Course subject: Political Science (PSCI)

This course examines the ways in which environmental challenges are being addressed by means of 'global governance' - that is, international organizations and institutions intended to deal with these environmental challenges. Concepts are investigated both to help analyze the relative strengths and weaknesses of existing structures and to suggest ways in which alternative forms of global governance might advance sustainability. Specific organizations and other actors presently active in global environmental governance are given particular attention, as is the management of selected global environmental challenges.

This course examines the major theories of International Relations (IR) and the current state of the field. It addresses the major IR theories, how they inform advanced research, and how they relate to the conduct of world politics.

This course examines recent trends in world politics, their origins, and their policy implications.

This course examines the evolution of Chinese involvement in global governance across different issue areas. We discuss Chinese perspectives on the existing governance mechanisms, and China's role in preserving or changing these mechanisms. We will also explore how China's involvement in global governance has shaped its domestic institutions.

Problems in classical and contemporary political theory.

Theories of justice are concerned with the distribution of the basic goods of society - money, power, status, leisure, and so on. One would expect that they would be of particular interest to feminist theory, which is also concerned with the distribution of these goods. This course will consider how the gender system fares from the standpoint of liberal justice, and to what extent the promises of liberal justice can be used to overturn the unequal treatment of women. The issues of equality and difference will also be explored.

An in-depth analysis of selected theories of public administration and public policy (e.g.) organization, behaviour, motivation, responsibility, policy making and implementation.

An examination of various public policies designed to promote the exploitation and export of Canada's natural resources with an emphasis on the economic, political, social and environmental implications of these developmental strategies.

A comparative survey of public administration in both developed and developing areas. The focus is on the rise of the administrative state in a variety of cultural and political contexts, and on the study of general concepts which can then be applied in a variety of settings. Among the topics to be discussed are: comparison in the study of public administration; bureaucracy as a focus for comparison; the concept of the administrative state; the evolution of national administrative systems; the politics-administration interface and the senior civil service; bureaucracy and democracy; representative bureaucracy; bureaucratic ethics and morality; and the ombudsman and government secrecy.

This course examines the prospects for the supranational governance of social issues including the political and philosophical underpinnings of transnational social policy cooperation as well as examining specific issue areas such as global health policy and cross-national migration.

This course focuses on some of the methodological and theoretical problems involved in the conduct of comparative political inquiry.

Rebuilding states in the aftermath of conflict and state failure represents one of the foremost challenges facing the international community. The post-Cold War era has shown that weak states represent as great a threat to international security and stability as strong ones. The transition from war to peace and state failure to stability in these states can be conceptualized as encompassing three separate but interrelated transitions, in the economic, political and security spheres. The course will deconstruct and analyze this triple transition, examine both its theoretical roots and practical application with reference to a number of recent case studies.

This course studies the relationship between politics and socioeconomic inequality from a wide range of perspectives, such as inequality relating to income and debt, ethnicity, sex, consumers and producers, and regions

The course is a study of international and local responses to human rights abuses in the contexts of economic globalization and proliferation of armed violence. It examines major debates on international human rights. It also deals with specific human rights situations in the developing/transitional countries. Topics include: universalism and cultural relativism, global economic justice, rights to food and health, women's and children's rights, the rights of displaced civilians, human rights and R2P, prospects for transitional justice.

This course examines the structure and operation of central institutions in government, including dominant theories and approaches to their study. Topics may include the constitution, Parliament, the executive, courts, federalism and intergovernmental relations, political parties, provincial and municipal governance, and the bureaucracy.

This course examines the global effort to develop new economies built around the commercialization of science and technology. This class, while covering Canadian developments in some detail, examines the broad international, theoretical and conceptual questions surrounding national innovation strategies and implementations and considers the role of national cultures and political environments in promoting new economies.

A course on a specialized topic offered at different times as announced by the Department.

In this course we examine a range of "security" issues on the global agenda - both traditional and non-traditional - and examine recent and possible future institutional and policy responses. Issues examined include nuclear proliferation, terrorism, intrastate conflict, resource and territorial disputes, climate change, drugs, disease, and migration. Students will have an opportunity to research in depth a specific security issue of their choice.

Contemporary perspectives and issues in international political economy, with particular attention to advanced industrial countries. Topics include political/economic cooperation, the politics of trade, and the politics of adjustment.

A survey of the theoretical and public policy debates relating to regulation of the global economy, examined through case studies ranging from international banking an intellectual property rights, to labour and environmental standards and the control of illicit economic activity.

An advanced examination of theoretical approaches to the study of political economy. The course explores both historical and contemporary approaches and how they inform political economy research.