Queen's University : Political Studies

School of Graduate Studies
2012-2013 Academic Year

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Political Studies

Head

Amyot, G.G.

Graduate Chair

Csergo, Z.

Professor

Amyot, G.G., Bakan, A., Banting, K.G., Conaghan, C., Farrelly, C., Haglund, D.G., Hiebert, J.³, Little, M., McGarry, J., Moore, M., Nossal, K.R., Pentland, C.C., Soederberg, S.³

Associate Professor

Cox, W., Csergo, Z., Goodyear-Grant, E.¹, Grant, J.A.¹, Haklai, O., Lister, A., MacDonald, E.¹, Rose, J., Wood, P.J.

Assistant Professor

Von Hlatky, S.²

Professor Emeritus

Berman, B.J., Black, E.R., Franks, C.E.S., Gunn, J.A.W., Lele, J.K., Leys, C., Meisel, J., Page, S.C., Perlin, G.C., Thorburn, H.G., Watts, R.L.

Cross-Appointed

Brock, K.L., Kymlicka, W., Leuprecht, C., Sokolsky, J., Wolfe, R.D.

1 On Leave July 1, 2012-June 30, 2013

2 On Leave October 1, 2012-April 30, 2013

3 On Leave January 1, 2013-June 30, 2013

Relevant Facilities

The Centre for Studies on Democracy and Diversity

The Centre was established as the Centre for the Study of Democracy in 1993 with a broad set of objectives related to research, education, and policy to support democratic development. Under its new mandate as the Centre for Studies on Democracy and Diversity, its objectives have been expanded to incorporate a specific stream of activities focused on research, education, and international assistance to promote and support democratic development in ethnically and culturally diverse societies.

Canadian Opinion Research Archive (CORA)

The Canadian Opinion Research Archive makes available commercial and independent surveys to the academic, research and journalistic communities. Founded in 1992, CORA contains hundreds of surveys including thousands of discrete items collected by major commercial Canadian firms dating back to the 1970s. The CORA website (www.queensu.ca/cora ) includes readily accessible results from these surveys, tracking Canadian opinion over time on frequently asked survey questions, as well as tabular results from recent Canadian surveys, and more general information on polling. Individuals conducting research for non-commercial purposes are able to get access to the CORA electronic holdings and conduct searches of the database. Researchers are able to conduct the full range of bivariate and multivariate analysis on data through the Nesstar interface.

The Institute of Intergovernmental Relations

Director A. Juneau

This institute was established to provide a centre for research into the problems of intergovernmental relations in Canada and elsewhere. The Institute is pleased to support the work of graduate students with an interest in federalism keeping in mind that the Institute does not offer courses or grant degrees.

The Centre for International and Defence Policy (CIDP)

Director Kim Richard Nossal

http://www.queensu.ca/cidp

The Centre was established in 1975. It is an interdisciplinary research centre within the School of Policy Studies. The Centre's research interests focus on defence policy, homeland security policy, and Canada's international policy. The Centre offers no courses, but welcomes the active involvement of graduate students who have complementary research interests.

Financial Assistance The department is able to offer a number of teaching assistantships, which involve assisting professors in undergraduate courses. For details, consult the Graduate Chair.

Programs of Study

Applicants are accepted under the general regulations of the School of Graduate Studies. Applicants to the M.A. program must have an honours degree in political science with a minimum A- average; applicants to the Ph.D. must have an M.A. in political science with an A- average.

Further information regarding program requirements may be found in the Graduate Handbook, available on the Department's website.

MASTER OF ARTS

The M.A. is a one-year program that consists of six half-courses, with a 50-60 page major research paper (POLS-898*) (which may be developed out of a term paper in one of the courses). This MRP will be supervised by a member of faculty, and graded by that person and one other faculty member who has knowledge of the subject. All students will be expected to enrol in three half-courses in the first term.

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Candidates for the Ph.D. are required to pass POLS-900* and five other one-term courses offered for graduate credit; to demonstrate translation proficiency in a language other than English; to pass examinations in two fields of concentration; to defend a thesis proposal; and to submit and defend a thesis.

Fields of Concentration The fields of concentration offered by the department are i) Canadian politics; ii) comparative politics iii) gender and politics; iv) international relations; v) political theory. Candidates will choose two fields of concentration in consultation with the Graduate Chair.

Language Requirement Candidates must demonstrate translating competence in a language other than English that is appropriate to their thesis research. French is mandatory for candidates writing theses in Canadian politics. The language requirement will normally be met by the end of the fourth term after initial registration.

Field Exams Before proceeding to the thesis, students must pass qualifying examinations in their chosen fields. These examinations will be held each year at the beginning of term 4. For the first field, the student takes a written and oral exam. For the second field, only a written exam is taken. Only those students who have completed all work in six courses will be permitted to write the field examinations. Candidates who fail one field examination may rewrite that examination in January; candidates who fail any two attempts at field exams (including rewrites) will be required to withdraw from the program.

Thesis Each candidate must submit a thesis proposal, which will include a substantial review of the literature in the field, in the fourth term after initial registration. The proposal must be accepted by a thesis committee before the candidate is permitted to proceed. The thesis will be examined by a committee as required by the general regulations.

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