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Graduate Courses

The Department will be uploading the syllabi for graduate courses offered in the Fall term in early September. The Winter term course syllabi will be uploaded in early January. Syllabi are available in PDF* format and you can access them by clicking on the course names highlighted in blue.

The material on this website is copyrighted and is for the sole use of students registered in the following courses. The material on this website may be downloaded for a registered student's personal use, but shall not be distributed or disseminated to anyone other than students registered in the following courses. Failure to abide by these conditions is a breach of copyright, and may also constitute a breach of academic integrity under the University Senate's Academic Integrity Policy Statement.

Graduate Timetable 2013-2014 will be posted when finalized

Course	Instructor(s)	Description
POLS 810: Canadian Politics	Jonathan Rose	A critical analysis of the literature on Canadian politics. Topics covered include parliamentary institutions, federalism, the courts, multiculturalism and citizenship, Aboriginal politics, women and politics, political economy, interest groups and social movements, the mass media, political parties, public opinion and voting.
POLS 814: Politics in Quebec	Not offered in 2013-2014	An introduction to the political history of Quebec: the development of ideologies (including nationalism), constitutional developments, and the building of the Quebec state during the Quiet Revolution. Some contemporary issues in Quebec politics, and the relationship between Quebec and the rest of Canada.
POLS 818: Canadian Federalism	Not offered in 2013-2014	An examination of the evolution and operation of the Canadian federal system. Topics include the concept and meaning of federalism, the implications of provincial/federal interdependence, and the politics of constitutional reform.
POLS 819: Political Communication	Not offered in 2013-2014	Communication in the modern state with special attention to the role of the mass media, the concept of public opinion in political and social philosophy, and a theoretical and empirical study of mass communication.
POLS 821: Elections	Not offered in 2013-2014	An examination of the importance of elections to the maintenance of democratic systems. Six themes are discussed: the history and theory of democratic participation; the legal framework; campaign organization; why people vote the way they do; the manifestation of social cleavages during campaigns; and the future of electoral participation. Canadian examples are placed in a comparative context.
POLS 822: Public Opinion	Not offered in 2013-2014	This course presents a critical analysis of opinion research, examining both the ways in which its results have been interpreted and used and the methodologies by which it is conducted. This analysis is set in the context of a discussion of assumptions in liberal-democratic theory about the citizen's role in politics and government.
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POLS 829: Canadian Political Institutions	Not offered in 2013-2014	An analysis of the role of political institutions in Canadian politics. The course will examine institutionalist theories in the Canadian context, and provide an in-depth analysis of selected aspects of the institutional framework of Canadian politics.
POLS 830: Comparative Politics I	Oded Haklai	A systematic examination of political systems in order to account for significant similarities and variations among them. At the core of the field are two issues: what are the major contending approaches to determining what is significant, and what is the nature of the comparative method? This course aims to develop criteria for choosing between approaches and research strategies for empirical work.
POLS 831: Comparative Politics II: Political Ethnography	TBD	This course deals with major topics in the current literature in the sub-field, including democracy and democratization, institutions and parties, political economy, political culture, selected policy areas, or particular parties, movements, and interest groups.
POLS 832: Theories and Politics of Nationalism	Zsuzsa Csergo	This course examines major theoretical debates in the scholarship of nationalism and evaluates influential contributions to the understanding of nationalism in sub-state and global politics. Readings combine broader theoretical approaches and empirical studies.
POLS 833: Problems of American Democracy	Not offered in 2013-2014	This seminar focuses on the recent debates about the sources of malaise in the American system, with a special emphasis on understanding the dynamics of mass public opinion and the factors influencing public disaffection from political institutions.
POLS 838: Politics of Ethnic Conflict	Not offered in 2013-2014	This course will explore a variety of theoretical and empirical issues related to the politics of ethnic conflict. The politics of ethnic conflict encompass a wide range of issues that present distinct challenges to states and societies. Themes invested in this course include the construction of ethnic identities, sources of conflict, types of mobilization, state-ethnicity relations, changes in territorial and social boundaries, and the complex interaction between ethnicity and democracy.
POLS 839: Topics in American Politics	Not offered in 2013-2014	The focus of this seminar will vary from year to year depending on the research interests of the faculty members involved. See the departmental homepage for further details.
