Events
2024 Honours Event
On April 10, 2024 the Political Science Honours students had their Thesis Presentations on Atrium 216.
Congratulations students!
Marx & Global Imperialisms: Coloniality, Eurocentrism, Decolonization
2023 Halifax International Security Forum Community Event
The 2023 Halifax International Security Forum Community Event, will be held next Thursday, at 6:30pm at Dalhousie University.
The location is the "McInnes Room," located at 6136 University Avenue.
This event is an "Engagement Panel discussion" on the theme: “It’s a Small World After All and Everything’s Connected to: Victory in Ukraine.”
Panelists will discuss how every challenge the world faces, in every domain and every region, all depend on Russia's war in Ukraine. Under unimaginable opposition, Ukraine has inspired the world and served as the first line of defense as anti-democratic forces threaten sovereignty, human rights, human security, and the international order. The only way to defend the world's hard-won progress is for everyone, everywhere to support victory in Ukraine.
You can use the code for registration, or you can register here: https://halifaxtheforum.swoogo.com/2023HISFCommunityEvent.
Dr. Shannon Nash Guest Lecture
"Global Libidinal Economy and International Trade" - A Faculty Author Series talk with Dr. Gavin Fridell
At the next Faculty Author Series session, discover how unconscious desire influences the global economy and international trade! Dr. Gavin Fridell, University Research Professor and Chair of Global Development Studies at Saint Mary's, will join us for a conversation about his new co-authored book Global Libidinal Economy (SUNY Press, 2023), which claims unconscious desire plays a central role in the global economy, from everything to consumption and production, to trade, finance, and ecology. Coffee and tea will be served, and there will be time for questions with the author.
Everyone is welcome! RSVP is appreciated but not required. RSVP here. Please contact Bronwen McKie, Outreach & Engagement Librarian, with any questions. Email: library.outreach@smu.ca or Call: 902-420-5198.
The Faculty Author Series features author talks with recently published faculty members at Saint Mary's University in support of scholarly communication across campus and the wider community. The Series is hosted by the Patrick Power Library at Saint Mary's University throughout the academic year.
Global Libidinal Economy is the first book to examine global political economy from a psychoanalytic lens. It claims that the libidinal—the site of unconscious desire—plays not a supplementary or trivial, but a constitutive role in global political economy. Consumption, for example, is not simply a way of satisfying a material or biological need but a doomed attempt at soothing our deeply held sense of loss; and capital is not just a means to material growth and prosperity but is invested with “drive” that seduces, beguiles, and manipulates in the service of unending accumulation. Thus, in contrast to political economy, which assumes a rational subject, libidinal economy is founded on the notion of a desiring subject, who obeys a logic not of good sense or self-interest but profligacy and irrationality. By applying a psychoanalytic lens, Global Libidinal Economy thereby seeks to uncover the unconscious excesses and antagonisms emergent in such key political economy categories as “production” and “consumption,” while also bringing out significant contemporary themes relating to “gender” and “race.”
Gavin Fridell is University Research Professor and Chair of Global Development Studies at Saint Mary’s University. His research focuses on fair trade and free trade, the politics of trade agreements, psychoanalysis, and political economy. He has published widely on trade and political economy, including co-authoring, with Ilan Kapoor, Maureen Sioh, and Pieter de Vries, Global Libidinal Economy (SUNY Press 2023), authoring Coffee (Polity Press 2014) and Alternative Trade: Legacies for the Future (Fernwood Press 2013) and co-editing, with Zack Gross and Sean McHugh, The Fair Trade Handbook: Building a Better World, Together (Fernwood Press 2021). He is a member of the Trade and Investment Research Project of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA)
Dr. Alex Marland Guest Lecture
Fall 2023 Meet and Greet
Pathways to Success: From Saint Mary's to International Diplomacy, a virtual Homecoming event
The Political Science Department is proud to announce that former Political Science Major and Honours Student, Isalean Phillip (BA ’16 Political Science, Hons., MA ’19 Gender and Women’s Studies), will be participating in a powerful panel on Pathways to Success: From Saint Mary’s to International Diplomacy with the Honourable Mayann Francis (BA '72 LLD ’12) and Ann-Marie Layne (BA ’94). The panel will take place online at noon on October 12, 2023. Please see the attached poster for details.
Isalean Phillip is currently a Nevis and Saint Kitts Senator. She holds the portfolio of Junior Minister for Youth Empowerment and Social Development, Bender Affairs, Aging and Disabilities. Please see the link: https://www.gov.kn/team/senator-honourable-isalean-phillip/. Her Political Science Honours thesis was entitled “What happens when Race and Gender Overlap? Investigating what ‘intersectionality’ means and does,” under the supervision of Dr. Stella Gaon.
