the fundamental computational tools for managing, analyzing, and presenting political data in R. The material will enable students to become proficient enough to activel…
Democratic Theory
Topics in Political Thought I
This course will examine contemporary theoretical debates over the meaning of democracy. Approaches to democratic theory will include liberalism, neo-republicanism, deliberative democracy, a…
Institutions of Liberal Democracy
Topics in Political Thought I
An exploration of some of the familiar institutions and practices of a well-functioning liberal democracy from the perspective of historical and contemporary political-theory debates regardi…
The Thought of Emil Fackenheim
Topics in Political Thought I
The course will offer an introduction to the thought of Emil L. Fackenheim, who has been characterized as the most powerful and yet most controversial Jewish thinker to focus his attention o…
Black Political Thought
Topics in Political Thought I
This course explores key texts in African American political thought from the 19th century to the present. Emphasizing the historical and theoretical stakes of Black freedom struggles, we ex…
Democracy: Theory and Practice (from Pericles to Populism)
Topics in Political Thought II
Democracy is conventionally taken today as a synonym for good government. Social scientists routinely turn to it for testing the progress of regimes that have not yet graduated to democratic…
The Black Radical Tradition
Topics in Political Thought II
This course introduces key figures and philosophical foundations of the Black Radical Tradition, emphasizing its global scope and diverse intellectual roots. Thinkers include Biko, Cabral, C…
Rousseau’s Social Contract
Topics in Political Thought II
What is the single greatest work of modern political theory? Actually, it’s no contest: Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s On the Social Contract. Janus-like, it looks back on the social contract tradi…
Leadership and Democracy: Perspectives from 20th-century and Contemporary Political and Legal Theory
Topics in Political Thought II
Leadership is a constitutive element of modern democracy, yet it also reveals a friction between core democratic ideals (freedom, equality, and the promise of self-government) and everyday p…
Is the World Falling Apart?
Topics in International Politics I
In this time of growing collective angst it is useful to step back and explore these important and potentially existential questions. This conversation is precisely what this seminar seeks t…
International Law
Topics in International Politics I
This course examines and compares several core domains of international law, including the use of force, international human rights law, international environmental law, international trade …
The Soviet Collapse
Topics in International Politics I
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 transform…
Networks in International Politics
Topics in International Politics I
Students will learn how international political behavior is shaped by complex networks of relationships among states, organizations, and individuals. From alliances and trade ties to conflic…
Women at the Helm — Gender, Leadership, and Global Politics
Topics in International Politics I
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 w…
Psychology of International Security
Topics in International Politics II
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…
The Planet’s Last Frontiers: Governance of Antarctica, Oceans and Outer Space
Topics in International Politics II
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 variet…
The Changing Face of Armed Conflict: From Interstate War to Asymmetric Warfare
Topics in International Politics II
The events of the last two decades have led to renewed interest in the changing face of war, and especially in the unique and challenging characteristics of asymmetric warfare. Research in i…
Great Power Politics
Topics in International Politics II
The course examines international cooperation and conflict in a hierarchical international system. Three themes animate our inquiry: great powers & order; great power war & peace; great powe…
The Global Politics of Science Fiction
Topics in International Politics II
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, …
Change and Continuity in Canadian Electoral Politics
Topics in Canadian Politics I
In this seminar, long term trends in Canadian electoral politics will be examined from the perspective of core theoretical concepts in the study of voting behaviour and elections. Students w…
Identity Politics in Canada
Topics in Canadian Politics I
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…
Deliberative Democracy
Topics in Canadian Politics II
In this course, students will learn about recent developments in the theory and practice of deliberative democracy. The first portion of the course will consist of an examination of the theo…
Institutions and Behaviour in Canadian Parliament
Topics in Canadian Politics II
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,…
Property Rights, Politics and the Economy
Topics in Comparative Politics IV
This seminar explores property rights and their location within political economies and society writ large. What are property rights? What are the mechanisms that guarantee property rights? …
Rule of Law in Post-Conflict Governance
Topics in Comparative Politics IV
The course explores the challenges of governance and the rule of law in post-conflict societies. It aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of post-conflict governance, i…
Identities
Topics in Comparative Politics IV
The broad goal of this seminar is to raise and explore important questions about identities. It explores how identities are formed, how they evolve over time, what identities do in political…
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. Co…
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. Co…
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. Co…
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. Co…
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…