What is Public Policy?
Public policy is about developing concrete solutions to practical problems. This is an extremely political process as different actors – including politicians, bureaucrats, business, interest groups, and citizens – have very different ideas about what the problems are and which solutions will best address them. The Specialization in Public Policy gives Political Studies students the opportunity to examine different aspects of this process.
One of the key aims of the Specialization is to offer students experience in the practice of developing public policy. It will be of interest to students considering careers in the public service, think tanks, and non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations.
Requirements
Graduating students who have fulfilled the requirements for a single- or joint-major Honours degree in Political Studies may apply for a Specialization in Public Policy if they have successfully completed the following 4.0 credits:
0.5 POST credit consisting of:
POST 3605H- Developing and Communicating Public Policy
Introduces students to the practice of developing public policy. Examines key aspects of the policy process: defining problems, choosing policy instruments, weighing alternatives, consulting the public, communicating policy, and evaluating performance. Emphasis throughout is on constructing persuasive and practical responses to important policy problems. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits.
3.5 POST credits from Category A and Category B, with at least 1.0 credit from Category A
Category A
POST 4081H – Canadian Politics and Public Policy
Explores Canadian process of developing public policy. Examines key institutions and actors in Canadian politics, including the public policy roles of the prime minister, cabinet, the opposition, political parties, the bureaucracy, business, the mass media, social movements, and the public. Prerequisite: 12.0 university credits including 1.0 POST credit that includes at least one of POST-CAST 2011H or 2012H; or permission of instructor.
POST 4255H – Globalization and the Politics of Work
Work is a central feature of everyday lives, structuring not only who we are but also our life chances. But what do we mean by work (e.g., paid, unpaid, care, part-time, gigs)? How does globalization and technological change work? Topics include work generation theories, power, production, and social reproduction. Prerequisite: 12.0 university credits including 1.0 POST, ADMN, GDST/IDST, and/or SOCI credit at the 2000 level; or permission of instructor.
POST 4555H – City, Economy, and Society: Urban Restructuring and the Global Economy
Focuses on contemporary issues facing Canadian cities in comparative perspective. It locates cities within the global circuit of capital, examines the ways in which cities are being reordered to enhance their global competitiveness and standing, and analyzes the effects of restructuring on communities and the struggles for social justice. Prerequisite: 14.0 university credits.
POST 4850H- Public Policy Field Placement
An opportunity for students to apply policy analysis ideas and skills in a practical setting. Students work part-time for a non-profit organization or government office engaged in public policy, attend periodic class meetings, and complete public policy assignments relevant to their placement. Enrolment is limited by the number of available work placements. Prerequisite: 12.0 university credits with a minimum cumulative average of 75% and permission of instructor.
Category B
POST 3200H – Ordering World Politics I: US Foreign Policy in the 20th Century and Beyond
Global Power & Politics (GP) course. Provides a critical perspective on the efforts to construct and regulate the global order represented by US foreign policy. A theoretically informed review of the historical record is used to achieve an understanding of current trends. Prerequisite: 2.0 POST credits at the 2000 level or permission of instructor.
POST 3210H – Ordering World Politics II: Canadian Foreign Policy in the 20th Century and Beyond
Global Power & Politics (GP) course. Provides a critical perspective on the efforts to construct and regulate the global order represented by Canadian foreign policy. A theoretically informed review of the historical record is used to achieve an understanding of current trends. Prerequisite: 2.0 POST credits at the 2000 level or permission of instructor.
POST 3420H – Poverty, Politics, and Protest: A Comparative Perspective
Explores intersection of poverty and power--relations of ruling--through an examination of anti-poverty activism. Students analyze dominant strategic mobilizing approaches and investigate select case-studies of anti-poverty activism related to welfare, homelessness, migration, and drugs. The role of institutional advocates in the mobilization process is also scrutinized. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits including 1.0 POST, ADMN, ANTH, CHYS, CRIM, ECON, GDST, IESS, INDG, PLCW, SOCI, and/or SWRK credit at the 2000 level, or permission of instructor.
POST 3431H/4431H - Growing Gap: Gender (In)Justice in Canada
An intersectional feminist analysis of social welfare issues and policies in Canada. Focusing on topics including poverty, homelessness, childcare, and employment, we examine historical roots and contemporary contexts shaping the lives of women and marginalized groups bearing the brunt of the growing income gap and neoliberal threats to equality. Prerequisite: 6.0 university credits including 1.0 GESO or WMST credit at the 2000 level or beyond, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for GESO-CAST-POST 4431H or 4430Y. Equivalent to WMST 3431H
POST 3602H – Environment and Development
Examines environmental issues and conflicts in developing countries, applying a critical political ecology perspective to a range of current topics, including oil production, biodiversity conservation, and resource conflicts. There is also a special focus on agriculture and food systems. Prerequisite: ERST-POST 2100H, ERST-CAST 2520H, GDST 2001H, or POST 2200Y.
POST 3604H- Quantitative Research Methods and Design: Getting Research Done
This course introduces students to some of the fundamental principles that underlie empirical research. By the end of the course students should be able to recognize the value of different methodological approaches, understand the fundamental steps necessary for undertaking a research plan, and critically evaluate key aspects of empirical research. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits.
POST 3621H/4621 – The Critical Space of Law: The Construction of National Identity and the Production of Subjects in Canada
An exploration of the critical places and spaces of law in the making of Canadian identity. Discusses issues such as treaties and rights under the law and within Canadian society. Prerequisite 6.0 university credits. Not open to students with credit for CAST-INDG-WMST 3480Y or CAST-GEOG-POST 4621H.
