Political Science

This course examines the role of gender in Western political theory and the implications for the practice of politics.

The course is designed to expose students to different styles of qualitative and mixed methods research including, among many others, comparative case studies; process tracing and historical methods; interpretive and discursive methods; social network analyses, and natural experiments. The course uses practical sessions to help students prepare their own research design into an important and real-world question of their own choosing. Participants present their research designs in the final two weeks of the class and receive feedback from their peers.

The course is divided into three parts. The first introduces the fundamentals of positivist and interpretative qualitative methods. The next investigates case selection, mixed method, and causal inference. The third considers more specific techniques including the practical considerations involved in collecting primary materials, considering logics of historical process, and designing social experiments.

This course covers international migration and multicultural phenomena from a political perspective. International migration brings not only economic impacts but also significant political, social, and cultural challenges. These include issues such as border control, membership in the nation-state, and the social integration of immigrant groups. South Korea is no exception to these trends. Since the late 1980s, the influx of migrant workers, ethnic Koreans from China entering the domestic labor market, and the sharp rise in international marriage migration in the 2000s have presented the country with a new multicultural reality—one it had not previously experienced. Through this course, students critically examine Korea's multicultural landscape both theoretically and comparatively, drawing on case studies from other countries. 

This course examines key questions in the study of Canadian public administration, such as: How is the public service structured and why? What is the relationship between elected officials and the machinery of government? How do public servants shape public policy? Can government respond effectively to the needs of citizens? Should government be run more like a business? 

The international community has become more globalized - increasingly become more interdependent and enhancing opportunities for people to acknowledge their common humanity across arbitrarily drawn political borders and cultural divides. What does the term "globalization" really mean? How does it affect our lives? This course explains the various dimensions of globalization: cultural, economic, political and ecological. It also discusses the positive and negative effects of globalization as well as its future outlook.

This course approaches gastronomy as a source of history, social practices, and public diplomacy. This course reflects on the limits and potential partiality of cultural diplomacy initiatives. Taking examples in South America as case studies, the course explores the role of gastronomy as a tool of soft power for the promotion of national images, their limitations and the potential role of gastronomy to raise awareness on history, society and cultural diversity. Thus, this course treats gastronomy as a means of communication and sustainable development that can promote human security.

This lecture-based course introduces students to the traditions, methods, and key concepts, theories, and issues in political science. It also explores significant aspects of the relationship between political science and other social sciences. By the end of the course, students should have a comprehensive overview of the field. Topics include political ideologies, political institutions, authoritarianism, voting, social movements, and public policy.

This course provides a critical analysis of political violence and conflict in contemporary globalized societies. It examines the general theories and concepts of political conflict; the act of questioning power and legitimacy of nation-states; collective action and social movements; political conflict and collective violence in modern political systems and governments.

This course examines politics in transitioning and young democracies. Drawing upon research on “new” democracies in various regions of the world, this course focuses on democratic consolidation, political accountability and quality of governance, while discussing how well political institutions function in new democracies. The course also examines some of the common challenges to governance in new democracies.