POL101Y1Y L0101
Democracy, Dictatorship, War and Peace: An Introduction
Themes
This course examines politics through the lens of the “global.” Students will be exposed to the study of comparative politics as well as international relations. Political theory will animate the discussions. What would Marx and Smith have to say about the current global economic crisis? How would Plato, Weber, and Huntington react to the reversals in democratic transitions over the past decade? What would Confucius think about Chinese capitalism? What does Thucydices have to teach us about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? Are we really seeing the death of the welfare state or even the nation-state? Why have Brazil and Uganda been successful at stemming the HIV/AIDS crisis there, but other countries have failed miserably? These are the sorts of questions students will contemplate.
Preparation
EXCLUSION: POL 103Y, 105Y, 108Y
(Students may enrol in only one of the following courses: POL 101Y, 103Y, 105Y, 108Y. All 100-series POL courses are mutually exclusive. Students enrolled in more than one of these courses (or previously completed one of these courses) will be removed at any time they are discovered.)