Fall/Winter Timetable
POL438H1S L0201
Graduate Course Code: POL2321H1S L0201
Topics in Comparative Politics I
Living in the Illicit Global Economy
Themes
For as long as the global economy has existed, it has had a clandestine “underside.” Today, illicit trade is estimated to represent as much as 20% of total economic activity in some countries. Yet for most of us, our knowledge of the global economy is limited to legally recognized profits and expenses. This course explores the illicit side of the global economy, particularly as it is experienced by those living in the social peripheries. Drawing on political, historical, and ethnographic accounts of illicit economies from across the globe we will examine how distinctions between legal/illegal and licit/illicit activities are drawn, as well as the forms of life that emerge at the interface of the state, legal economies, and illicit activities. Tacking back and forth between theoretical texts and empirical research, students will reflect on prevalent ethical judgements about illicit activities, and on how their everyday lives might be entangled with them.
January 29, 2024
The winners of the 2022-2023 undergraduate awards were announced at the annual celebration, held this year on the evening of January 25. Presiding over the award ceremony were Undergraduate Director...
January 26, 2023
Congratulations to our 2021/22 undergraduate award & scholarship recipients! Following a two-year hiatus, the department was delighted to return to hosting our undergraduate awards in-person this year to celebrate our...
June 3, 2021
In a bid to motivate her students in what has been a very difficult academic year, Professor Rebecca Kingston decided to give those enrolled in the winter 2021 term of...
May 21, 2020
Congratulations to undergraduate student Cheryl Cheung who has received a University of Toronto Excellence Award (UTEA). Going into her third year majoring in political science, with minors in visual studies...
January 29, 2020
Congratulations to all our amazing undergraduate students who picked up one the department’s twenty-three awards and scholarships at our annual undergraduate awards ceremony. In attendance were Dean of Arts &...