This page contains descriptions for new and special topics offered in the Department of Political Science. Special topics courses are developed to complement existing courses, and cover emerging issues or specialized content not represented in our main curriculum. Please see the UTSC Timetable for the course days and times.
New Courses for the 2024-2025 Academic Year
POLB40H3 - Quantitative Reasoning for Political Science and Public Policy
This course introduces students to tools and foundational strategies for developing evidence-based understandings of politics and public policy. The course covers cognitive and other biases that distort interpretation. It then progresses to methodological approaches to evidence gathering and evaluation, including sampling techniques, statistical uncertainty, and deductive and inductive methods. The course concludes by introducing tools used in advanced political science and public policy courses.
Areas of Focus: Public Policy, and Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis
Prerequisite: Any 4.0 credits
Exclusion: POL222H1, SOCB35H3
Breadth Requirements: Quantitative Reasoning
POLC30H3 - Law, Politics and Technology
Today's legal and political problems require innovative solutions and heavily rely on the extensive use of technology. This course will examine the interaction between law, politics, and technology. It will explore how technological advancements shape and are shaped by legal and political systems. Students will examine the impact of technology on the legal and political landscape, and will closely look at topics such as cybersecurity, privacy, intellectual property, social media, artificial intelligence and the relationship of emerging technologies with democracy, human rights, ethics, employment, health and environment. The course will explore the challenges and opportunities that technology poses to politics and democratic governance. The topics and readings take a wider global perspective – they are not confined only on a Canadian context but look at various countries’ experiences with technology.
Area of Focus: Public Law
Prerequisite: POLB30H3 and POLB56H3
Corequisite: N/A
Exclusion: N/A
Recommended Preparation: POLC32H3, POLC36H3
Breadth Requirements: Social and Behavioural Sciences
POLD82H3 - Politics and Literature
Examines political dynamics and challenges through exploration of fiction and other creative works with political science literature. Topics and focus will vary depending on the instructor but could include subjects like climate change, war, migration, gender, multiculturalism, colonialism, etc.
Prerequisite: 1.5 credits at the C-level in POL courses
Corequisite: n/a
Exclusion: n/a
Recommended Preparation: n/a
Breadth Requirements: Social and Behavioural Sciences
Special Topics Courses
Fall 2024
POLC42H3- Topics in Comparative Politics
Instructor: Assistant Professor Oded Oron
Topic: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most intractable and multifaceted protracted conflicts in modern times with flare-ups of violence between its various actors continuing to claim lives and to threaten wider war. This course will survey the main political junctions in the conflict and will connect them to their reincarnations in contemporary times. We will study all of this, exploring the conflict’s many layers and relating it to broader International Relations and sociological concepts from the emergence of the conflict’s political fault lines during Ottoman times through the establishment of a Jewish state and its continued modern-day development. The course will include cultural products relating to both societies, including movies, clips, songs and forms of art and cultural representations.
TEXTS:
The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Contested Histories
And James Gelvin's The Israel-Palestine Conflict: A History
FORMAT AND REQUIREMENTS: Students are expected to come to class every week having read and critically reflected on the required readings before class. This is not a lecture course; discussion is primarily student-generated and based on weekly reading. Students will engage in individual and small group assignments.
Winter 2025
POLC40H3- Current Topics in Politics
Instructor: Assistant Professor Julian Campisi
Topic: Canadian Defence & Security Policies in Comparative Perspective
This course investigates the politics and policies that underpin our national defence, intelligence and security communities. Unlike the US and some other countries, in Canada, defence, security and the military culture do not take up as much political oxygen, nor are they as intertwined with national sentiment/pride. Canada’s security influence abroad is also lacking compared to allies and adversaries. Yet the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has placed a larger spotlight on Canadian (and Western) security concerns. This course thus places emphasis on defence and security policies in Canada in order to give students a clear and nuanced understanding of the Canadian intelligence, security, and defence communities, with a specific focus on different government agencies, their institutional make-up, and policies. We will study these through a policy lens, and in comparative perspective vis-à -vis other allied nations and organizations such as NORAD & NATO.
POLC42H3- Topics in Comparative Politics
Instructor: Assistant Professor Oded Oron
Topic: Identity Politics and National Cohesion: Insights from Modern Israel
This course delves into the challenges to social and political cohesion in modern Israeli society, with a focus on the impact of identity politics. Highlighted by President Reuven Rivlin in his June 2015 Herzliya Conference speech, the evolving demographic makeup of Israel raises concerns about potential economic and social crises that could threaten the future of the Jewish state, ushering in a "new Israeli order." The course examines the characteristics, political dynamics, and social transformations of various groups within Israel, exploring how these changes challenge the fabric of Israeli society. As a nation rooted in the vision of gathering Jewish exiles, Israel has always been a diverse society, rich in cultural influences and marked by competing political agendas—both internally and with its non-Jewish minorities. However, identity politics and collective demands have disrupted the traditional "melting pot," exposing deep-seated divisions. These challenges are not unique to Israel; they reflect broader global trends where identity politics strain social and political cohesion, a phenomenon playing out in various nations worldwide. Through texts, video clips, and guided discussions, students will gain a nuanced understanding of the socio-political challenges posed by identity politics and explore the potential for integration and compromise among the "new tribes" that shape modern Israeli society.