The McGill University Department of Political Science carries on a long and pioneering tradition in the study of politics in North America. Founded in 1901, the Department's distinguished faculty is actively involved in a wide variety of ongoing research projects, and is committed to achieving a high level of academic excellence in research, graduate, and undergraduate education.
Department News
Awards and honours
2011 Jill Vickers Prize of the Canadian Political Science Association: Melanee Thomas, “The Limits of Modernization: Gender, Generation, and Subjective Political Engagement in Canada, 1965–2008” This paper examines a fundamental question in gender and politics research: why do engagement and confidence gaps along gender lines persist, despite large–scale changes that would predict their disappearance? Thomas makes a powerful contribution to the literature with her analyses, for she demonstrates that existing theory is inadequate to account for contemporary gender gaps in the two dimensions. As such, the paper makes a critical contribution to the literature on gender and political behaviour. Thomas’ paper is well written and logically organized, the long time period she analyzes provides a compelling basis for testing her hypotheses, and the data work is impressive.
2011 CPSA Prize in International Politics of the Canadian Political Science Association: Vincent Pouliot, International Security in Practice: The Politics of NATO–Russian Diplomacy. 2010. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 282 pages. With International Security in Practice, Vincent Pouliot makes significant theoretical and substantive contributions to international relations, in general, and to the study of international security, more specifically. Pouliot articulates a “logic of practicality”, building upon the work of Pierre Bourdieu to extend constructivist theorizing to develop a “theory of practice of security communities.” Pouliot’s application of theory to practice in his unraveling of the post–Cold War relations between Russia and NATO allies provides important insights to this period and serves as a prototype for scholars investigating the development of security communities in other historical and regional contexts. With an initial work of this scope and sophistication, Pouliot has established himself at the forefront of his field.
Rex Brynen has been awarded the 2011 Deborah Gerner Innovative Teaching In International Studies Award from the International Studies Association.
Hiring and promotions
Eric Belanger and Christina Tarnopolsky have been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor and have been awarded tenure.
Philip Oxhorn has been promoted to the rank of Professor.
The Department made three new tenure-track hires in 2010-2011: Manuel Balan in the politics of development; Juan Wang in Chinese politics; and Will Roberts in political theory.
Graduate student news
Four department doctoral students or recent alumni/ae have accepted tenure-track appointments beginning 2012-13: Aisha Ahmad at the University of Toronto, Ece Atikcan at the University of Laval, Stefanie von Hlatky at Queen's University, and Jessica Trisko at the University of Western Ontario.
Student news
Three Political Science undergraduates were elected to Parliament in the May 2 election: Charmaine Borg, Matthew Dubé, and Mylène Freeman.
