I have taught thirteen courses on atrocity crimes, human rights, transitional justice, and comparative politics in the Departments of Political Science at both the University of Calgary and Wilfrid Laurier University with positive student and faculty evaluations. Please see a list below of current and past courses taught.
Current Courses: Wilfrid Laurier University
PO650: International Human Rights, The Law, and Global Governance
Winter 2023
In this graduate-level seminar-based course, students will explore the development of international human rights as a component of global governance, transnational politics, and international law. The course begins with a discussion of the meaning of human rights and how they have progressed over centuries of thought and action into the current United Nations human rights system. From there, students develop critical discussions about central global human rights debates, their histories, and current statuses including contemporary human rights problems like atrocity crimes, Indigenous issues, and displaced persons.
Finally, the course concludes with discussions on the interrelationships between human rights and foreign policy in the 21st Century. This course will aid students in understanding major theoretical advancements and debates in the field of human rights and how these relate to contemporary issues. Debates on contentious issues and histories are critical to better understand how international rights regimes came to be, what they presently are, and how they can inform us on contemporary and future political problems.
PO311D/NO309J: North American Genocide
Fall 2022
This lecture is designed to introduce students to an array of genocidal policies inflicted against Indigenous peoples across North America, and efforts for Indigenous resurgence after these destructive events and processes. Spatially, this course is limited to genocidal processes in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Temporally, this course is limited to genocidal processes from time of first colonization to present. At the core, violence in North America was/is designed to eliminate Indigenous peoples to make space for non-Indigenous Settlers. Understanding frontiers of colonial violence is critical for understanding diverse politics in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Students will critically assess past and present policies against Indigenous peoples across the North American continent, deep roots and long shadows of institutional discrimination and policies of erasure, and difficulties in achieving justice without paradigmatic socio-political transitions.
This course provides critical insights on the intents, functions, and results of settler colonial systems in North America. Additionally, students will learn why actors chose to commit mass atrocities against Indigenous peoples in various spaces and times for various reasons. The impacts of sustained and intergenerational political violence upon Indigenous peoples will be a central fixture of understanding the pursuits of justice.
PO 102: Politics Beyond Borders
Winter 2022 (A&B Section); Winter 2023 (A&B Sections)
Politics among nations have always been, and will likely continue to be, fundamental problems all societies must face and overcome. Individuals, states, and systems face extraordinary changes that will continue to challenge all actors in all societies. Is there order in what some see as disorder? Or is there disorder in what some see as order? By the end of the course, students will learn the tools necessary to critically analyze a constantly-changing world and begin to make sense of order and disorder.
This course helps students appreciate the complexities of politics beyond the borders of Canada and other countries, understand the events and processes unfolding in our world by bridging empirics and theory, learn new tools to build political analyses with, develop and refine critical analyses and problem-solving skills, and understand how individuals and groups can craft the worlds in which they live. Importantly, this course will offer students an introduction to the wide array of tools political scientists use to understand politics beyond borders at the empirical, conceptual, and theoretical levels.
Past Courses: University of Calgary
POLI 402.5 Transitional Justice
Winter 2019
The last two centuries in history have included some of the most destructive campaigns of mass killing and systemic human rights violations ever recorded. To heal from these crimes, transitional justice mechanisms have been employed to achieve dynamic conceptions of justice. This course introduced students to various transitional justice approaches and mechanisms through theories of transitional justice, empirical cases, and examinations of critical relevant issue areas. The main purpose of this course was to help students understand the complexities of transitioning from rights violating societies into rights respecting ones.
Retributive, restorative, and restitutive justice approaches were examined in comparative perspectives. Retributive justice is concerned with holding individual perpetrators accountable legally. Restorative justice focusses on the widespread reporting of truth. Restitutive justice centres on the idea that victims of human rights violations deserve compensation (discursive and material). These approaches are implemented through a variety of mechanisms: legal proceedings (placing perpetrators on trial), truth commissions (hearings to construct holistic narratives), political apologies (for previous rights violations), and reparations payments (compensation for rights violations). Discussions focussed on implementation strategies and types of justice throughout the course.
POLI 359: Introduction to Comparative Politics
Fall 2018; Spring 2018; Spring 2016
This course was designed to introduce students to the study of Comparative Politics, a field that is defined by examinations and comparisons of domestic politics across countries. A primary goal of this course was to offer students analytical tools to critically examine subdisciplines of Comparative Politics and create their own understandings of key approaches, theories, concepts, debates, and cases. Another central focus of this course was to help students understand how to compare cases across spatial and temporal differences and why we engage in the art of comparison.
