Undergraduate Courses
Please check the University Calendar for complete course details and registration information. To view current Political Science courses in the University Calendar, click here.
Course listings for previous years can also be viewed in the University Calendar here. In case of any discrepancy between our website and the University Calendar, the information on the University Calendar should be taken as accurate.
Special Topics Courses
POL S 354
Governance Innovations in Latin America (Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 AM to 12:20 PM, Fall 2022)
Description: Survey of some outstanding policy innovations put in practice in Latin America, discussing their applicability to Canada and the Global North.
POL S 359 A1
International Relations Studies and Issues Regarding War and Peace (Fall 2022)
Within the field of international relations (IR), war and peace constitute analytical categories for examining insecurity and conflict between and among nations. The course will familiarize students with the ways in which IR engages the twin phenomena of war and peace. To this end it will examine those theories, debates and discourses that have war and peace as both the subject and object of analysis. Students will be exposed to a broad range of scholarly works that may or may not validate the hypothesis that IR is grounded in certain knowledge relations, and by implication power relations, that tell us everything about war and virtually nothing about how to achieve a lasting global peace.
POL S 410/514 A2
Narrative and the Struggle for Rights (Fall 2022)
This special topic course in political philosophy is a combined graduate and undergraduate -level seminar. It focuses on contemporary theories that deal with ‘narratology’ or the power of narrative/stories and its role in social change, the battles over inequality, social division and global injustice with a particular focus on resistance narrative and the perpetual dialogue between power and storytelling. The course introduces this site of everyday power in which marginalized groups as: the Colonized, the Dalit, the Indigenous Peoples, the Refugees, Immigrants and Displaced, the Women, the blacks, the disabled and all those living with the everyday racism around the world, bring their embodied, emotional accounts to respond to systems of exclusion and dehumanization and to confront dominant, hegemonic narrative/worlds.
POL S 445/540 A1
Global Conservatism (Fall 2022)
Exploration of the reasons behind the rise of conservatism and the right worldwide, and its major consequences. This research seminar will compare national cases and track their commonalities.
POL S 445 A2
Comparative Minority Nationalisms (Wednesdays 1 to 4 PM, Fall 2022)
Pol S 470/540
Green Transition in Canada (Fall 2022)
This course takes a critical political economy approach to understanding both the limitations of current policy approaches to the climate crisis (and related environmental crises) and the case for more transformative approaches. Students are introduced to concepts such as “fossil capitalism,” “petro-state politics,” and “climate capitalism” and to the range of actors that are engaged in climate policy battles in the Canadian context. They will have an opportunity to explore proposals for deep decarbonization, democratization, and decolonization that have been largely outside the framework of mainstream climate policy but that have support from climate justice movements and experts in multiple fields related to ecological sustainability.
Prerequisites: This course has been designed for fourth-year students who have a background in political economy, environmental studies, or critical policy studies in another field. It is cross-listed with a graduate course (Pol S 540). It is recommended that undergraduate students have completed at least one third-year political science or sociology course with political economy content before taking Pol S 470. An excellent prerequisite for 470 is Pol S 333 Ecology and Politics.
POL S 540
Public Policy: Comparative Minority Nationalisms (Wednesdays 1 to 4 PM, Fall 2022)
Description: Comparative exploration of the origins and implications of nations with no state and their resilience, discussing the struggles to protect their differences."
POL S 305-B1
Relating to Climate Change (Winter 2023)
This highly participatory course takes up popular, activist, and theoretical literatures on climate emotion, climate change, and systemic responses to climate change, exploring how affect can shape political transformation. May not be taken concurrently with POL S 410/514-B1.
POL S 351 B1
Gender, Terrorism, and Political Violence (Winter 2023)
In this course, we draw on feminist and other critical frameworks in International Relations to understand the complex relationship between gender, terrorism, and political violence. We critically examine the concept of terrorism, looking at the ways in which the subject is framed and interrogated. We consider the history of women’s participation in terrorism, the question of agency, and the ways in which gender is reflected in the composition, rhetoric, activities, and impacts of terrorist and violent extremist organizations. Lastly, we evaluate the ways in which gender surfaces in media narratives, focusing on the political significance of how media represents women’s involvement in terrorism and violent extremism.
POL S 359 B1
Nationalism: Myth or Reality (Winter 2023)
Nationalism, anti-globalization, and opposition to immigration are once again roiling politics on every continent. The election of Donald Trump in the United States, the vote for Brexit in the UK, and the growing power of right-wing populist parties in Europe all are examples of political movements clinging to nativism to push their agenda. Drawing upon theories from political science, anthropology, and sociology, this course seeks to assess how and why nationalism came to be significant in contemporary political life. It studies the development of various theories of nationalism, as well as the real political stakes set in employing the nation. Theoretical readings will be supplemented with empirical studies from developed and developing countries across different time periods."
POL S 410/514 B1
Relating to Climate Change (Winter 2023)
This seminar takes up popular, activist, and theoretical literatures on climate emotion, climate change, and systemic responses to climate change, exploring how affect can shape political transformation. May not be taken concurrently with POL S 305-B1.
Contact an Advisor:
Nancy Thompson
pscundgr@ualberta.ca
Undergraduate Advisor