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.

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. While the overwhelming focus will be on the Canadian case, the course often draws upon examples and readings from other countries/institutional contexts to highlight important differences and similarities.

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.

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.

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.

This course introduces students to politics in South Asia in the period after independence from colonial rule. It focuses on India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The themes discussed in the course are important both to South Asia as well as to a general study of politics in developing countries.

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.

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, regression discontinuity design, as well as text and network analysis, spatial statistics, and time-series analysis. This course draws from topics in the study of international relations, economics, political behavior, and statistics.

This course will examine three pressing contemporary topics (examples include: environmental justice and the natural world; race and identity politics; and international and cosmopolitan visions) through the theoretical and analytical lenses provided by the political thought of non-Western cultural traditions and from particular marginalized identity perspectives.

An examination of politics in Canada’s two most populous provinces. Drawing insights from comparative political economy scholarship, the course compares their politics in term of their distinctive historical origins, and their political economies, party systems, cultures, and relations with the federal government.

Content in any given year depends on instructor.

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; multiculturalism, 'rights talk', and the judicialization of politics.

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.

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.

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.

Content depends on instructor.

This course will be used for a new or short-term 300-level methods course.

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, how power shapes actors’ protest tactics, and the relationship between protest and other forms of political engagement.

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.

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 interact with other axes of identity, including Indigeneity, ethnicity and caste.

An examination of how political life is being transformed in the global urban age. Concepts such as territory, the state, citizenship, agency, sovereignty, and power will be reconsidered through a particularly urban lens.

This course examines political change in East Central Europe from the Middle Ages to the present. How are democracies created and why do they collapse? Did Eastern and Western Europe diverge politically centuries ago, or is the idea of a longstanding east-west divide largely an artefact of Cold War geopolitics?

An introduction to gender and politics that examines women as political actors and their activities in formal and grassroots politics. The course also explores the impact of gender in public policy and how public policies shape gender relations. Cases to be drawn on include Canada, other countries in North America and Europe, and the developing world.

This course introduces students to qualitative research methods in political science (e.g., interviews, participant observation, case studies). It provides opportunities to acquire hands-on experience with these methods and prepares students to carry out their own research projects.

Note: POL352H1 cannot be used as a substitute for POL222H1 for POL major/specialist program, or POL232H1 for the POL specialist program.

Explores the evolution of Russian politics and society since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Major themes include political leadership, state-building, federalism and regional diversity, public opinion and political culture, civil society and protest, political economy, Russia’s behavior on the international stage, and Soviet legacies.

The evolution and setting of Canada's federal party system and Canadian elections. Topics include historical and theoretical perspectives, the Liberal, Conservative and New Democratic parties, third parties, leadership selection and local nominations, the representation of women and minorities in Parliament, electoral systems and election rules, campaigns, and voter behaviour.

Selected issues in South Asian politics. Content in any given year depends on instructor.