Department Merger
We are thrilled to announce that this department will officially become the Department of Political Science and Global Development Studies on July 1st.
Colleagues from both programs are very excited and looking forward to working closely together as a newly integrated unit. Our goal is to expand our course offerings, increase access to supervisors and instructors, and establish new collaborative events and initiatives.
For students who are majors in either program or both (as joint majors) nothing will change – both programs will keep the same requirements, faculty from both departments will be involved in both, and students can get majors, minors, and Honours degrees in both programs based on existing calendar requirements.
In addition, GDS and Political Science continue to work collaboratively with Geography on the Global Environmental Politics Minor: /political-science/global-environmental-politics-minor.html
Please feel free to reach out to the Chairperson at any time (lyubov.zhyznomirska@smu.ca) for any questions. You can also contact the departmental Administrative Assistant, Laura Becerril, at politics@smu.ca for more information, and you can always reach out directly to your favorite prof for any questions you might have.
Full details for a POLI degree are listed here:
Details for a GDS degree are listed here:
For further information on GDS, see: /gds/index.html
For questions about your degree requirement please contact the BA Advisors (BAadvising@smu.ca) or book an appointment.
There has never been a more urgent time to act and think globally, finding bold and positive ways to intervene in the world in a manner that places justice, solidarity, empathy and understanding first and foremost, to achieve meaningful and substantial change. As always, we look forward to discussing and engaging with you all on the most critical issues of our time.
Congratulations, 2024 Graduates!
From left to right: Dr. Alexandra Dobrowolsky, Dr. Lyubov Zhyznomirska, Pyper Lane, Dr. Marc Doucet.
From left to right: Devin Gallo, Pyper Lane, Dr. Marc Doucet, Mae Graham.
From left to right: Naza Yamine, Kamryn Zboya, Pyper Lane.
Saint Mary's students win "Best Negotiators" Award at the 2024 Model EU Simulation at York University in Toronto!
Congratulations to Jordyn LeBoutillier and Brayden Rogers-Stone, who represented Ireland on behalf of the Department of Political Science!
Saint Mary's 2024 Model UN Delegation wins Distinguished Delegation Award
The Department of Political Science is proud to announce that the 2024 Saint Mary’s Model UN Delegation won a Distinguished Delegation award in recognition of their work over the course of the one-week National Model United Nations (NMUN) simulation held in New York City, March 23-29. This year, the delegation represented The Bahamas on the UN’s GA1, GA2, GA3, UNEA, and IAEA bodies. The delegation was comprised of ten students from the Faculty of Arts and the Sobey School of Business. Dr. Marc Doucet once again served as the course instructor and faculty advisor.
Front row, left to right: Jack Poirier (Head Delegate); Mae Graham (Head Delegate); Chloe O’Brien.
Back row, left to right: Christopher Nicoll; Tyler Hutchinson; Victoria Cheeseman; Jill Daniels; Wesley Brouse; Usman Muhammad; Shiva Kakkar.
New course options for Winter 2024
Saint Mary's's Model UN Delegation wins Distinguished Delegation Award for representing Saint Kitts and Nevis at the 2023 National Model United Nations
From Left to Right: Apoorva, Sorav Sogy, Manav Khera (Head Delegate), Anali Gorozpe, Devin Gallo, Naza Yammine, Kamryn Zboya, Pyper Lane, Ishaan Singh, Marc Doucet (Faculty Advisor).
This year’s delegation won a Distinguished Delegation Award for representing Saint Kitts and Nevis at the 2023 National Model United Nations () that took place in New York City on April 1st to April 7th of 2023.
The 2023 Delegation included nine undergraduate students and one faculty advisor. Two of the delegates, Pyper Lane and Naza Yammine, also won an Outstanding Position Paper award in recognition of their pre-conference research on 1) Youth for Disarmament, Non-Proliferation, and Peace; and 2) Addressing the Illicit Supply of Weapons to Non-State Actors.
The Department is very proud to announce that Pyper Lane (Honours Candidate, 2023-2024) has been selected for Simon Fraser University's summer
In addition to participating in a high-level NATO simulation exercise at the NATO Defense College in Rome, Pyper will visit Allied Joint Force Command in Naples, followed by visits to a number of NATO's European sites including Riga, Latvia; Tallinn, Estonia; Vilnius, Lithuania; and NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. The Department wishes to congratulate Pyper on being selected for this prestigious program!
Mehak Tekchandani, Fall Graduation Valedictorian shares her thoughts about her Model United Nations Experience
Mehak Tekchandani of New Delhi, India who represented Saint Mary’s at the National Model United Nations conference in New York, where the university’s team received a Distinguished Delegation Award last April shared her experience.
The complete article can be found here:
Reflecting on her Model UN experience Mehak comments,
“We met people from all over the world. It was fascinating to hear their thoughts and how one action has a different ripple effect all over the globe. I realized how big the world really is and how much there is to know and explore. If you are at SMU, I would highly encourage you to take this course! I’d also like to acknowledge those who made our trip possible: Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray, who helped us with the US visa process, and our amazing professor Dr. Marc Doucet, who was a constant support and a rock for our team of delegates.”
