PUBLIC LECTURE The Honourable Peter Milliken Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons MP, Kingston and the Islands Trent University Thursday, November 12, 2009 11:00-12:00 Lady Eaton College, Room 201 (Click here for more details)

 

Areas of Investigation

The Politics Department offers courses in three areas:

Global Politics emphasizes a critical understanding of the many dimensions of ‘globalization’: international political economy, peace and security issues, nationalism, foreign policy, democratization, North American economic integration, and the centrality of the European Union, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region in redefining world order.

Canadian Politics examines the basic institutions of government at the federal, provincial and municipal levels, stressing the emergence of environmental, Aboriginal, urban, race, class, gender and sexual orientation issues in the context of law and justice, political economy, constitutional mechanisms, regionalism, Canadian-American relations, the distribution of power, social and health services, public administration and the crafting and implementation of policy.

Political Theory explores the ideas people use to understand and shape political life. Theoretical premises developed over centuries invest our assumptions, our choices and our rhetoric with meaning. Whether in a global or a Canadian mirror, we see ourselves as liberals, conservatives, neoliberals, socialists, Marxists, anarchists – perhaps postmodern or postcolonial – but always as members of a community. Political theory helps us grasp wider significance from the diversity of political ideas and events shaping our present and our future. Political theory also helps us invest those ideas with new and inspired meaning in the contemporary context.