POLS 840: Comparative Politics of Development	TBD	A critical survey of the main theoretical approaches to development, including modernization theory, neo-Marxism, underdeveloped theory and neo-liberalism. These are considered in relation to issues of ethnicity and culture, the role of the nation state in development, technology and industrialization and the globalization of the world economy.
POLS 842: Seminar in Latin American Politics	Not offered in 2013-2014	An examination of topics such as economic policy, social movements, parties and elections, women in politics, culture, immigration, Chicano politics, and guerrilla movements and political violence.
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POLS 843: Gender and Globalization	Margaret Little	The role of women in international resistance acts as an organizational theme. An essential aspect of this is conceptualizing various forms of oppression-based on gender, race and class- in the context of the world system.
POLS 844: Macro-Political Regulation of Ethnic Conflict	Not offered in 2013-2014	The course offers an advanced study of how states respond to ethnic conflict and diversity. The course will focus on the best analytical (empirical) explanations and normative critiques of the different state responses to diversity.
POLS 846: Citizenship and Non-Citizenship	Not offered in 2013-2014	Focussing on issues of citizenship and non-citizenship in the modern world. How issues of nationality and nationalism, minority rights, gender, class, race and ethnicity, and immigration status impact on the rights and obligations of citizenship is central to the politics of these debates. The relevance of these issues to the current Canadian context will be an ongoing theme of the course.
POLS 848: Democracy and Globalization	Not offered in 2013-2014	The course examines how domestic and international politics intersect to produce transition processes in contemporary "Third Wave democracies" and how national and global forces continue to shape political development in the post-transition period.
POLS 850: Political Theory	Not offered in 2013-2014	This course provides an introduction to contemporary normative political theory. The course will focus on the analysis basic concepts, such as liberty, equality, power, and authority, their use in different theoretical traditions, and their application to current debates about politics and policy.
POLS 851: Global Distributive Justice	Margaret Moore	This course discusses contemporary debates about the obligation of persons in wealthy countries to alleviate poverty among those in the developing world. The course addresses the proper currency of global justice, the source of the obligation of the rich and poor, and examines the criticisms that have been made. These inquiries require examining anew the basis of the nation state in the international order and the extent to which people are morally required to help those who are not fellow citizens.
POLS 852: Contemporary Liberal-Democratic Theory	Not offered in 2013-2014	The course examines how domestic and international politics intersect to produce transition processes in contemporary "Third Wave democracies" and how national and global forces continue to shape political development in the post-transition period.
POLS 853: Topics in Political Theory	Andrew Lister	An examination of the reorientations in contemporary political thought.
POLS 856: Debates in Contemporary Political Theory	Eleanor MacDonald	An investigation into different theoretical perspectives on the issue of identity and the importance of these perspectives for the politics of identity. Theories of gender, race, class, nation, and sexual orientation, from a variety of perspectives, including Marxist, feminist, postmodern, and psychoanalytic theory.
POLS 857: Science and Justice	Not offered in 2013-2014	The word "science" comes from the Latin scientia which means "having knowledge". What is the relation between science and normative political ideals like democracy, justice and equality? The topics covered in any given year will vary, but may include the ethical, legal and social consequences of advances in the biomedical or environmental sciences.
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POLS 859: Marxist Theories and Debates	Not offered in 2013-2014	A study of a selected topic or topics in Marxist theory with an emphasis on the reading of original texts and recent interpretations and applications.
POLS 860: International Relations I	Wayne Cox	This course is a comprehensive examination of the evolution and current state of the field of International Relations (IR). It covers international theory, the structure of the international system, key concepts, readings from the canon, and themes in the study of IR such as war, security, foreign policy, the state, gender, global systems, and concepts of power. This course also locates IR in relation to Global Political Economy (GPE) and other related fields of study.
POLS 861: International Politics II	Not offered in 2013-2014	The first part of the course will focus on selected aspects of foreign policy. The second part will deal with problems of arms control or national and international security.
POLS 862: Topics in American Foreign Policy	David Haglund	The course examines major trends in American foreign policy covering domestic as well as external variables in pre- and post-war administrations. Emphasis is placed on the USA's global role, the part it plays in international organizations and alliance systems, and the conflicts and controversies that characterize them.
