500-level courses are Honours seminars, available to students in the Honours or Joint Honours programs.
Please consult for current course offerings and class schedule.
Please note that current course syllabi will be made available online as they are completed.
In some cases, past syllabi are online where current ones are not available.
POLI 410
Canadian Political Parties
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: This course examines Canadian political parties and party systems, stressing patterns of historical development, party organization and finance, relationships with social movement, and the impact of Canadian federalism.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: At least one other course in Canadian Politics
- Note: The field is Canadian Politics.
Syllabus:
Poli 410 Fall 2022
POLI 412
Canadian Voting/Public Opinion
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: A critical examination of major debates within the literature on Canadian voting behaviour and public opinion.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: at least one course in Canadian politics, preferably at the 300 or 400 level, or permission of the instructor
- Note: The field is Canadian Politics.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus:
Poli 412 Fall 2021
POLI 417
Health Care in Canada
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: This course analyzes the theory and politics of health policy and institutions, comparing provincial models and contextualizing Canadian systems with international perspectives from the U.S. and Europe. Current health reform debates will be explored, particularly those involving federal-provincial relations, sustainable financing and the role of the state in social protection.
Offered by: Political Science
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
ܲ:
Poli 417 Winter 2020
POLI 419
Transitions from Communism
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: Selected problems facing the Post-Soviet world. Themes include: new political institutions, parties, and groups; economic reform; social problems; ideological changes; the rise of ethnonationalism; linkages with the West.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisites: One 200- or 300-level course in Comparative Politics required or written permission of the instructor; a Political Science, History or Sociology course on the USSR or Eastern Europe after WW II strongly recommended.
- Note: The area in the field of Comparative Politics is Developed Areas.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus:
Poli 419 Fall 2017
POLI 420
Memory, Place, and Power
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: This interdisciplinary class explores the relationships among memory, place, and political power. The course begins with an introduction to key classical, Enlightenment, and contemporary texts on memory and place-making. It then uses this foundation to examine the symbolic transformation of public space, in particular the construction, alteration, and destruction of monuments, memorials, and museums in post-communist states and in North America. This approach emphasizes the social quality of memory, exploring the ways in which political interests, economic resources, and social practices can shape something as ostensibly personal and individual as memory.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite(s): One of the following: GEOG 316, GEOG 325, or GEOG 331; or one 200- or 300-level course in Comparative Politics required; or permission of instructor.
- Restriction(s): Not open to students who have taken or are taking GEOG 420, or who have taken POLI 432 when the topic was "Memory, Place, and Power".
- Note: The field is Comparative Politics.
Syllabus: Poli 420 Fall 2024
POLI 421
The Politics of Misinformation
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: The impact that “fake news” and “disinformation” are having on citizens across the world. The political implications of the dissemination of media that is known
to be false according to the best scientific evidence.
Offered by: Political Science
- Note: The field is Comparative Politics.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus: Not yet available
POLI 422
Adv Topics: Comparative
Pol 1
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: A specific problem area in comparative politics.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisites: a basic course and preferably an upper level course in comparative politics
- Note: The field is Comparative Politics.
Syllabus:
Poli 422-001 Fall 2023
Syllabus: Poli 422-002 Fall 2023
POLI 423
Politics of Ethno-Nationalism
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: Theories of ethno-nationalism examined in light of experience in Asia, Middle East and Africa. Topics include formation and mobilization of national, ethnic and religious identities in colonial and post-colonial societies; impact of ethno-nationalism on pluralism, democracy, class and gender relations; means to preserve tolerance in multicultural societies.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisites: one 300 or 400-level course in comparative politics.
- Note: The field is Comparative Politics.
Syllabus:
Poli 423 Fall 2024
POLI 424
Media and Politics
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: The role of media in domestic and international politics, with reference to recent studies in political science. Themes in the study of mass media and politics in democracies.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisites: POLI 212 Or POLI 227; and at least 3 credits in Political Science at the 300 level
- Note: The field is Comparative Politics; also in the field of Canadian Politics.
