Cape Breton University
Fall 2016
POLS 1101:1 3cr
Politics, Law and Social Justice: Canadian and International Perspectives
Dr. David Johnson
CC-243
563-1213
Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday: 1-2pm
Tuesday: 1- 4:00pm
Course Outline: This course offers you a good introduction to Political Science through a focus on key issues and concepts in politics, law and social justice. In this first term we focus on the concepts of democracy and equality within the Canadian political and social setting. We will take a close look at Canadian political culture through a study of liberalism, conservatism and socialism. We will also look at how these ideologies relate to current political parties and Canadian elections. As we assess the Canadian political system we will study how the electoral and parliamentary system might be reformed so as to better represent and serve Canadians. Towards the end of the first term we will also look at the issue of law reform and the promotion of human rights in Canada. This will result in us taking a close and critical look at the Canadian Charter of Rights.
Course Text: Rand Dyck and Christopher Cochrane, Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches, 7th ed., (Toronto: Nelson Education, 2014). Henceforth referred to as Dyck and Cochrane.
Course Requirements:
Term Test #1 10%
Term Test #2 20%
Class Participation 10%
First Term Writing Assignment 30%
Final Exam 30%
Guidelines for Assignments:
The instructor will hand out basic guidelines and expectations for your assignments in class. Consult a style manual for the appropriate referencing of sources. MLA and APA style manuals can be found online at http://webster.commnet.edu/mla/index.shtml.
Do not use “Wikipedia” or similar online dictionaries as a source for your assignment work.
Plagiarism:
When writing your assignments, make sure to properly acknowledge material (books, articles, reports, etc…) taken from another person’s work. CBU sees plagiarism as a serious violation of academic rules. Please read carefully the notes on plagiarism in the current CBU academic calendar, before submitting assignments. Plagiarism involves giving no recognition to an author for sentences or arguments taken from their work and used in your essays or reports. It is also a form of plagiarism to submit work that has already been submitted in another course even if it is your work. If you are unsure as to what constitutes plagiarism, please speak to me.
Schedule of Lectures:
Week 1 – Introduction: Democracy and Equality: Current Issues in Canadian Politics
Reading: Dyck and Cochrane, Chs. 1, 2.
Week 2 – What is Democracy? What is Equality? What is the Ideal Political System?
Rawls Original Position Exercise – What type of society would we create from scratch?
Reading: Dyck and Cochrane, Ch. 11.
Week 3 - The basic nature of the Canadian Political and Socio-Economic System: What type of political, social and economic system do we have? Regionalism, Aboriginal Peoples, French Canada
Reading: Dyck and Cochrane, Chs. 3, 4, 5.
Week 4 – The basic nature of the Canadian Political and Socio-Economic System: Ethnocultural minorities, gender, class.
Reading: Dyck and Cochrane, Chs. 6, 7, 8.
Week 5 - Ideas and Ideologies in the Canadian Political System: Conservatism and Socialism
Reading: Dyck and Cochrane, Ch. 14
Week 6 – Ideas and Ideologies in the Canadian Political System: Liberalism
Reading: Dyck and Cochrane, Ch. 14.
***Term Test #1***
Week 7 – Ideas and Ideologies in the Canadian Political System: Parties and Policy Positions
Reading: Dyck and Cochrane, Ch. 14.
Week 8– Canadian Political Parties, and Elections: Parliament and the Electoral System
Reading: Dyck and Cochrane, Ch. 13.
Week 9– Democracy and Electoral Reform: Proportional Representation
Reading: Dyck and Cochrane, Ch. 13.
***Term Test #2***
Week 10 – Methods to Promote Equality: Law, Policy, and the Charter
Reading: Dyck and Cochrane, Ch. 19.
Week 11 – The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Reading: Dyck and Cochrane, Ch. 19.
Week 12 – Canada: The State of the Nation
Reading: TBA