2011 - 2012 Course Offerings

Core Courses Required for a Degree in Political Studies

First-Year Core Political Studies Course (Every POST Major Must Take POST 1000Y)

POST 1000Y –Democracy, power & resistance in the global age
A critical introduction to the main themes in the study of politics including democracy, justice, ideology, security, development, state-building and globalization. Course materials will focus on the global and North American contexts. Excludes POST 100.

[2010-11 course outline.]

Instructors:  Feyzi Baban / Heather Johnson

Second-Year Core Political Studies Courses Offered in 2011-12 (Every POST Major Must Take Two of the Following Core Courses)

POST-CAST 2010Y - Canadian politics

This course introduces students to the institutions of Canadian government and politics and to some of the ideas, issues and identities that have structured and shaped Canadian political life.  Students are encouraged to think about contemporary political issues, institutions and representation in terms of shifting socio-economic relations of power.

Prerequisites:  4 university credits or permission of the chairs of the department. Excludes POST-CAST 201.

Instructors:  Nadine Changfoot / Jonathan Greene

POST 2230Y – World politics
This course studies how human societies deal with various forms of global change (economic, cultural ,political). One principal objective of the course is to enable students to develop an understanding of how the international system is shaped by the great historical turning-points and understand key concepts in International Relations.  Prerequisite:  4 university credits or permission of the instructor. Excludes POST 2200Y (220), 223.

Instructor:  Feyzi Baban / Colleen O'Manique

POST – PHIL 2350Y – The political imagination
Political thought as it appears in a diversity of sources – e.g., literature, film, theatre – as well as in established texts of political theory. With the 20th century and contemporary politics forming a point of reference, the course opens a particular route of access to both past and present political thought.  Prerequisite:  4 university credits or permission of instructor.   Excludes POST-PHIL 235.

[Click here for the 2010-11 course outline]

Instructor:  TBA

Additional Political Studies Courses Offered in 2011-12 to Meet Degree Requirements

POST 3170H/WI – U.S. Politics
A critical introduction to U.S. government and politics, situating political behavior within the larger context of political, economic and social power. We will cover the workings of the main political institutions (the presidency, Congress and the courts), elections, political parties, social movements, and the media. Prerequisite:  Two 2000-level POST credits or permission of instructor.  Recommended:  POST 2400Y (240).  Excludes POST 317H.

Instructor: Heather Johnson

POST – SOCI 3230Y – Nationalism and political order in global perspective (GP)

Why nationalism has survived and revived under globalization; how ethnicity is politicized and national identities constructed; nationalism’s positive and negative forms and its relationship with democratic values. The course incorporates philosophical, historical, sociological, anthropological and economic approaches to explain and assess varieties of nationalism. Prerequisite: 2.0 POST credits at the 2000-level or permission of instructor. Recommended: POST 2200Y (220). Excludes POST – SOCI 323.

Instructor: Andreas Pickel

POST 3280H/WI– Critical security studies
This course will explore concepts of security, focussing on the contested meaning of security in relation to states, nations, identities, individuals, markets, the environment and technology. Prerequisite:  Two 2000-level POST credits or permission of the instructor.  Recommended:  POST 2230Y (2230) or 2400Y (240). Excludes POST 3973H, 328H.

Instructor:  Heather Johnson

POST – IDST 3290H/FA– Causes of war
A survey of theories of the causes of war. Topics include structural realism, democratic peace theory, Marxism, domestic state structure and coalition-building, ideology, patterns of state formation, gender, and religion. The course pays special attention to contemporary civil wars, terrorism as warfare, and 21st century American foreign policy. Prerequisite: Two 2000-level POST credits including POST 2200Y (220), 2230Y (223), 2400Y (240) or permission of instructor. Excludes POST-IDST 329H.

Instructor:  Heather Johnson

POST 3330Y--Political theory
A survey of some classic texts in the history of western political thought with an emphasis on problems of interpretation and the ways in which a tradition of political discourse determines our conceptions of the political and legitimates political activity. Prerequiste:  Two 2000-level POST credits or permission of instructor.  Excludes POST 333.

Instructor:  TBA

POST 3360H/FA – The body politic/the body in politics
Liberal political discourse assumes the polity emerges from the consent of rational autonomous actors.  This will be challenged by focusing on debates concerning power as sovereignty, dominant class interest, governance; efforts to include the woman's body in politics through care, contact, desire and citizenship will be explored.  Prerequisite: 2 POST credits at the 2000-level or permission of instructor.  Excludes POST-WMST 336H.

Instructor:  Elaine Stavro

POST 3420H/FA – Poverty, politics and protest: A comparative perspective
This course explores poor people’s movements in the context of globalization, neoliberalism, and urban restructuring through an examination of key theoretical texts and case studies of collective action in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia.   Prerequisite:  Two 2000-level POST credits or permission of instructor. Excludes POST 342H.

Instructor:  Jonathan Greene

POST 3430H/WI– Latin American politics
This course explores the politics of Latin America in a political-economic, social, and historical context, from colonial times to the contemporary period. Specific cases of state and social movement projects will be examined in a broader regional and global context. Prerequisite:  Two 2000-level POST credits or permission of instructor.  Excludes POST 3951H, 343H.

