University of Toronto Department of Political Science

About the Department

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The Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto ranks among the world’s best. It provides an ideal setting for students and learners at all levels to engage with novel ideas, thorough scholarship and creative research in all of the discipline’s subfields, as well as in an array of interdisciplinary areas of inquiry. As a community of established and emerging scholars — teachers and students — we are uniquely positioned to draw upon a Canadian perspective as well as the university’s intellectual buzz and the city’s cultural diversity, to address the most enduring questions of politics, locally and internationally.

More than ever, our mission is to encourage our students to think broadly, critically, and internationally about the core features of democratic and global citizenship. We do this with a faculty that includes award-winning teachers, building on a legacy of famously gifted instructors — the likes of Harold Innis and C.B. Macpherson, Allan Bloom, Tom Pangle, and Janice Stein. With a history going back to the 1880s, the department now has a total faculty complement of over sixty across the three campuses of the University of Toronto.

We offer numerous courses at all levels and in a variety of fields: political philosophy and theory, Canadian politics, international relations and world affairs, comparative politics of industrial and developing societies, and public policy in Canada and abroad. Each year we admit over 30 new students to our Ph.D. program ­– the largest and most prestigious in Canada. At any point in time, we have about 150 students pursuing doctoral studies in our Department most of whom receive generous funding during their first five years in the program. Many dissertations written by our doctoral students have been awarded prizes and later turned into influential books. All three nominees for the 2009 CPSA’s Vincent Lemieux Dissertation Prize, to pick just one example, are recent graduates of our Ph.D. program. Numerous other graduates of our Ph.D. program have gone on to pursue successful academic careers in universities throughout Canada and the United States, as well as in many other countries worldwide. In addition, we offer a popular MA program, which admits approximately 60 new students every year.

On the St. George campus alone, over 400 undergraduate students are enrolled in our Specialist programs, over 800 in our Major program each year, and approximately 750 in our Minor program. Thousands more, from programs all over the university, take our courses. Taken together, the programs at the other two campuses — University of Toronto at Mississauga and University of Toronto at Scarborough are about three-quarters of the size of the St. George programs.

Our faculty are among the best in the world, featuring a unique blend of towering intellectuals alongside up and coming bright minds. Each year, our faculty members are invited to deliver public lectures in the world’s foremost universities — from Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Princeton to Oxford and Cambridge. Members of our department produce on average ten (10) books a year, with the world’s best presses. Their articles appear in such top journals as Political Theory, Comparative Politics, Annual Review of Political Science, International Security, Canadian Journal of Political Science, World Politics and International Organization. The last, IO, is hosted by the Department in collaboration with the Munk Centre for International Studies, and is edited by two of our faculty members — Emanuel Adler and Louis Pauly. Our faculty is closely engaged with on the ground, research and development projects in Canada and abroad, from the Arctic to the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and the post-Communist world.

Political Science faculty members are routinely honoured for their accomplishments. Ten (10) have been named to the Royal Society of Canada, the most prestigious academic appointment in Canada; three (3) have won Governor-General’s awards — the most prestigious book award in Canada; eight (8) have received major teaching awards; five (5) have been named to the Order of Canada — the highest civil honor in the country; five (5) hold Canada Research Chair appointments, and have been recognized as international leaders in their respective fields, from comparative law and courts to public policy in Asia. In addition, over the last decade alone, books published by our faculty members have won over half a dozen APSA, CPSA, or IPSA awards for the best work in their respective fields.

Our faculty members have played key roles in starting up and leading major interdisciplinary centres at the university, among them:

• The African Studies Program
• The Asian Institute
• The Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies
• The Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies
• The Centre for Ethics
• The Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies
• The Centre for the Study of the United States
• The Cities Centre
• The Munk Centre for International Studies
• School of Public Policy and Governance

Our faculty members count among Canada’s most prominent public intellectuals. They are widely acknowledged as leaders in their field, frequently cited in academic publications and in the media, and help shape public debate:

