A first-year schedule sample

This degree program is flexible and offers you the opportunity to take courses in many different subject areas. Here’s what a typical first-year schedule might look like:

^a Required or eligible course for the major
^b One of the course options to complete the Quantitative Reasoning Requirement
^c One of the course options which may be used in the Breadth, Cognate, and/or Electives Requirements

The Course and Program Catalogue has the complete and official listing of required classes and their descriptions for this program.

• Course and Program Catalogue

POLS 221: Global Indigenous Politics
What does it mean to be Indigenous? In what ways are Indigenous politics similar and different in the Global North and Global South? Which political issues dominate the landscape of contemporary Global Indigenous politics? While the course examines contemporary Indigenous politics in Canada, it privileges a more global and comparative perspective to explore the connections between the Global South (e.g. Africa, Asia, Latin America) and Global North (e.g. Australia, Europe, United States). More specifically, the course is organized around key sections which consider the following: the contentious politics of defining Indigeneity, the diverse historical experiences of Indigenous peoples, the politics around land and natural resources, and global challenges around Indigenous peoples' struggles in the areas of cultural survival and human rights. The course concludes by using a case study approach to consider the above issues in greater detail in select political contexts across Africa, Latin America, North America and Oceania.

POLS 364: International Terrorism
Examines the goals, strategies and actions of international terrorist groups, the efforts of governments to combat terrorism, and the effect of international terrorism on contemporary international relations. Special attention is given to philosophies of violence and to ethical issues surrounding terrorist and counter-terrorist actions.

POLS 460: Ethics and Global Politics
An examination of the ideas and debates that inform international ethical thought, including Realism, Marxism, Feminism and Liberalism, among others, followed by consideration of contemporary international politics about which difficult ethical choices have been made or about which there is ethical controversy, including international intervention, threatened use of weapons of mass destruction, sanctions, promotion of international human rights, human trafficking, and child labour, amongst others.

Reputation
The Political Studies program has a reputation of being among the best medium-size programs in Canada in its field. Because the department is smaller in comparison to other political science departments in Canada, there is closer contact between students and faculty in course and thesis work.

Faculty
Faculty in the Department are well-known to the local, provincial and national media as experts in their fields, providing analysis on national and international issues of various kinds on a regular basis. They have also distinguished themselves as leaders and members of Royal Commissions, task forces and other public bodies, and as expert witnesses providing testimony to committees of the House of Commons and Senate and of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly.

Study or work abroad opportunities
The Department of Political Studies has exchange programs with both foreign and Canadian universities. Presently, programs exist with Chernivtsi State University in Ukraine and with the Universities of Marburg, Oldenburg, Greifswald and Rostock in Germany.

You also have the opportunity, by registering for POLS 398, to study the politics of the European Union in Brussels, Belgium for two weeks with a University of Saskatchewan professor and other students.

Opportunities also exist with the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and which provides students and professionals with placement options mainly in Washington, D.C. and in selected cities abroad.