Undergraduate Programs
Why Study Political Science?
Who gets what, when and how? Who rules? Where does the power lie in Canada? What drives globalization? Can it be stopped? In Political Science, we consider these and other questions in looking at the future of Canada and other countries around the world. We also look at issues such as justice, freedom and democracy and the relationship between individuals and governments. At the international level, students examine the cause of conflicts, the conditions for peace and the impact of regionalization and globalization on individuals and communities.
Students entering the Faculty of Social Sciences in their first year start in Social Sciences I. This flexible pathway program allows students to explore a variety of subjects across the university. At the end of first year, students can choose to enter one of the political science programs.
In your first year, you’ll take foundational courses to understand the basics of politics, power, and political institutions. After that, you can choose courses from various fields based on your interests and career goals.
Undergraduate Programs in Political Science
Highlighted Undergraduate Courses
An examination of selected issues in the global political economy.
Three hours (seminar); one term
Prerequisite(s): POLSCI 2J03 and registration in Level IV Honours Political Science
This course interrogates contemporary politics surrounding neoliberalism – a contentious concept and phenomenon that has greatly shaped the contour and dynamics of the global political economy. What are the relationships between housing unaffordability, anti-immigration sentiment, austerity measures, and populist insurgence? How should we explain the dynamics between widening North-South divide and racialized poverty in the developed world? Centering the idea of neoliberalism and its variegated manifestations, this course confronts these pressing questions to make sense of our destabilizing world. Because neoliberalism is widely explored across disciplines, we will draw interdisciplinary readings from political science, sociology, geography, and anthropology.
OFFERED WINTER 2025
This course explores a wide range of radical political theories, historical and contemporary, ranging from Marxism, to anarchism, to non-Western political philosophies, and more. Its specific topic/theme will be determined annually by the instructor.
3 hours (seminar)
Prerequisite(s): 3 units of Level III Political Theory and registration in Level IV Honours Political Science
Winter 2025 Topic: Indian Political Thought
This year, the radicalism in Radical Political Theory will be especially disciplinary and pedagogical, as the course will be dedicated entirely to Indian political thought. Taking seriously the imperative to de-parochialize political theory and widen beyond the Western canon around which it is often understood to revolve, this year’s course delves into the thought-worlds of (mostly modern) Indian movements and figures. It not only exposes students to Indian thinkers and ideas that may be unfamiliar, but also invites critical self-reflection on how we, as scholars in Western institutions, constitute both the nature of the political and what we deem worthy of philosophical attention.
OFFERED WINTER 2025
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