Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy


Are you curious about the world? Do you want to work on pressing problems with insights from across the globe? The Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy offers a wide range of undergraduate programs. You can major in regions, such as Europe, Asia, or the United States, or you can major in topics, such as peace, conflict and justice or public policy and governance. If you want to find new ways to analyze the world around us and learn to address complex problems, the Munk School is the place for you.

Across our exciting undergraduate programs, the Munk School offers experiential learning, small class sizes, expert faculty, and many opportunities to connect with other students and with practitioners beyond the classroom. Our graduates pursue successful careers in law, policy, the not-for-profit sector, the private sector, local, national and international governmental organizations, and international affairs.

Learn more about our programs, and the enriched experience waiting for you at the Munk School.
 

Program areas associated with the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy:


Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy Courses

MUN120H1 - Revolutions

Hours: 24L/8T

This course transcends time and place to delve into the overarching dynamics of revolution. This exploration of revolutions goes beyond simple chronology to uncover common threads that unite these transformative events. From the spirit that ignited the English Revolution to the fervor of the American Revolution, the course navigates through the social and political forces that reshaped societies. Students will dissect the emergence of radical change, tracing its evolution from the French Revolution to the Revolutions of 1848 and the birth of modern political ideologies. The course then navigates through the 20th century, from the Russian and Chinese Revolutions to the Cuban Revolution and the intricate web of Latin American revolutionary movements. Comparative analysis delves into the universal and unique aspects of these revolutions, offering students an understanding of the power and influence of these transformative moments.

Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

MUN150H1 - Successful Societies

Hours: 24L/10T

What is a "successful society"? What makes a society “successful?” How do we identify, measure, and assess “success?” What data do we need and what data should we collect? And what data are we able to collect and compare? The answers to these questions are surprisingly complex and differ across the social sciences, political theory, philosophy, and law. This course invites students to engage with theories and ideals about societies while doing a deep dive into cross-national and sub-national data, exploring the trade-offs of different societal outcomes. Students will grapple with questions about health, crime, security, creativity, inequality, belonging, solidarity, and institutions.

Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

MUN160H1 - Digital and Algorithmic Disruptions

Hours: 24L/10T

This course interrogates how the digital turn – social media, algorithms, monitoring, digital disruption in business models, security, militaries, and more - is shifting social, political, and economic life. Drawing together expertise in both public policy and digital technologies, the course combines the study of technical capacities and future trajectories of digital change with analyses of political institutions, labour markets, social relations, political segmentation, and changing areas of public and private concern. The course will grapple with the implications of digital and algorithmic disruptions for ethics, leadership, our everyday institutions and public policy making.

Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

MUN170H1 - Democracy in Crisis: Democratic Breakdown and Resilience in the 21st century

Hours: 24L/10T

Democracy in Crisis provides an in-depth introduction to theories of democratization and the roots of contemporary populism. The course will cover democratic transitions in developing countries in the late 20th and early 21st centuries as well as threats to democratic survival in high-income Western countries. We will focus in particular on the roots of the democratic crisis in the United States. Why is the world’s oldest and wealthiest democracy facing such serious challenges today?

Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

MUN180H1 - Hitler and Stalin Today

Hours: 24L/10T

Democracy requires strategies for the future, but these depend upon a reckoning with the past. How is freedom defined in a post-colonial world? How can a mass society protect individual citizens? A study of European totalitarianism and the American present prepares us to answer these questions. To that end, this course studies the Stalinist and Nazi regimes, reviews the mass atrocities of the mid-twentieth century, and considers the legacies of these regimes in contemporary memory and politics.

Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

MUN195H1 - The Economics of Birth, Death and Everything in Between

Hours: 24L

Does welfare really encourage people to have more kids? How do contraception bans affect women’s work? Do new immigrants create competition that makes wages drop? Economic demography – applying economic analysis to the study of populations – can help us understand all these questions and more. Among other topics, this class will examine how pension systems, health care, immigration policy and economic growth, marriage and divorce laws and women’s labor force participation relate to public policy.

Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)
Course Experience: University-Based Experience

MUN196H1 - Somebody’s Watching Me: The Global Politics of Surveillance

Hours: 24L

From security cameras and cell phones, to drones and social media, our data are collected in countless ways. But who controls our data? Do we have a right to privacy? Does mass surveillance make us safer?