POST 3661H – Race, Ethnicities, and Multiculturalism
Explores ethnicities with a focus on contemporary Canada. Topics include settler colonialism, immigration, multicultural policies and practices, and contemporary political conflicts involving ethnicities. The course also covers theories and concepts of "race" and ethnicity as social categories, the social basis of racism, and the critique of multiculturalism. Prerequisite: 5.0 university credits including at least 1.0 credit in SOCI, CAST, and/or POST at the 2000 level.
POST 3665H – Canada: State, Society, Power
approaches, examining the dynamics of Canadian economic, political, and social development. Addresses issues associated with the development of a resource-based and branch-plant economy, globalization and continental integration, and inequality, discrimination, and social justice. Prerequisite: 6.0 university credits.
POST 3672H-Gender, Diversity, and Intersectionalities
Examines issues of diverse intersectional gender identities and gender experiences, including Indigeneity, (dis)ability, race, class, LBTQ, and fat, and provides socio-political perspectives to understand activism, community building, and possibilities for socio-political and policy change. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits including 1.0 POST, CAST, GESO, and/or SOCI credit at the 2000 level, or permission of instructor. Recommended: POST-CAST 2011H and/or 2012H. Not open to students with credit for POST-CAST-WMST 3670Y.
POST 3850H- Leadership Lab: Research and Practice
The Leadership Lab offers students the opportunity to experience team-based research within a think-tank environment. Alongside formal learning about contemporary challenges concerning leadership in democratic contexts, student teams work together to design and execute a major research project that is published via the web. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits.
POST 3881H – Gender, Globalization and Resistance
Focuses on how globalization is transforming intersectional gender dynamics that underpin relationships between and within states, markets, civil society, and households. Introduces students to feminist perspectives on the global political economy, focusing on specific issues such as international trade agreements, labour, security, migration, health, environment, and human rights. Prerequisite: 1.0 HURI, GDST, IDST, GESO, WMST, POST, and/or SOCI credit at the 2000 level or beyond, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for GESO-POST 4881H or WMST-POST 3880Y. Equivalent to GDST 3881H.
POST 4240Y – Canada, Globalization, and International Development
Canada's place within twentieth- and twenty-first-century globalization, along with its North-South policies and practices, are examined. Topics include Fordism and post-Fordism, global production and social reproduction, environment, inequality, dissent, development assistance, and the roles of Canadian business and civil society in international development. Prerequisite: 14.0 university credits including 1.0 GDST/IDST, CAST, and/or POST credit at the 2000 level or permission of instructor. Equivalent to GDST 4240Y.
POST 4252H- Refugees, Forced Migration, and Experience in the Canadian Context
This course focuses on the ethical and moral complexities raised by displacement and forced migration. Students examine the social, economic, and political factors associated with Canada's refugee sponsorship programs. Attention is given to media representations of refugees. Topics include resilience, parenting in a war context, and refugee education. Prerequisite: 10.0 university credits including 1.0 POST, CAST, GDST/IDST, and/or SOCI credit at the 2000 level, and an additional 2.0 credits at the 3000 level of which at least 1.0 must be from POST, GDST/IDST, CAST, or SOCI, or permission of instructor. Recommended: POST 2011H, 2012H, CAST 2245H, GDST 3150H, SOCI 3661H.
POST 4260H – Global Governance and Social Justice
Work is a central feature of everyday lives, structuring not only who we are but also our life chances. But what do we mean by work (e.g., paid, unpaid, care, part-time, gigs)? How does globalization and technological change work? Topics include work generation theories, power, production, and social reproduction. Prerequisite: 12.0 university credits including 1.0 POST, ADMN, GDST/IDST, and/or SOCI credit at the 2000 level; or permission of instructor.
POST 4610H – Global Environmental Policy
Focuses on perspectives, actors, institutions, and economic relationships as they relate to global environmental policy and instruments. The aim is to provide students with a solid understanding of linkages between the global political system and the natural environment. Prerequisite: 10.0 university credits. Recommended: One of ERST-GDST-POST 3602H or 3603H or POST 2200Y.
POST 4772H – Canadian Social Policy 1951-2014
Examines the evolution of social policy from the mid-twentieth century to the present, including governmental, professional, and organizational responses to poverty, health care, old age, children's rights, mental illness, physical disability, family fragmentation, and caregiving. Prerequisite: 14.0 university credits.
POST 4872H-Community-Based Research Project
Students are placed in research projects with community organizations in the Peterborough area. Each placement is supervised jointly by a faculty member and a representative of a community organization. For details, see Community-Based Research program. Prerequisite: At least 10.0 university credits, with an overall cumulative average of at least 75%. Students may take POST 4870Y or both 4871H and 4872H for credit.
POST 4873H-Community-Based Research Project With Immigrants
Students engage in community-based research with a local immigrant focused agency to research, create, recommendation policies and ultimately solutions to challenges faced by immigrants in the community. Students learn the basics of conducting action-oriented research that advances social justice and creates social change. Prerequisite: 10.0 university credits including 1.0 POST and/or GDST/IDST credit at the 2000 level, and 2.0 credits at the 3000 level of which at least 1.0 must be from POST and/or GDST/IDST. Not open to students with credit for POST 4872H (2023-2024).
Notes
Departments and Programs may not offer all the courses that qualify as credits in the Specialization in any given year. Students should be aware that planning beyond the current academic year may require corresponding with the Chairs of the Departments and Programs whose courses interest them.
Courses in the Specialization in Public Policy may have prerequisites. In planning their Specialization, students should carefully take this into account.