Political Science Honours Alumna is sworn-in as a Senator in St. Kitts and Nevis
We are proud to share with everyone that Ms. Isalean Phillip, who holds an Honours degree in Political Science and a Master's degree in Women and Gender Studies from Saint Mary's, was sworn-in as a Senator in the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis on August 13, 2022. She has been appointed Minister of Youth Empowerment, Social Development, Gender Affairs, Ageing and Disabilities.
A video of the swearing-in ceremony of the federal cabinet can be found here:
Reflecting on her time in the program, Isalean writes,
“When I think about my career trajectory, I can’t deny the influence of my undergraduate experience as a Political Science Hons student at SMU. I believe my ability to think critically and strategically was nurtured and honed by professors in the department who always challenged me to engage with the material beyond a superficial level. Having a Political Science Hons degree as my educational foundation helped to capture my interest and expand my passion for political thought and engagement. Today, as a young, female Senator in government, my competency and aptitude for success is grounded in theoretical and empirical knowledge that informs my understanding and guides my decision making as a leader and policy professional. Since graduating from SMU, I’ve stayed connected and always felt comfortable popping up and reaching out to professors in the department, who always respond with welcoming encouragement and assistance; that’s the kind of community-level support that makes SMU stand out as a post-secondary institution in Canada.”
Hon. Senator Isalean Phillip
Minister of Youth Empowerment, Social Development, Gender Affairs, Ageing and Disabilities
Government of St. Kitts and Nevis
Emergent-cies: Politics Today and Tomorrow
The Department of Political Science will be hosting this year the APPSA 2022. The Annual Conference of the Atlantic Provinces Political Science Association will take place in Saint Mary’s University from September 30 to October 2, 2022 where practitioners, activists, and graduate students will be gathering from across the region.
Program Highlights
KEYNOTE ADDRESSES:
“Resistance and Resurgence: Contesting the Colonization of Our Collective Futures,” Dr. Pamela D. Palmater (Toronto Metropolitan University)
“The Politics of Abortion Rights after the Fall of Roe v. Wade,” by Dr. Joanna Erdman (Schulich Law School, Dalhousie University)
SPECIAL PANELS:
Alexa McDonough “When in Doubt Do Both”
The Ukraine-Russia War of 2022: Ukrainian and International Responses to the Russian Invasion
Climate Emergencies: Exploring the Political Economy of Global Climate Breakdown
Political Science Major Valedictorian Baden Mercer
Baden Mercer, who graduated with a double major in Political Science and Religious Studies, was valedictorian at the Winter 2022 Saint Mary's Graduation Ceremony. The Department of Political Science is especially proud! Congratulations Baden!
See the links below to hear his speech and to read the article posted by CBC News:
A Message from the Chair
On Friday, March 25, 2022 Saint Mary’s University, in partnership with the Faculty of Arts, hosted a public forum on the war in Ukraine. The event was held in person and was also streamed live, online, for those who wished to attend remotely. It can now be viewed here.
The invasion of Ukraine is an explicit assault on democracy, political sovereignty, and the rule of international law. As such, the war is catastrophic not only for Ukrainians, but for the entire Saint Mary's community. As an academic body, we have not only the capacity but the obligation to respond in the best way that we can: with information, knowledge, critical analyses, and expertise.
In sponsoring this event, the Department of Political Science wishes to express its solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, and hopes to contribute to an understanding of Ukraine’s response to the war. At the Special Forum, an international panel of speakers unpacked the diplomatic, legal, and humanitarian dimensions of Russia’s unlawful incursion into Ukraine’s sovereign territory.
During the event, organizers provided information about donating to the fund set up by the Canada-Ukraine Foundation and Ukrainian Canadian Congress. Donations and support continue to be needed.
Dr. Stella Gaon, Political Science Department Chair
THE PANEL:
BIOS:
Kalina McCaul
Kalina McCaul hails from Ottawa, Canada. She holds a Master’s in Peace and Conflict Studies from Uppsala University, Sweden, and is a graduate of the Honours Political Science program at Saint Mary's. She has led programming within the humanitarian-development-peace nexus in Canada and around the globe, for organizations such as the Canadian Red Cross; the British Army; and the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security.
Kalina brings expertise in child protection, security sector reform, and Women, Peace and Security, as well as designing training and capacity building programs. Most recently, Kalina has established missions in fragile and conflict affected contexts in South Sudan, Mozambique and Sudan.
Olena Pavlenko
Olena Pavlenko, PhD, is President of the Ukrainian think-tank DiXi Group and co-founder of the “Ukrainian Energy” website. Olena has worked in the energy sector for more than 20 years, dealing with such issues as energy security, energy transparency, oil and gas market liberalization, and EU-Ukraine-Russian energy relations.