Students were introduced to core comparative politics concepts and theories, including the comparative method, the state, the interrelationships between structure and agency, and state formation. After this, an examination was conducted of different types of governance (democratic and non-democratic), the roles of political parties and interest groups in various contexts, and the interrelationships between the legislative and executive branches. Finally the course ended with explorations of identity politics and political violence, including colonialism and Indigenous issues, revolutions and social change, violence used by state and non-state actors, and human rights movements.
POLI 481 The Politics of Human Rights
Fall 2018; Winter 2018
The goal of this course was to help students understand the major theoretical advancements and debates in the field of human rights and how these relate to contemporary and future issues. The course engaged students in debates about contentious issues and histories to better understand how international rights regimes came to be, what they presently are, and how they can inform us on contemporary and future political problems. Analyzing the origins, evolutions, and contemporary politics of international human rights was central to this course.
This course focussed on the development of international human rights as a component of global governance, transnational politics, and international law. It began with a discussion of the meaning of human rights and how they have progressed over centuries of thought and action into the current United Nations human rights system. From there, central global human rights debates, their histories, and current statuses were dissected. Understanding patterns of violence including, but not limited to atrocity crimes, Indigenous issues, and displaced persons aided in demonstrating how human rights have been violated, how rights violations can be stopped, and how societies heal after rights violations. The importance of political violence to understanding human rights cannot be overstated. Finally, the course ended by looking forward into the possible futures of human rights in the 21st Century.
POLI 571: The Politics of Human Rights
Winter 2017
In this seminar-based course, students were guided in examinations of the development of international human rights as a component of global governance, transnational politics, and international law. The course began with a discussion of the meaning of human rights and how they have progressed over centuries of thought and action into the current United Nations human rights system. From there, students developed critical discussions about central global human rights debates, their histories, and current statuses including contemporary human rights problems like atrocity crimes, Indigenous issues, and displaced persons.
Finally, the course ended with discussions on the interrelationships between human rights and foreign policy in the 21st Century. The 23-student seminar helped students understand the major theoretical advancements and debates in the field of human rights and how these relate to contemporary issues. Debates were engaged in about contentious issues and histories to better understand how international rights regimes came to be, what they presently are, and how they can inform us on contemporary and future political problems.
Current Courses: Wilfrid Laurier University
PO650: International Human Rights, The Law, and Global Governance
Winter 2023
In this graduate-level seminar-based course, students will explore the development of international human rights as a component of global governance, transnational politics, and international law. The course begins with a discussion of the meaning of human rights and how they have progressed over centuries of thought and action into the current United Nations human rights system. From there, students develop critical discussions about central global human rights debates, their histories, and current statuses including contemporary human rights problems like atrocity crimes, Indigenous issues, and displaced persons.
Finally, the course concludes with discussions on the interrelationships between human rights and foreign policy in the 21st Century. This course will aid students in understanding major theoretical advancements and debates in the field of human rights and how these relate to contemporary issues. Debates on contentious issues and histories are critical to better understand how international rights regimes came to be, what they presently are, and how they can inform us on contemporary and future political problems.
PO311D/NO309J: North American Genocide
Fall 2022
This lecture is designed to introduce students to an array of genocidal policies inflicted against Indigenous peoples across North America, and efforts for Indigenous resurgence after these destructive events and processes. Spatially, this course is limited to genocidal processes in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Temporally, this course is limited to genocidal processes from time of first colonization to present. At the core, violence in North America was/is designed to eliminate Indigenous peoples to make space for non-Indigenous Settlers. Understanding frontiers of colonial violence is critical for understanding diverse politics in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Students will critically assess past and present policies against Indigenous peoples across the North American continent, deep roots and long shadows of institutional discrimination and policies of erasure, and difficulties in achieving justice without paradigmatic socio-political transitions.
This course provides critical insights on the intents, functions, and results of settler colonial systems in North America. Additionally, students will learn why actors chose to commit mass atrocities against Indigenous peoples in various spaces and times for various reasons. The impacts of sustained and intergenerational political violence upon Indigenous peoples will be a central fixture of understanding the pursuits of justice.
PO 102: Politics Beyond Borders
Winter 2022 (A&B Section); Winter 2023 (A&B Sections)
Politics among nations have always been, and will likely continue to be, fundamental problems all societies must face and overcome. Individuals, states, and systems face extraordinary changes that will continue to challenge all actors in all societies. Is there order in what some see as disorder? Or is there disorder in what some see as order? By the end of the course, students will learn the tools necessary to critically analyze a constantly-changing world and begin to make sense of order and disorder.
