Courses

(Core Course) A comprehensive survey of representative works in traditional political thought from antiquity to the nineteenth century.

This advanced seminar will examine the emergence, in France, of a new theory of radical democracy born of the ruthless critique of totalitarian domination and of the discovery of a politics of emancipation in the wake of the events of May 1968. Inspired by Rosa Luxemburg's alternative 'Socialism or Barbarism', the anti-totalitarian left articulates a democratic project that remains critical of liberalism while rejecting vanguardism in the name of the political capacity of 'anybody and everybody' (J. Rancière).

This course examines the political history of African socialism and communism, with a focus on sub-Saharan Black Africa. In doing so, the course illuminates the political struggles of Black Africans to overcome imperialism by establishing socialist and communist societies. The course distinguishes between African socialism, which was founded on African political philosophy, and African communism, which was founded on Marxism-Leninism.

Foregrounding gender and feminist politics and histories in diverse Muslim societies, this course will discuss what Islam has come to connote historically, culturally, and politically for its diverse followers in multiple locations, particularly under colonialism and postcolonialism, and its relevance for understanding contemporary global politics.

About the meaning of power and violence as fundamental categories of modernity and human existence overall. The course is concerned with violence in many forms and manifestations, including: violence at the foundation of human community, conservative violence, 'divine violence,' redemptive violence, self as violence against self and other, exclusionary violence, the violence of liberal freedom and the commodity, counter-hegemonic violence, the violence of the spectacle, the violence of outsiders and gender violence.

The Politics of Aesthetics develops an aesthetic framework from political and philosophical thinkers who have an aesthetic theory as part of their philosophy. These include Hegel, Kant, Heidegger, Vattimo, Badiou, Rancière and Zabala. The course is presented in blended(BLEN) format that includes in-class, on-line and print EE components: seminar presentation, seminar participation, interactive on-line discussion forum, one minute film, plus paper abstract and essay. The aim is for the student to be able to interact proficiently and seamlessly both online and in person to meet the requirements of a networked world.

Accelerating Technicity examines the concept of technology in select works of Heidegger, Marcuse, Deleuze, Simondon, Stiegler, Hayles, Virilio and Acclerationism. Using these theorists the course will grapple with Heidegger's two conflicting tendencies in technology: the dominant tendency of instrumental technology (the danger inherent in technology) and second, the tendency toward poeisis (the revealing and saving potential inherent in technology).

Explores indigenous development experiences in Canada and throughout the world, in comparative perspective. It draws on theories of development and underdevelopment and examines the sociology, politics and economics of development as well as environmental and cultural implications.

(Core Course) Close study, for advanced candidates only, of the literature of the field.

This course analyzes theories and concepts of power, supremacy, hegemony and imperialism in different world orders since antiquity. Analytical emphasis is placed on explaining the post-1945 period associated with American hegemony, Soviet Power and subsequent patterns of intensified globalization.

Examines the theories, practices, implicit rationalities, and tensions/contradictions of neoliberalism.

An in-depth introduction to major texts in the history of political economy, in this course we shall analyze texts by such thinkers as Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and J.M. Keynes with particular attention to issues having to do with methodology, the nature of the economic, and the relation of the economic to other areas of social life. Same as Social and Political Thought 6271 3.0

Examines historical structures of political economy at the levels of production, state and world order, with a special focus on structural change. A discussion and comparison of theoretical approaches.

The Graduate Programs in Environmental Studies and Geography jointly hold an annual 2-week summer school where a salient issue within the field of international political economy and ecology is explored under the guidance of a York faculty member and a renowned guest scholar. Each year a different topic is examined in seminar discussions and in a public event.

Examines diverse dimensions of transnational crime and corruption in the global political economy. Theoretical reflection and case-study research are applied to explore the illicit global economy and its relationship to 'legitimate' and licit practices. Topics include transnational bribery; money laundering; illicit trade in weapons, drugs, and other goods; human trafficking and human smuggling; and the link to terrorism.

The course focuses on the use of regression models to analyze surveys and other social data. Assuming no prior background, it covers the statistical basics, model building strategies, model assumptions and the interpretation of results.

Provides a comparative inquiry about the nature of transnational communal, religious, and political identities at the age of late capitalism. It puts emphasis on critical approaches to diasporas, their variant constructions of homeland and home, and their marked effects on the politics of the post-Westphalian state and international relations.

This course seeks to theorize and empirically examine the dynamics of state-society-economy interactions in the Global South in the context of the experiences of neoliberal globalisation, new historical cases of state developmentalism and emerging alternative models of 'development'.

This course analyses the history and current features of far-right movements in Europe, focusing on: Replacement Theory in France; youth culture in Germany; Nordic Fascism; women's radicalisation; gastronativism in Spain, Italy, and Denmark; far-right Islamophobic and environmental narratives; and the cults of personality these movements promote. It also examines the new global far right, including in North America, and studies anti-Fascist movements in the postwar period.

Examines the rise of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - euphemistically called the BRICS - in the context of the shifting international order. The focus is on analyzing the political-economic and diplomatic development of these countries in comparative and global perspective.

This course introduces students to the structure and the main mechanisms of international human rights law and its impact on women and gender relations. The focus of the course is on the United Nations, its agencies, and its system of international Conventions and Declarations designed to increase gender equality.

The aim of this seminar is to introduce students to 20th century revolutionary thought that was produced through black struggle against legacies of slavery, colonialism, and imperialism. It engages specifically with the ideas of C.L.R. James, Frantz Fanon, Claudia Jones, and Walter Rodney, all of Caribbean descent, whose intellectual and political work has had international impact.

This class takes an interdisciplinary approach to understand the political and ethical implications of the ubiquitous deployment of AI and Machine Learning technologies. We will engage in an intersectional and socio-technical perspective to critically assess the unevenly distributed impacts of automated decision making on communities. Some themes included are: bias and discrimination, surveillance, privacy, data feminism and data activism.

PhD III candidates are required to attend the PhD Dissertation Proposal Workshop. The proposal workshop consists of three three-hour sessions offered on a monthly basis during the Fall term of the academic year (with dates set for late September, October and November) plus two individual meeting with the Graduate Program Director to discuss their dissertation proposal, to set up a supervisory committee and to go over the draft thesis proposal. Students will receive a passing grade by attending the three sessions and a half-hour and one-hour meeting with the Graduate Program Director. The course involves 10.5 hours (nine seminar hours and 1.5 hours of individual meeting with the GPD) for the PhD student; the course involves 36 hours for the GPD (nine seminar hours plus 27 individual student hours