Courses

(Core Course) A comprehensive survey of representative works in traditional political thought from antiquity to the nineteenth century.

This advanced seminar will examine the emergence, in France, of a new theory of radical democracy born of the ruthless critique of totalitarian domination and of the discovery of a politics of emancipation in the wake of the events of May 1968. Inspired by Rosa Luxemburg's alternative 'Socialism or Barbarism', the anti-totalitarian left articulates a democratic project that remains critical of liberalism while rejecting vanguardism in the name of the political capacity of 'anybody and everybody' (J. Rancière).

This course sorts through the various, often discordant, ideas and practices gathered under the umbrella of environmentalism. It considers conservative, liberal, and radical framings of environmental protection in tension with demands for, and projects of, liberation (racial, sexual, disability, and working-class) within industrial societies.

Covers the themes of critique, 'negative' thought and utopian possibility in the works of Frankfurt School Critical Theorists Adorno, Herbert Marcuse and Max Horkheimer. We will explore their critiques of western philosophy, Reason, consciousness, ideology, capitalism, mass consumer/popular culture, aesthetics, mass psychology and authoritarianism, as well as their philosophical, historical, social, cultural and political contexts and the implications of their distinctive analysis. Course credit exclusion: GS/SPTH 6600 6.00, GS/POLS 6070 6.00.

Foregrounding gender and feminist politics and histories in diverse Muslim societies, this course will discuss what Islam has come to connote historically, culturally, and politically for its diverse followers in multiple locations, particularly under colonialism and postcolonialism. Utilizing a global and intersectional approach, the course will broadly inquire about the figure of the Muslim in mainstream and academic imaginations, covering themes that have for centuries impacted Muslim societies such as hermeneutical politics, orientalism, imperialism, nationalism, geopolitics, neoliberalism, rise of Islamists, and Islamophobia. In the process, this course will also examine how plural actors of the Muslim community seek to represent themselves and resist hegemonic depictions of the community.

About the meaning of power and violence as fundamental categories of modernity and human existence overall. The course is concerned with violence in many forms and manifestations, including: violence at the foundation of human community, conservative violence, 'divine violence,' redemptive violence, self as violence against self and other, exclusionary violence, the violence of liberal freedom and the commodity, counter-hegemonic violence, the violence of the spectacle, the violence of outsiders and gender violence.

The Politics of Aesthetics develops an aesthetic framework from political and philosophical thinkers who have an aesthetic theory as part of their philosophy. These include Hegel, Kant, Heidegger, Vattimo, Badiou, Rancière and Zabala. The course is presented in blended(BLEN) format that includes in-class, on-line and print EE components: seminar presentation, seminar participation, interactive on-line discussion forum, one minute film, plus paper abstract and essay. The aim is for the student to be able to interact proficiently and seamlessly both online and in person to meet the requirements of a networked world.

Accelerating Technicity examines the concept of technology in select works of Heidegger, Marcuse, Deleuze, Simondon, Stiegler, Hayles, Virilio and Acclerationism. Using these theorists the course will grapple with Heidegger's two conflicting tendencies in technology: the dominant tendency of instrumental technology (the danger inherent in technology) and second, the tendency toward poeisis (the revealing and saving potential inherent in technology).

TBA

Explores indigenous development experiences in Canada and throughout the world, in comparative perspective. It draws on theories of development and underdevelopment and examines the sociology, politics and economics of development as well as environmental and cultural implications.

Drawing upon governmentality themes, this course examines the types of knowledge and practice that shape urban poverty as a distinct sphere of governmental action, such as in relation to homelessness, mental health, food insecurity, addictions, and community development.

This course analyzes theories and concepts of power, supremacy, hegemony and imperialism in different world orders since antiquity. Analytical emphasis is placed on explaining the post-1945 period associated with American hegemony, Soviet Power and subsequent patterns of intensified globalization.