This course helps students appreciate the complexities of politics beyond the borders of Canada and other countries, understand the events and processes unfolding in our world by bridging empirics and theory, learn new tools to build political analyses with, develop and refine critical analyses and problem-solving skills, and understand how individuals and groups can craft the worlds in which they live. Importantly, this course will offer students an introduction to the wide array of tools political scientists use to understand politics beyond borders at the empirical, conceptual, and theoretical levels.
Past Courses: University of Calgary
POLI 402.5 Transitional Justice
Winter 2019
The last two centuries in history have included some of the most destructive campaigns of mass killing and systemic human rights violations ever recorded. To heal from these crimes, transitional justice mechanisms have been employed to achieve dynamic conceptions of justice. This course introduced students to various transitional justice approaches and mechanisms through theories of transitional justice, empirical cases, and examinations of critical relevant issue areas. The main purpose of this course was to help students understand the complexities of transitioning from rights violating societies into rights respecting ones.
Retributive, restorative, and restitutive justice approaches were examined in comparative perspectives. Retributive justice is concerned with holding individual perpetrators accountable legally. Restorative justice focusses on the widespread reporting of truth. Restitutive justice centres on the idea that victims of human rights violations deserve compensation (discursive and material). These approaches are implemented through a variety of mechanisms: legal proceedings (placing perpetrators on trial), truth commissions (hearings to construct holistic narratives), political apologies (for previous rights violations), and reparations payments (compensation for rights violations). Discussions focussed on implementation strategies and types of justice throughout the course.
POLI 359: Introduction to Comparative Politics
Fall 2018; Spring 2018; Spring 2016
This course was designed to introduce students to the study of Comparative Politics, a field that is defined by examinations and comparisons of domestic politics across countries. A primary goal of this course was to offer students analytical tools to critically examine subdisciplines of Comparative Politics and create their own understandings of key approaches, theories, concepts, debates, and cases. Another central focus of this course was to help students understand how to compare cases across spatial and temporal differences and why we engage in the art of comparison.
Students were introduced to core comparative politics concepts and theories, including the comparative method, the state, the interrelationships between structure and agency, and state formation. After this, an examination was conducted of different types of governance (democratic and non-democratic), the roles of political parties and interest groups in various contexts, and the interrelationships between the legislative and executive branches. Finally the course ended with explorations of identity politics and political violence, including colonialism and Indigenous issues, revolutions and social change, violence used by state and non-state actors, and human rights movements.
POLI 481 The Politics of Human Rights
Fall 2018; Winter 2018
The goal of this course was to help students understand the major theoretical advancements and debates in the field of human rights and how these relate to contemporary and future issues. The course engaged students in debates about contentious issues and histories to better understand how international rights regimes came to be, what they presently are, and how they can inform us on contemporary and future political problems. Analyzing the origins, evolutions, and contemporary politics of international human rights was central to this course.
This course focussed on the development of international human rights as a component of global governance, transnational politics, and international law. It began with a discussion of the meaning of human rights and how they have progressed over centuries of thought and action into the current United Nations human rights system. From there, central global human rights debates, their histories, and current statuses were dissected. Understanding patterns of violence including, but not limited to atrocity crimes, Indigenous issues, and displaced persons aided in demonstrating how human rights have been violated, how rights violations can be stopped, and how societies heal after rights violations. The importance of political violence to understanding human rights cannot be overstated. Finally, the course ended by looking forward into the possible futures of human rights in the 21st Century.
POLI 571: The Politics of Human Rights
Winter 2017
In this seminar-based course, students were guided in examinations of the development of international human rights as a component of global governance, transnational politics, and international law. The course began with a discussion of the meaning of human rights and how they have progressed over centuries of thought and action into the current United Nations human rights system. From there, students developed critical discussions about central global human rights debates, their histories, and current statuses including contemporary human rights problems like atrocity crimes, Indigenous issues, and displaced persons.
Finally, the course ended with discussions on the interrelationships between human rights and foreign policy in the 21st Century. The 23-student seminar helped students understand the major theoretical advancements and debates in the field of human rights and how these relate to contemporary issues. Debates were engaged in about contentious issues and histories to better understand how international rights regimes came to be, what they presently are, and how they can inform us on contemporary and future political problems.
Photo: Shoes on the Danube Bank, Budapest.
Source: Andrew R. Basso, 2013.
Source: Andrew R. Basso, 2013.