Syllabus:
Poli 424 Fall 2023
POLI 425
Topics in American Politics
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: This course involves a detailed analysis of a limited area of American politics and government.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: POLI 325
- Note: The area in the field of Comparative Politics is Developed Areas.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus:
Poli 425 Fall 2015
Syllabus:
Poli 426 Fall 2024
POLI 427
Sel Topics:Canadian Politics
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: Selected problem areas in Canada's political process, political culture, constitutional development, and machinery of government.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: A basic course and preferably an upper level course as well in Canadian Government and Politics or permission of the instructor
- Note: The field is Canadian Politics.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus:
POLI 427 Winter 2024
POLI 431
Nations and
Nationalism
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: The role of nationalism in the political development of modern nation-states. Topics
include: the origins of nationalism, nationalism and state-formation, anti-colonial nationalism, secession and sub-state nationalism, war and nationalism, federal and consociational arrangements in multi-national societies.
Offered by: Political Science
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus:
Poli 431 Winter 2024
POLI 432
Adv Topics: Comparative Pol 2
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: Topics in comparative politics.
Offered by: Political Science
- Note: The field is Comparative Politics.
Syllabus:
Poli 432 Fall 2024
POLI 433
Hist of Pol/Soc Theory 3
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: Early modern political philosophy, from Luther to Rousseau and Burke. Resistance theories of the 16th century, Hobbes and Locke, the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. Twentieth century work on concepts developed in this period such as rights, revolution, legitimacy, democracy, authority and liberty.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: POL1 231 or 232 or 333 or 334 or written permission
- Note: The field is Political Theory
Syllabus:
Poli 433 Fall 2024
POLI 434
Hist of Pol/Soc Theory 4
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: A consideration of selected writers and themes of late 19th and 20th century political theory. Writers include Hegel, Clausewitz, Marx, Mill, Nietzsche, Lenin, Rowis, Foucault, and Habermas. The rise of industrial society, scientism, the romantic revolt, revolutionary movements, socialism and liberal-democracy.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: POL1 433
- Note: The field is Political Theory.
Syllabus:
Poli 434 Winter 2024
POLI 435
Identity and Inequality
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: Inequality is often particularly durable between groups whose boundaries are based on assumed ancestry - e.g., the major ethnic categories in former European settler colonies, castes in South Asia. This course explores ongoing changes in the relationship between identity and social, economic and political inequality in some of these contexts.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: 300 level course in comparative politics or related social science course.
- Note: The field is Comparative Politics.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus:
Poli 435 Winter 2024
POLI 436
Aboriginal Rights:the CdnConst
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: This course explores the inclusion, impact, and interpretation of s.35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. In s.35, "the existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed". What does it mean for Canada to recognize, affirm, define, justify, and implement such rights? The course sets out how one might think about the constitutional promise of s.35, and challenges us to address whether this promise has been realized. It sets out how s.35 has structured Indigenous-settler politics since 1982.
Offered by: Political Science
- Note: The field is Canadian Politics
Syllabus:
Poli 436 Winter 2024
POLI 441
IPE: Trade
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: Politics of international trade, such as the international rules governing trade in goods, the functioning of international bodies such as the WTO, and the domestic sources of these international policies.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisites: POLI 243 or POLI 244 or permission of the instructor.
- Note: The field is International Politics.
Syllabus:
Poli 441 Fall 2024
POLI 442
Int'l Rel of Ethnic Conflict
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: Issues related to the internationalization of ethnic conflict, including diasporas, contagion and demonstration effects, intervention, irredentism, the use of sanctions and force. Combination of theory and the study of contemporary cases.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: POLI 243 or POLI 244 or permission of the instructor.
- Note: The field is International Relations
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus:
Poli 442 Fall 2023
POLI 443
Intervention in World Politics
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: Examination of the history, theory and politics of intervention, focusing on the 19th century onward. It examines interventions for humanitarian purposes and interventions in civil wars in the 19th century, critical cases of non-intervention from the first half of the 20th century, intervention and resistance in the Cold War and decolonization periods, and interventions since the end of the Cold War. Legal, ethical and political frameworks for assessing the legitimacy and effects of intervention as a contemporary practice, the ways in which it has been contested, and its relationship to core principles, such as state sovereignty.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: POLI 243 or POLI 244 or permission of the instructor, or a 300-level course in International Relations.
- The field is International Relations.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus:
POLI 443 Winter 2022
POLI 444
Topics in Intl Politics 2
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: A specific problem area in International Politics.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: An upper level course in International Politics or written permission of the instructor
- Note: The field is International Politics.