POLS 864: International Political Economy	Not offered in 2013-2014	This course is designed to introduce graduate students to the systematic study of international relations and international political economy. It will attempt to address a wide range of theoretical approaches and issues within the field, paying particular attention to the foreign economic policies of advanced industrial states and the various issues surrounding the redistribution of wealth and influence in the contemporary international system.
POLS 865: Political Economy of Global Development	Susanne Soderberg	This course examines the political, social, spatial and ideological dimensions of the global financial system, with special reference to the role of debt. By drawing on an interdisciplinary lens, we explore a wide range of issues and theories relating to finance and debt in both the developed and developing worlds.
POLS 867: Approaches to Global Governance	Not offered in 2013-2014	An exploration of the theory and practice of global governance which traces the emergence of the concept in modern international relations; the academic and public-policy debates to which it has given rise; and its application in the design and work of selected international institutions.
POLS 869: Issues in Canadian Foreign Policy	Not offered in 2013-2014	This course focuses on Canadian-American relations, emphasizing the interaction both in bilateral and multilateral contexts. Primary concern will be with issues of trade, investment and resources, with some attention paid to security issues.
POLS 880: Gender and Politics	Abbie Bakan	This course addresses the diverse and developing field of Gender and Politics in the discipline of Political Science. The focus will vary depending on the instructor, addressing topics such as: representation; feminist methodology; identity; gender and work; gender and citizenship; the politics of the family; queer theory; intersectionality of race, gender and class; and gender and globalization.
POLS 883: Feminist Theory and Political Science	Not offered in 2013-2014	This course examines the ways in which political science has characteristically studied women's relationships to political life and, by way of comparison, what feminist perspectives bring to political study. The purpose of the inquiry is to situate feminist theory within the broad corpus of theoretical approaches to political study.
POLS 886: The Politics of Rights	Not offered in 2013-2014	An examination of contemporary debates about whether rights provide an appropriate critical standard for evaluating state action and looks at different institutional methods to assess the justification of state actions.
POLS 891: Topics in Political Studies	Not offered in 2013-2014	Seminars offered by regular and visiting faculty on topics related to their own research or interests. See the departmental brochure for further details.
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POLS 900: Methods of Political Studies	Oded Haklai / Andrew Lister	This course covers approaches to the discipline, the philosophy of social science, and issues and problems in research design, culminating in presentation of a thesis proposal. Compulsory for doctoral students who have not already completed a similar graduate course and thesis stream M.A. students; also open to non-thesis stream master's students. Doctoral students who have completed a similar course will take another course as their sixth.
POLS 910: Field Course in Canadian Politics	Convenor: TBD	This course examines the literature in Canadian politics. The course will be taught be several members of the Department but coordinated by Professor Banting who will grade all assignments. Students are expected to read the assigned materials for each session and to participate actively in the discussions. Students are encouraged to question the approaches or assumptions employed in the study of Canadian politics, what research questions arise from the readings, whether the readings and topics chosen address the appropriate questions that political scientists should be addressing, and whether other approaches or methods would provide a more helpful way to evaluate Canadian politic
POLS 930: Field Course in Comparative Politics	Convenor: TBD	The Field Course in Comparative Politics is designed to familiarize students with the main literature and debates in the field. The emphasis of the sessions will be on key theoretical debates that have driven research, as well as on the methodological issues that arise in the study of any question. This course should help students to acquire literacy in the main canonical works of comparative politics.
POLS 950: Field Course in Political Theory	Convenor: TBD	The purpose of POLS 950 is to introduce graduate students to some of the main concepts and debates in recent political theory, and, for doctoral students, to provide the basis for the comprehensive exam in the field
POLS 960: Field Course in International Relations	Convenor: TBD	This course is designed as an advanced survey of international relations as a subfield of political science. Its primary purpose is to help prepare doctoral candidates in Political Studies for the field examination in international relations.
POLS 980: Field Course in Gender and Politics	Convenor: TBD	This course is designed as a survey of the diverse and developing field of Gender and Politics within the discipline of Political Science. It will also serve to introduce graduate students to the breadth of expertise in this field housed in the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University. The course is specifically offered as background to the Gender and Politics graduate qualifying examination, with a view to preparation for advanced specialized research and/or university-level instructional qualification.

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