POLI 329: Russian and Soviet Politics

Undergraduate Course

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Redefining and recreating the post-Soviet Russian state has represented one of the greatest political, economic, and social challenges of our time. This course invites students to explore this transformation through a broad introduction to Russian politics. We first briefly examine the Soviet system and its collapse, followed by key elements of Russian politics such as formal and informal political institutions; economic transformation and state-business relations; nationalism, memory, and identity; civil society and social movements; foreign policy; and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

POLI 420: Memory, Place, and Power

Undergraduate Course

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This interdisciplinary class explores the relationships among memory, place, and political power. The course begins with an introduction to key classical, Enlightenment, and contemporary texts on memory and place-making. It then uses this foundation to examine the symbolic transformation of public space, in particular the construction, alteration, and destruction of monuments, memorials, and museums in post-communist states and in North America. This approach emphasizes the social quality of memory, exploring the ways in which political interests, economic resources, and social practices can shape something as ostensibly personal and individual as memory. The class is co-taught with Prof. Benjamin Forest, and is cross-listed with GEOG 420.

POLI 524: Census, Map, Museum: Identity and the State

Honours Seminar

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This course builds on Benedict Anderson’s iconic essay Census, Map, Museum to examine how the contemporary state shapes the collective identities of its citizenry through its efforts to count them, map them, and define their shared pasts. While Anderson focused on colonial Southeast Asia, we will draw on expertise from multiple disciplines to examine these pervasive governance strategies and their implications in North America and Western Europe. The course self-consciously blends the theoretical and the practical, looking not only at why states engage in these activities, but how they do so and with what consequences.

POLI 628: Proseminar in Comparative Politics

Graduate Seminar

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This course introduces graduate students to the complex, fascinating, and ever-changing field of comparative politics. Although the course is organized theoretically, it self-consciously operates on three levels: the theoretical, the methodological, and the empirical. Theoretically, we will focus on the evolution of the main disciplinary debates in comparative politics such as those surrounding democratization, nationalism, institutions, and the interaction of the state and the
market. Methodologically, we will discuss the various tools and approaches that scholars use to compare states. Empirically, we will look at how these theories and methods have been applied to the real world and with what results. The course thus gives students the basic means with which to progress from critical consumers of comparative political research to active, engaged producers of it.

POLI 629: Politics of Eurasia

Graduate Seminar

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This course covers political developments in the Russian Federation, Belarus, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. It explores formal and informal political institutions, political economy, identity and nationalism, civil society and social movements, conflict and cooperation, and geopolitical relationships across the region in comparative perspective.

POLI 639/670: The Politics of Money

Graduate Seminar

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What is money, where did it come from, how is it governed, how has the relationship between money and politics evolved over time, and what happens when monetary systems go awry? This course covers the nature and history of money, central banking and monetary policy, financialization and financial globalization, currency hierarchies and US dollar hegemony, counterfeiting and monetary statecraft, and new digital monies, with an emphasis on qualitative research drawn from across the social sciences

POLI 659: Europe and the EU

Graduate Seminar

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This course presents graduate students with the opportunity to explore cutting-edge research in contemporary European studies.

POLI 700

PhD Research Seminar

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Effectively sharing one’s research in written and oral form is among the most important yet most elusive academic skills. The seminar follows a workshop format. Each week will be organized around a draft text provided by one of the participants. Depending on their stage in the program, students may present draft dissertation chapters, conference papers, prospectuses, grant proposals, journal articles, or job talks. Each session will involve a discussant, and participants will present at least once and discuss at least once during the year. This course is a mandatory, departmental-wide research seminar for all advanced Ph.D. students living in Montreal.

BEAR Montreal Summer School 2018

Offered through the BEAR Network

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Organized by the Jean Monnet BEAR Network (“Between the EU and Russia: Dimensions of Diversity and Contestation”), this summer school examines the EU and Russia as transnational actors in regards to regional integration, “soft power,” and societal activism.