An introduction to the study of Canadian government. Topics include institutions of governance: the constitution, machinery of government, charter of rights and freedom, and the electoral system.

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.

This course aims to unpack the institutional and behavioral variation within political systems. The goal is to expose students to the key questions and theories in comparative politics around three themes: a) the origins and effects of political institutions (federalism, electoral rules, bicameralism, courts…); b) party and electoral behavior across democracies and authoritarian regimes; and c) explaining quality of governance (issues of representation, accountability, trust, corruption). We will draw on cutting edge research and touch on current events and a variety of cases.

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 political community? Who belongs, on what terms, and to what ends? A range of materials – normative, empirical, historical, and contemporary – will be used.

Introduces the foundation of quantitative empirical research methods - increasingly popular and important part of political science research and public policy debates - to enable students to interpret and evaluate the study results that employ these methods. Topics include quantitative study of politics and various empirical research designs.

This course examines how globalization creates opportunities and challenges to development in the Global South. Key issues considered include globalization and dynamics of inequality amongst and within nations, human rights and democratic struggles, environmental sustainability and justice, gender and racialized patterns of inequality, trade, foreign aid and poverty alleviation.

This course introduces students to aspects of Canadian political life by comparing them with those that prevail in other advanced democracies. Themes covered will include the Canadian constitution, federalism, parties and elections, political culture and social and economic institutions and policies.

Building up on POL222H1, students will continue to develop theoretical foundations of quantitative empirical research, such as probability theory, statistical inference, and linear regression analysis. They will also learn the basic use of statistical software and become able to conduct basic data analysis by the end of the semester.

Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. Details at https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/academics/research-opportunities/research-opportunities-program. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. Details at https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/academics/research-opportunities/research-opportunities-program. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

An introduction to the field of comparative politics. Content in any given year depends on instructor.

(Offered as part of the Summer Abroad Program)

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 process of state and nation building from independence to the present.

This course examines China’s efforts to reconstitute its political institutions following the collapse of the imperial system in 1911. Particular attention is paid to the clash between competing conceptions of political development and the rival political movements and forces that espoused them. The search for an effective and stable political order is a major focus of the course.

Examines contemporary feminist perspectives in political theory as responses to the limitations of western tradition of modern political theory.

Various topics are taken up each year, the content of which depends on the instructor.

This course introduces students to histories and concepts necessary to understand developments in Latin American politics. Substantive issues will include the changing face of state sovereignty; human rights and social movements; the legacies of (neo)colonialism and indigenous resistance; neoliberalism, 21st century socialism, and beyond.

The politics, political economy, and international relations of Japan. The role of political parties, the bureaucracy, and private actors; economic development and stagnation; relations with the USA and regional neighbors. Contemporary challenges facing Japan, including energy policy and climate change, contributions to the liberal order, and response to geopolitical challenges.

This course explores main drivers of political organization and change in contemporary Africa, focusing on how national, regional, and international factors shape institutions, patterns of participation and political change. It considers major scholarly debates in the study of African politics and political economy and develops analytical skills for comparative study of this diverse continent.

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.

The literature, competing theories, basic interests and values, and instruments of Canadian foreign policy, as they have developed and performed under successive Liberal, Progressive Conservative and Conservative party governments since 1945 and especially from 2015 to 2021.

The external, societal, governmental and individual influences determining Canadian foreign policy making toward all global regions in the developed, emerging and developing world and central security, ecological, health, societal and economic issues, including the use of force, climate change, infectious disease, gender equality, relations with Indigenous peoples and trade.

This course introduces students to the attitudes and behaviours of the mass public in Canada and other western democracies and how they shape elections and policy making. Themes include political participation, the mass media, and the nature of social, psychological, and economic, and elite-driven forces on public opinion and voting.

Constitutional, political, administrative, and financial aspects of federal-provincial relations, regionalism, and cultural dualism.

Draws from the major theoretical traditions in public policy and policymaking of the advanced industrial world, and applies these theories in understanding the developing world context and the new challenges of global change.

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.

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.

The course provides an in-depth understanding of the history, political institutions, and policies of the European Union. It also explores the key contemporary social and political debates facing the European Union today such as the eurozone crisis, the rise of Euroskepticism, issues of democratic legitimacy, Brexit, issues of enlargement, immigration and the recent migrant crisis.

This course focuses on 21st century Latin American Politics. Specific attention will be paid to the ‘Pink Tide’ of left of centre governments and their aftermaths; enduring legacies of resource extraction driven development models, and Latin America’s position in shifting geopolitical contexts.

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.

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.