- Terms
- Instructors
- Mounir Katul, Leonardo Baccini
- Mounir Katul
Syllabus:
Poli 444-001 Fall 2024
Syllabus:Poli 444-006 Fall 2024
POLI 445
IPE: Monetary Relations
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: Advanced course in international political economy; the politics of international of monetary relations, such as international rules governing international finance, the reasons for and consequences of financial flows, and the functioning of international financial bodies such as the IMF and World Bank.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisites: POLI 243 or POLI 244 or permission of the instructor.
- Note: The field is International Relations.
Syllabus: Poli 445 Winter 2024
POLI 446
Intl Law&Poltcs of HumanRights
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: The relationship between state behaviour and individual rights recognized by international law. Introduction and critiques of the concept of human rights, and exploration of the institutional framework of human rights law. Surveys of the current international human rights regime’s most important entitlements for individuals and groups. The politics of human rights, highlighting the challenges to their effective protection.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: A 200-level POLI course in the field of International Politics.
- Note: The field is International Politics.
Syllabus: Poli 446 Winter 2024
POLI 448
Gender and Intl Relations
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: The course will help students deepen their understanding of international relations by introducing them to gender analysis of global politics and feminist approaches to international relations. Part one examines gender-sensitive and feminist theories in international relations research. The second part then applies these approaches to a range of substantive issues including security, violence, peacebuilding, international law and political economy.
Offered by: Political Science
- Note: The field is International Politics.
- Prerequisite(s): A basic course in International Politics.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus: Poli 448 Winter 2020
POLI 449
Diplomacy in Practice
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: An examination of the evolution of diplomatic practices over time, with a special emphasis on emerging trends in the 21st century. It focuses on key sites of diplomacy, from foreign ministries to international organizations, and evaluates the role of new technologies and non-states actors in shaping global intercourse.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite(s): A basic course in International Politics or permission of instructor.
- The field is International Politics. This course is taught in an active learning classroom.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus:
Poli 449 Fall 2019
POLI 450
Peacebuilding
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: An examination of transitions from civil war to peace, and the role of external actors (international organizations, bilateral donors, non-governmental organizations) in support of such transitions. Topics will include the dilemmas of humanitarian relief, peacekeeping operations, refugees, the demobilization of ex-combatants, transitional elections, and the politics of socio-economic reconstruction.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisites: previous courses in comparative politics and international relations.
- Note: The field is Comparative Politics; also in the field of International Politics.
- Internet research skills are strongly recommended
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus:
Poli 450 Winter 2022
POLI 451
The European Union
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: The emergence of the EU and its innovative institutions and policies will be studied through lectures, discussions, and a simulation (of a European Council or Parliament session). Emphasis upon current debates about the EU's developing identity, its internal political economy, its institutions of 'multilevel' governance, and its external relation.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: one course each in International Relations and Comparative Politics
- Note: The field is Comparative Politics; also in the field of International Politics.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus:
Pol 451 Fall 2018
POLI 452
Conflict Simulation
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: An introduction to the use of serious games for conflict analysis. The course will address the history of wargaming, the professional use of gaming techniques by
governments and other organizations, and conflict simulation design.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: A 200-level course in international relations or comparative politics.
- The field is Comparative Politics; also in the field of International Relations.
Syllabus:
Pol 452 Winter 2025
POLI 458
(De-)Coloniality
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: Explores the theorization of colonialism, including settler colonialism, as a political phenomenon. Explores the connection between colonialism and political thought, with both an historical and contemporary focus. Explores how political thinkers have and are responding to, resisting, and undermining coloniality.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite(s): one 300-level course in political theory
- Note: This course is in the Political Theory field.
Syllabus:
Pol 458 Fall 2024
POLI 459
Topics in Political Theory 2
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: This course will deal with a specific problem area in Political theory.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: A 300- or 400-level course in political theory
- Note: The field is Political Theory.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus:
Pol 459-001 Winter 2024
Syllabus: Pol 459-002 Winter 2024
POLI 461
Adv. Quant. Political Science
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: A lab course that deals with topics not covered in POLI 311 or POLI 312 and applicable across political science subfields. Such topics include: Estimating models with limited and categorical outcomes; dealing with time-dependent data; estimating models of duration; advanced spatial methods; advanced text-as-data methods; advanced network methods
.