What's Happening in Lebanon Event
This event will be free and open to the public. For registration visit the link: Registration
2023 Honours Thesis Presentations Event
On April 11, 2023 we had our 2023 Honours Thesis Presentations Event on the Unilever Lounge at Saint Mary's University.
Congratulations students!
East Coast Model UN Simulation
Despite record cold temperatures, the Saint Mary’s Model UN Society (SMUMUNS), with the support of the Department of Political Science, hosted the inaugural East Coast Model UN simulation on February 4 and 5, 2023. Opening ceremonies featured guest speaker Michael Eaton, the Executive Director of the National Model UN (NMUN) conference. Some 40 students, representing countries from the five regions recognized by the UN, participated in the day long simulation. Students debated and drafted four resolutions on the topic ‘Safeguarding Human Rights of Persons Displaced by Climate Change’. Manav Khera (BComm) and Pyper Lane (Political Science) served as Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General, and Dr. Marc Doucet assisted as the Faculty Advisor. Naza Yammine (Saint Mary’s), Zoey Phillips (St. FX), and Robbie Hughes (St. FX) were recognized by their peers as ‘Outstanding Delegates’. The organizing committee would like to thank NMUN and Mr. Eaton for the use of the 2023 NMUN GA3 Background Guide.
Atlantic Provinces Political Science Association Annual Conference 2022
The 2022 Conference of the Atlantic Provinces Political Science Association hosted by our department was a success! We are thankful for all participants, keynote speakers and and special panel presenters for three days of intellectually stimulating discussions and networking.
Political Science Fall Welcome Event
The Department of Political Science welcomes all students in the program to a casual "Meet & Greet" event at the Gorsebrook Lounge.
Day: Tuesday October 18th, 2022
Time: 5:30 - 7:00 pm
Place: Gorsebrook Lounge & Pub
Come to meet fellow students and faculty members in Political Science! Enjoy some pizza or a snack!
Drop by for a chat and a slice, and learn more about the program!
The Lucid Vigil: Deconstruction, Desire and the Politics of Critique
Dr. Stella Gaon's new book, The Lucid Vigil: Deconstruction, Desire and the Politics of Critique was published in February of 2019 by Routledge, and was launched on March 22nd, from 1:00-2:30pm, in Atrium 216.
From Right to Left:
Dr, Marc Doucet, Dr. Lyubov Zhyznomirska , Dr. Stella Gaon and Dr. Edna Keeble
Photo by Karen Asp
Canada’s National Defence within the global context
Left to right: Dr. Marc Doucet, Chair of Political Science; Associate Deputy Minister Gordon Venner; Dr. Margaret MacDonald, Dean of Arts; and Political Science Professor Dr. Alexandra Dobrowolsk
An undergraduate education can provide a very helpful foundation for careers in federal government, students heard recently from one of Canada’s top defence advisors.
“The things you’re studying here are going to be really important,” said Associate Deputy Minister Gordon Venner of the Department of National Defence. “We’re going to need a lot of people with the right skills.”
Speaking to a packed lecture hall at Saint Mary’s on November 21, Mr. Venner also explained that recruitment is an ongoing priority for National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. Service personnel and civilian employees are tasked with implementing government decisions related to the defence of Canadian interests at home and abroad.
An education in political science, public policy, geography, business, international relations, communications, science or environmental studies can be helpful, to name just a few areas, and so are the abilities to speak other languages and a greater understanding of other cultures, he said.
Mr. Venner’s lecture was mainly focused on the topic, “Understanding Canada’s defence policy within the evolving global security environment”. He was in Halifax to attend the 11th Halifax International Security Forum, but took time out before the conference to speak to students at Saint Mary’s. The lecture was hosted by the Department of Political Science, but was open to students in all disciplines.
Dr. Marc Doucet, Chair of Political Science, said it was a unique opportunity to hear from such a high-level civil servant.
"It is always valuable for students to hear how the topics discussed in class or course readings, in this case the policy-making process that led to Canada's new defence policy, is described by government officials directly involved," said Dr. Doucet.
Mr. Venner was appointed Associate Deputy Minister in 2017, after several years of serving as Assistant Deputy Minister of Policy for National Defence. Previously, he held a number of senior positions with Global Affairs Canada. His regional areas of responsibility have included the Middle East and North Africa and his work has covered issues related to the G8, APEC and the OECD. Mr. Venner was also Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet for Foreign and Defence Policy in the Privy Council Office. He served as Canadian Ambassador to Iran (2004-2006) and Counsellor at the Canadian Mission to the European Union (1996-2000).
Mr. Venner holds a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Western Ontario.
-- Marla Cranston, Faculty of Arts