• Sylvia Bashevkin, on women and politics
• Ronald Beiner, on liberalism and political theory
• David Cameron, on federalism and conflict resolution
• Joe Carens, on citizenship and immigration
• Ron Deibert, on internet-based activism
• Ran Hirschl, on constitutional and judicial politics
• Jeff Kopstein, on European politics
• Larry LeDuc, on party politics
• Neil Nevitte, on political behaviour and value preferences
• James Orbinski, on international humanitarianism
• Cliff Orwin, on American and Canadian politics
• David Rayside, on sexual diversity
• Peter Russell, on constitutional rights and Aboriginal politics
• Richard Sandbrook, on the politics of development in Africa
• Richard Simeon, on federalism and intergovernmental affairs
• Peter Solomon, on politics and legal reforms in Russia
• Janice Stein, on international relations and world affairs
• Nelson Wiseman, on Canadian politics
• Melissa Williams, on ethics and the political recognition of “difference”
• David Wolfe, on the growth, innovation, and prospects of city-regions

Simone Chambers — a renowned scholar of deliberative democracy — serves as the co-chair for the APSA Annual Meeting 2009. Graham White — a prolific student of Canadian politics — serves as the incoming head of the Canadian Political Science Association. Several other faculty members, most recently Grace Skogstad, served in that position in the past. Ana Maria Bejarano, Jacques Bertrand, Antoinette Handley, Courtney Jung, Paul Kingston, Ed  Schatz, Judith Teichman and Joe Wong are a “dream-team” of scholars of comparative politics in the developing world. Harald Bathelt is a leader in the field of economic geography and innovation. Richard Iton is among the most innovative scholars of diaspora studies and African American political culture. Randall Hansen has written extensively on European integration, identity politics, and comparative immigration regimes. Ryan Balot is a rising star in the study of classical political philosophy, while Rebecca Kingston is an authority on Montesquieu and his thought. Steven Bernstein has done influential work in international environmental protection and political economy. John Kirton has devoted much of his career to studying the G8. Rod Haddow researches the welfare state in Canada and abroad. And Linda White has made a name for herself in the area of Canadian and comparative public policy. Our younger cohort of scholars was trained in some of the world’s best universities. Their work spans the globe, ranging from international human rights and environmental regulation to Chinese political economy, from religion in Africa to post-colonial thought, and from Canadian immigration policy to comparative indigenous politics. Our cross-appointed faculty — most notably Sujit Choudhry, Ayelet Shachar, Lorne Sossin, and Lorraine Weinrib — are among the country’s best legal minds.

In order to run a smooth operation, skillful and dedicated administrative staff is required. Our administrative staff on all three campuses is frequently credited by our students at all levels for being exceptionally friendly and helpful. Three of our staff members have been recognized by the university in recent years for their invaluable contribution to student life.

University of Toronto’s political science students hail from all over the world and speak dozens of languages. Their questions regularly challenge received wisdom and push us in new intellectual directions. As they have in the past, our graduates have gone on to become leaders in all avenues of life; their voices are heard in government, NGOs, business, the arts, law, universities, public policy, and the media.

Here are just a few of those who have gone on from an undergraduate or graduate degree in Political Science to notable careers:

• Caroline Andrew, dean of social sciences, University of Ottawa
• Maria Banda, Rhodes Scholar, student at Harvard Law School
• Ed Broadbent, legislator, former leader of the New Democratic Party
• Lyn Betzner, deputy-minister, Government of Ontario
• Julie Bristow, director, CBC
• Ben Cashore, professor of Forestry, Yale University
• Tony Clement, cabinet minister, Government of Canada
• Matt Cohen, novelist
• Alex Costy, director of humanitarian support in Afghanistan for the U.N.
• David Docherty, dean of arts, Wilfrid Laurier University
• Atom Egoyan, film-maker
• George Fierheller, president and CEO, Cantel, former chair of United Way
• Claude Galipeau, former senior executive at CBC, Rogers Media, and currently at Astral Media
• Steve Goudge, judge, Ontario Court of Appeal
• Peter Hall, professor of Government, Harvard University
• Abby Hoffman, former track and field Olympian and activist
• John Honderich, president of Torstar, publisher of the Toronto Star
• Simca Jacobovici, film-maker and television documentary host
• Vivek Krishnamurthy, Rhodes Scholar, clerking at Supreme Court of Canada
• Joanna Nairn, debating world champion, clerking at the Supreme Court of Canada
• Ann Peel, formerly world championship athlete, educator
• Kent Roach, professor of Law, University of Toronto
• Tom Walkom, journalist, currently national affairs columnist at the Toronto Star

In short, the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto is an incredibly diverse, accomplished, and vibrant place. You are most welcome to explore it for yourself.