Instructor: Gavin Fridell

POST – CUST 3570Y –Cultural politics

Political questions are always posed in a cultural context, but culture itself is now a political question.  The course examines historical background, including the politics of the avant-garde and the "new sensibility" of the 1960s, and then turns to the politics of current movements posing culture as an issue.  Prerequisite: 2 POST credits at the 2000-level or permission of the instructor.  Excludes POST-CUST 357.

Instructor:  Nadine Changfoot

WMST-POST 3880Y--Politics of Gender & Globalization

[Check with Women's Studies (kfife@trentu.ca) for details.]

Instructor:  Colleen O'Manique

POST-CAST 4055H/WI - Contemporary Canadian problems

A survey of contemporary Canadian public policy issues with an emphasis on activities within policy networks and the formulation of alternative policy solutions.  Prerequisite:  15.0 university credits including 5.0 POST credits that include POST-2010Y and one of POST 2350Y or POST 3330Y; or permission of instructor.

Instructor: Andy Mitchell

POST 4070Y - Community engagement and leadership internship in the era of globalization

This course combines scholarly knowledge of social movements with the "hands-on" experience of working with a community organization in the Peterborough area.  Students will learn from this course how relations between the state and social movements have changed and continue to change in the neoliberal period.  Prerequisite:  15.0 university credits with an overall cumulative average of at least 75% including 5.0 POST credits that include one of POST-PHIL 2350Y or POST 3330Y; or permission of instructor.  Recommended: POST-CAST 2010Y.

Instructor:  Nadine Changfoot

POST 4200H/FA - Politics of GlobalizationI: thinking Globally, Thinking Critically (GP)

"Thinking globally" has become a watch word of living in an era of globalization.  Drawing on current theories of world politics, as well as insights afforded by social and political theory, this course explores the issue of how to think critically in global terms.  Prerequisite: 15.0 university credits, including 5.0 POST credits that include one of POST-PHIL 2350Y or 3330Y; or permission of instructor.

Instructor:  Mark Neufeld

POST 4210Y – Advanced Seminar – Emphasis in Global Power & Politics (GP)

This course is designed primarily for Global Politics emphasis students in their final year of study. Methods and critical approaches to global politics are studied from a cross-disciplinary perspective and through key works in the recent literature. Prerequisite: 2.0 POST (GP) credits or permission of instructor. Excludes POST 421.

Instructor: Andreas Pickel

POST4260H/WI--Global governance and social justice

This course will provide an in-depth discussion of the relationship between global governance and social justice.  Particular attention will be paid to global institutions such as the UN and the World Bank to highlight issues of social justice on a global scale.  Prerequisite: 15 university credits, including 5 POST credits that include POST 2200Y (220), and one of POST-PHIL 2350Y (235) or POST 3330Y (333); or permission of instructor.  Excludes POST 420H, 426H.

Instructor:  Feyzi Baban

POST – IDST 4270Y – Democracy and global order
This course examines the meaning and the prospects for democracy in the age of globalization in light of the constraints and opportunities for democratic institutions and practices imposed by the international order, the global market, political culture and ideology. Prerequisite:  15 university credits, including 5 POST credits that include one of POST-PHIL 2350Y (235), or POST 3330Y (333); or permission of instructor.  Excludes POST-IDST 427H.

Instructor:  Gavin Fridel

POST 4280Y--Government and politics in the Middle East

This course examines the main issues and actors (state and non-state) of the contemporary Middle East.  It focuses on the importance of political, social, economic and ideological factors in the context of such issues as the resilience of authoritarianism, gender, the rise of civil society and the resurgence of Islamic activism.  Prerequisite: 15 university credits, including 5 POST credits that include one of POST-PHIL 2350Y (235) or POST 3330Y (333); or permission of the instructor.

Excludes POST 428.

Instructor:  Feyzi Baban

POST 4340H/WI - Beyond International Relations Theory: Colonial and Post-Colonial Theory (GP)

This course analyzes the relationship between Western political thought and the project of imperialism.  In it we engage the work of key figures in "post-colonial theory" (e.g., Said, Spivak) as well as precursors (e.g., Fanon, Guevara) as a way of understanding forms of domination in the contemporary global order. Prerequisite: 2.0 POST (GP) credits.  Strongly recommended: POST 4200H.

Instructor:  Mark Neufeld

POST 4960H/WI - Politics of Globalization II: The Global Imagination (GP)

This course will draw on C. Wright Mills' notion of the "sociological imagination"--in particular, the link between "personal troubles of milieu" and "public issues of social structure" --to frame the question of globalization.  The course makes use not only of scholarly literature, but also fiction and film.  Prerequisite: 15.0 university credits, including 5.0 POST credits that include POST 4200H and one of POST 2350Y or 3330Y; or permission of instructor.

Instructor:  Mark Nefueld

POST 4950H/FA--Environmental politics & global order

This course examines the contemporary politics of environmental crises within the context of globalization, exploring the implications and consequences of managing the environment through the logic of the market.  Examples from the politics of global warming, biodiversity conservation, multilateralism, consumption, and environmental justice will be considered.  Prerequisite: 15 university credits, including 5 POST credits that include one of POST-PHIL 2350Y (235) or POST 3330Y (333) or permission of instructor.

Instructor:  Heather Johnson

 

Reading Courses in Political Studies

Honours Thesis in Political Studies

Internship in Political Studies

Click here for The Minor in Political Studies (then click Undergraduate Studies)

Please check the academic timetable for scheduled times and locations: www.trentu.ca/timetable