This course invites students to explore the global politics of mass surveillance, and the role played by states, big tech, police, activists, and ordinary people. Through in-class discussion and analytical writing assignments, students will engage with surveillance studies through many dimensions, including public policy, human rights, international relations, economics, technological development, and race, class, and gender.

Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)
Course Experience: University-Based Experience

MUN197H1 - Strong States or Weak Parties?

Hours: 24L

This course will introduce the study of Europe by exploring the political history of European authoritarianism, and resistance to it, from the 1930s right up to the present day. The accent will be on the present: we will seek to explain the growing appeal of populist authoritarianism seven decades after World War II, the Holocaust, and the defeat of German Nazism and Italian fascism. Are current politics in Europe a matter of back to the future? Or is there something new? Is there one authoritarianism in Europe or multiple?

Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)
Course Experience: University-Based Experience

MUN198H1 - Digital Technologies and Human Rights

Hours: 24L

What are digital technologies, exactly? How do we govern them? Do they threaten or protect human rights? In this course, we’ll look at the Internet, advanced computing, ‘Big Data’ analytics, and artificial intelligence – the technologies which form the basis of everything from facial recognition software to home appliances to social media. We’ll consider how to govern and use these technologies, and the consequences of those choices for global human rights. Evaluation is based on essays, a presentation, and class participation. There is no exam.

Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)
Course Experience: University-Based Experience

MUN200H1 - Understanding Global Controversies

Hours: 24L/12T

This course provides students from different programs with a forum to discuss and engage with major global issues within the framework of thematic and regional studies and with comparative and multidisciplinary perspectives. Because this course will be team-taught by Munk faculty from the Humanities and Social Sciences, it will provide students with an introduction to interdisciplinary studies. The course envisions examining several topics which will be based on current global controversies including climate change, sustainability, inequality, democracy, migration and conflict.

This course is restricted to students who have either completed MUN105Y1 or MUN100H1, or enrolled in one of the following programs: American Studies Major; American Studies Minor; Contemporary Asian Studies Major; Contemporary Asian Studies Minor; European Affairs Major (formerly European Studies Major); European Affairs Minor (formerly European Union Studies Minor); Peace, Conflict and Justice Major; Peace, Conflict and Justice Specialist; Major in Public Policy; South Asian Studies Minor.

Prerequisite: MUN105Y1 or MUN100H1, or enrolled in at least one of the following programs: American Studies Major (ASMAJ0135); American Studies Minor (ASMIN0135); Contemporary Asian Studies Major (ASMAJ0235); Contemporary Asian Studies Minor (ASMIN0235); European Affairs Major (formerly European Studies Major) [ASMAJ1626 (formerly ASMAJ1625)]; European Affairs Minor (formerly European Union Studies Minor) [ASMIN1626 (formerly ASMIN1011)]; Peace, Conflict and Justice Major (ASMAJ1228); Peace, Conflict and Justice Specialist (ASSPE1228); Major in Public Policy (ASMAJ2660); South Asian Studies Minor (ASMIN1333)
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

MUN310H1 - Independent Study in Global Affairs & Public Policy

This course is an independent research project on a global affairs or public policy topic. Students must find a faculty supervisor appointed at the Munk School, submit a proposal, and receive approval for the project. Contact hours with the supervisor may vary, but typically comprise one hour per week.

To enrol, please contact the Munk School Undergraduate Program Coordinator at undergraduatecoordinator.munkschool@utoronto.ca to request an application form, which should be filled out in consultation with the faculty supervisor and include a detailed description of the course topic, reading list, and assignments/marking scheme, at least three weeks before the start of term.

Prerequisite: MUN105Y1/ MUN200H1, or enrolled in at least one of the following programs: American Studies Major (ASMAJ0135); American Studies Minor (ASMIN0135); Contemporary Asian Studies Major (ASMAJ0235); Contemporary Asian Studies Minor (ASMIN0235); European Affairs Major (formerly European Studies Major) [ASMAJ1626 (formerly ASMAJ1625)]; European Affairs Minor (formerly European Union Studies Minor) [ASMIN1626 (formerly ASMIN1011)]; Peace, Conflict and Justice Major (ASMAJ1228); Peace, Conflict and Justice Specialist (ASSPE1228); Major in Public Policy (ASMAJ2660); South Asian Studies Minor (ASMIN1333).
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)
Course Experience: University-Based Experience

Printer-friendly Version