Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An introduction to political action and behaviour. Politics involves the struggle for power and influence. Nowhere is this more evident than when individuals mobilize and engage in political action, whether in a revolution to overthrow an authoritarian regime, protesting on the street against the government, or voting on Election Day. Breadth-Humanities/Social Sciences.

COURSE DETAILS:

Course Description:

This course has two distinct but related goals: first, to give students the tools to understand political participation in modern societies, and second to how to be engaged citizens themselves.

To that end, we answer a number of broad questions related to crucial aspects of political behaviour and citizenship. How do citizens participate, and what are some of the major changes that have recently transpired in terms of citizens' (and non-citizens') engagement with their governments? Why have these changes taken place?

We will be investigating contemporary political phenomena including explanations for voter turnout and its decline, the rise of protest politics, and the spread of online engagement. Implied in that is the study of two crucial questions underlying any consideration of democratic change: is there something amiss with modern democracy, and to the extent that there is, what can be done to address the challenges confronting it?

As part of our investigation, we will look at variations in participation across countries, and across types of engagement. Why does political participation and engagement look so different in various parts of the world? For example, why have large-scale anti-system demonstrations appeared in some countries and not others in recent years? To answer this question, we will be investigating some of the legal, social, and cultural factors that provide the opportunities and constraints for political engagement.

Finally, we will also explore what participation looks like in practice in Canada today through a real-life exercise in political engagement. By the conclusion of the course, students will have both the tools to understand different types of political engagement, to themselves be active citizens in their polity, and to diagnose and address some of the major challenges confronting democracy today.

Course Organization:

The two hours of lecture and one hour of tutorial will include a mixture of lecture, group discussions, in-class assignments and audio-visual content.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: