Undergraduate Studies

Political Science is so much more than how a bill becomes a law!  We study politics to make sense of the world in times of peace and stability and in times of crisis and change.  How?  There are various ways that include: Understanding fundamental ideas -- power, colonialism, justice, democracy, oppression, emancipation, citizenship.  Identifying how politics, including how we are governed, actually works in the real world.  Applying these ideas and this knowledge to spaces as different as the halls of Parliament, international borders, public protests, and social media sites. Questioning things we may take for granted, including how group identities come to be recognized in political discourse and public policy.  Recommending new ways of thinking about political puzzles, such as what states and nations Canada encompasses.

Our innovative Political Science undergraduate program allows you to choose your “core” and specialized courses from six fields: 

• Canadian Politics: institutions, processes, and behavior federally, provincially, and locally; analysis of elections, parties, and public policies; identities and interests shaping political expression; Canada as a settler-colonial state
• Gender and Politics: the production of gender by the state, society, law, and media; intersections of gendered, racialized, Indigenous, and classed identities; the gender politics of private life; feminist and queer theories
• Comparative Politics: forms of government and politics in countries and regions including East Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Latin America; the nature and origins of popular political movements
• Indigenous Politics: Indigenous communities and nations; Indigenous political thought and knowledges; colonization and decolonization; paths of truth and reconciliation; comparative Indigenous feminisms
• Political Theory: critical ideas and ideals grounding of power, citizenship, justice, disability, culture, democracy, rights, and sovereignty
• International Relations: ideas animating nation-states and international political regimes; global governance, finance, trade and aid; foreign policy among states and regions; approaches to conflict and peace/post-conflict contexts
  

To change your Major or Minor or declare a Certificate, use the relevant form in the Faculty of Arts Forms Cabinet. The FAQs page has lots of answers, too.