Summer Timetable

POL417Y1Y L0101

Global South in International Politics

Themes

This seminar endeavors to enhance participants’ understanding of domestic politics of the states in the global South and how the internal political dynamics shape their foreign policy behavior and orientations through the latest thinking in International Politics, International Political Economy and Security Studies. The course will look at the role of the “Third World” in international politics by analyzing the changing nature of North-South relations since their access to independence to the present. It will critically examine the context of these complex relations including, but not limited to, dependency and interdependence, the role of "emerging economies" and the extent to which they affect both North-South, South-South cooperation and conflict, trade and investment patterns, foreign aid, debt, global poverty as well as the impact of globalization on the unity and bargaining power of the global South. It will also highlight specific regimes such as democracy and human rights promotion, environmental treaties and protocols, infectious diseases, world health, etc., around which these relations revolve. In the second term, this offering will focus mainly on the issue of peace and security in the Third World by carefully examining the origins of numerous civil wars and their consequences, the role of foreign states/actors and regional powers in preventing, managing or exacerbating them, human security and peace-building in war torn societies from broader theoretical and comparative perspectives.

Texts

TBA

Format and Requirements

Book review (20%); essay (25%); major paper (40%); participation and presentation (15%).

Prerequisites

POL201Y1 or (POLB90H3, POLB91H3) or POL208Y1 or POL208Y5 or (POLB80H3, POLB81H3) or POL215Y1