Offered by: Political Science
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
POLI 470
Philosophy, Economy & Society
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: The application of normative political theory and the history of political thought to state-society and state-market relations and governance. The justice and ethics of economic policies and modes of production; social-theoretic and economic examinations of the state and the state system from social theory and economic theory.
Offered by: Political Science
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus:
Pol 470 Winter 2021
POLI 473
Democracy and the Market
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: The relationship between economic and political change by focusing on dual processes of economic reform and democratization.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: A course in Comparative Politics or written permission of the instructor
- Note: The field is Comparative Politics.
Syllabus:
Pol 473 Winter 2024
POLI 474
Inequality and Development
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: The political structures and social forces underlying poverty and inequality in the world; the historical roots of inequality in different regions, varying manifestations of inequality (class, region, ethnicity, gender), and selected contemporary problems.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: A basic course in Comparative Politics or a course on the region or written permission of the instructor.
- Note: The field is Comparative Politics.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus:
Poli_474_Winter_2017
POLI 475
Social Capital: Comp Perspect
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: Social capital as an important societal resource that helps to overcome collective action and development problems. Introduction to the roots of the concept of social capital, and discussion on how and why this resource influences the political and economic life of countries, regions, cities and individuals.
Offered by: Political Science
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus:
Poli 475 Winter 2012
POLI 476
Religion and Politics
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: The relationship between religion and politics in the world, including the relationship between religion and the state, and specific topics in which religion plays a salient role: political parties; social movements; democratization; fundamentalism and democracy; violence; and capitalism and economic development.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite(s): A course in Comparative Politics or permission of instructor.
- Note: The field is Comparative Politics.
Syllabus:
Poli 476 Fall 2024
POLI 478
The Cdn Constitution
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: An examination of legislative and judicial protection of rights and liberties in Canada. Topics to be covered include civil rights and the division of powers; the implied bill of rights theory; the 1960 Bill of Rights; establishment and enforcement of human rights legislation; and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisites: POLI 378 or an upper level course in Canadian Politics or permission of the instructor
- Restriction: Not open to students who took 160-427 in 1989-90 or 1991
- Note: The field is Canadian Politics.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2024 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024 academic year
Syllabus:
Poli 478 Winter 2018
POLI 480
Course not available
Syllabus:
Poli 480 Winter 2015
POLI 521
Seminar: Can Pol & Gov't
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: Selected problems of Canadian socio-economic and political structures; political culture; constitutional development, and governmental structure.
Offered by: Political Science
- Restriction: Open to graduate students, final year Honours students, and other advanced undergraduates with the permission of the instructor
- Prerequisite: At least one 300 or 400-level course in Canadian Politics
- Note: The field is Canadian Politics.
Syllabus:
Poli 521 Fall 2023
POLI 522
Seminar:ComparativePolitics 1
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: Seminar on comparative politics.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: At least one upper-level course in comparative politics.
- Restriction: Open to graduate students, final year honours students, and other advanced undergraduates with permission of the instructor.
- Note: The field is comparative politics
Syllabus:
POLI 522 Fall 2024
POLI 524
Seminar:Comparative Politics 2
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: Seminar on comparative politics.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: At least one upper-level course in comparative politics.
- Restriction: Open to graduate students, final year Honours students, and other advanced undergraduates with the permission of the instructor.
- Note: The field is Comparative Politics.
- Terms
- Instructors
- Tania Islas Weinstein
- Amy Janzwood
Syllabus:
Poli 524-001 Fall 2024
POLI 561
Seminar:Political Theory
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: A topic in political philosophy such as democracy, liberty, property or nationalism, or a political philosopher, is studied to enable students to research a topic in depth, to present their papers to the seminar, and to engage in and profit from discussion and debate.
Offered by: Political Science
- Prerequisite: At least one upper-level course in political philosophy
- Restriction: Open to graduate students, final year Honours students, and other advanced undergraduates with the permission of the instructor
- Note: The field is Political Theory.
- Terms
- Instructors
- Catherine Lu
- Aberdeen M Berry
Syllabus:
POLI 561 Fall 2024
POLI 575
Seminar:International Politics
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Political Science: A research seminar dealing with topics in the field of international politics.
Offered by: Political Science
- Restriction: Open to graduate students and final year Honours students only
- Note: The field is International Politics.
Syllabus:
POLI 575 Winter 2024