Examines health at the intersection between global and national political terrains. It explores the impact of extensive biomedical development, national competition, and international trade on both the ‘reality’ and delivery of health for populations.

Examines the theories, practices, implicit rationalities, and tensions/contradictions of neoliberalism.

An in-depth introduction to major texts in the history of political economy, in this course we shall analyze texts by such thinkers as Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and J.M. Keynes with particular attention to issues having to do with methodology, the nature of the economic, and the relation of the economic to other areas of social life. Same as Social and Political Thought 6271 3.0

Examines historical structures of political economy at the levels of production, state and world order, with a special focus on structural change. A discussion and comparison of theoretical approaches.

An advanced survey of the literature of the field. The course covers comparative politics as a discipline; the range of analytical approaches, methodologies and data employed. Empirical studies of social stratification and political participation, ideology and regimes, government institutions, and processes of political crisis and change in advanced capitalist, communist and third world countries will also be examined.

This course examines the relationship between the development of capitalism and attempts to address the social , focusing in particular on the contradictions, possibilities and limits as capitalist states attempt to deal with social provisioning in the current era. The course first examines theoretical and historical perspectives, including the formation of welfare states and their subsequent crisis and restructuring. The second section focuses on neo-liberalism and how it has altered the nature of social provisioning. The third section examines the period since the 2008 financial crisis, the growing use of debt as a form of social provisioning, and the implications of on-going austerity measures. A theme running throughout the course is how hierarchies of gender, race/ethnicity and class have formed part of the transformations that have taken place and created differential impacts.

TBA

Examines the impact of international economic integration on Latin America and the Caribbean. It focuses on the social impact of globalization and the responses that these changes call forth: state policies, the rise of new political parties, unions and grassroots organizations and, in particular, international migration a transnationalism.

This interdisciplinary course introduces students to debates and perspectives on Latin American and Caribbean studies and links theory with practice in the field. Supported by numerous CERLAC Fellows from a range of disciplines, students from different graduate programs and areas of study will collaborate together in teams on applied research projects.

This course seeks to theorize and empirically examine the dynamics of state-society-economy interactions in the Global South in the context of the experiences of neoliberal globalisation, new historical cases of state developmentalism and emerging alternative models of 'development'.

This course addresses the challenges and benefits of European integration from the perspective of different member states and actors. As such, it offers an interdisciplinary look at the European Union, its historical evolution and the crisis that challenge its continuation. Topics may include for example, the financial crisis, refugee crisis, Brexit, the right of the right and foreign policy challenges. Through the investigation of these social, economic, and political crisis we will question who the key actors in the EU policy making are and analyse who benefits from the process of integration in Europe.

Advanced study of the relationship between gender and politics, focusing on theoretical and empirical analyses of the political and socio-economic experiences of diverse and disadvantaged groups. Topics include women's engagement in formal and informal politics, gender and sexuality in political theory,¿empirical analyses of intersectional identities in various subfields of political science¿and feminist, intersectional and decolonial interventions in the political science canon. Core course.

This class takes an interdisciplinary approach to understand the political and ethical implications of the ubiquitous deployment of AI and Machine Learning technologies. We will engage in an intersectional and socio-technical perspective to critically assess the unevenly distributed impacts of automated decision making on communities. Some themes included are: bias and discrimination, surveillance, privacy, data feminism and data activism.

PhD III candidates are required to attend the PhD Dissertation Proposal Workshop. The proposal workshop consists of three three-hour sessions offered on a monthly basis during the Fall term of the academic year (with dates set for late September, October and November) plus two individual meeting with the Graduate Program Director to discuss their dissertation proposal, to set up a supervisory committee and to go over the draft thesis proposal. Students will receive a passing grade by attending the three sessions and a half-hour and one-hour meeting with the Graduate Program Director. The course involves 10.5 hours (nine seminar hours and 1.5 hours of individual meeting with the GPD) for the PhD student; the course involves 36 hours for the GPD (nine seminar hours plus 27 individual student hours