Olena is a Deputy Head of the EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) MSG (Multi-Stakeholder Group) in Ukraine. She is also Chair of the Global Council of PWYP (Publish What You Pay) coalition and Member of the Ukrainian side of the EU-UA Civil Society Platform. Olena has served as not-on-staff Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (2019) and to the Minister of Energy (2015-2016).
Olena coordinates different projects, funded by USAID, EU, GIZ, World Bank and OECD, on such issues as increasing the transparency of Ukraine’s energy sector; implementation of the EU legislation in Ukraine, including Ukraine’s commitment to join the EU Green Deal initiative; monitoring Ukraine’s commitments to European energy reforms; and promoting new energy legislation (gas and electricity markets, energy regulator). Olena was among those who initiated the draft laws on Energy Regulator and on Data Disclosure in Extractive Industries.
Tamara Martsenyuk
Tamara Martsenyuk holds a Ph.D. (Candidate of Sciences) in Sociology. She is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Ukraine), and former Fulbright Scholar at the Harriman Institute, Columbia University (the USA, 2017-2018). She is the author of more than 100 academic publications, chapters of textbooks and chapters of books.
Tamara is engaged in educational activism, conducting training for a wide target audience: journalists, think tanks, civil servants, politicians, civic activists, and more. She shares the idea of public sociology – science and research for the sake of social change, and is therefore constantly involved in various research or teaching projects. Her research interest is connected with gender and social structure, among them women’s access to the military.
From 2015-2021, Tamara (with the research team) conducted sociological studies called “Invisible Battalion” to examine the successes and challenges of gender equality implementation in the Ukrainian armed forces, the status of female veterans, and the problem of sexual harassment in the military.
Luna Vives
Luna Vives is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Montreal. She studies how borders are used to stop, divert and manage unwanted migration. She is particularly interested in the tension between policy priorities and the protection of migrants’ rights along the EU’s external borders.
Oleksandra Matviychuk
Oleksandra Matviychuk is a human rights defender who works on issues in Ukraine and the OSCE region. At present, she heads the human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties, and also coordinates the work of the initiative group Euromaidan SOS.
The activities of the Center for Civil Liberties are aimed at protecting human rights and establishing democracy in Ukraine and the OSCE region. The organization develops legislative changes, exercises public oversight over law enforcement agencies and the judiciary, conducts educational activities for young people and implements international solidarity programs.
In 2016, Oleksandra received the Democracy Defender Award for “Exclusive Contribution to Promoting Democracy and Human Rights” from missions to the OSCE. In 2017, she became the first woman to participate in the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program of Stanford University.
Letter from Canada: Olga Zaitseva-Herz
The event will conclude with a video of Letter from Canada, a musical performance by . It’s a contemporary arrangement of a historical Ukrainian folk song about immigration.
Olga is an internationally recognized Folk Fusion Music Artist specializing in voice and violin, and is the bandleader of ZAITSA. Olga is a PhD candidate in Ethnomusicology under the supervision of Dr. Michael Frishkopf in the Department of Music at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada), and a research assistant at its Kule Folklore Centre.
Her work focuses on the fieldwork of Dr. Robert Klymasz from the 1960s and 1970s, which resulted in thousands of hours of song recordings of Ukrainian immigrants to Canada and first-generation Ukrainian-Canadians. Olga’s previous work focused on digitization and analysis of this collection and currently, she is working on making these recordings accessible to researchers worldwide. Furthermore, Olga is working on creating a musical play based on the history of Ukrainian immigration to Canada. She obtained a degree in violin, a graduate degree in sound design from the Kyiv Karpenko-Karyi University of Theater, Kino and TV (Ukraine), and completed her studies in singing at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (Germany).
Honours Event via Zoom - 1 April 2021
Congratulations to Kaitlyn and Michael for two excellent, rich and engaging, presentations!, Thank you to those who were able to attend this event, and for such stimulating questions and thoughtful observations! 
Our first Zoom Meet and Greet was a great success
Thanks to all who attended
Join us @ MEET AND GREET 2021
Dr. Stella Gaon Wins book award!
Congratulations to Dr. Stella Gaon, Professor of Political Science, Saint Mary's, who has been awarded the 2020 Symposium book award for her book, The Lucid Vigil: Deconstruction, Desire and the Politics of Critique (Routledge 2019). Symposium is the journal of the Canadian Society for Continental Philosophy (CSCP/SCPC). Dr. Gaon's book "ranked at the top" among many excellent, prize-worthy books. Well done and well-deserved Dr. Gaon!
"The Department of Political Science is excited to announce the launch in September 2020 of a new multidisciplinary minor delivered jointly with the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies and the International Development Studies Program (IDS). The course requirements for the Minor can be found under "Programs" on this page.
The Alumni Association was pleased to honour Dr. Marc G. Doucet with the Father William A. Stewart, S.J., Medal for Excellence in Teaching at the 2017 Spring Convocation.
The Father William A. Stewart, S.J., Medal for Excellence in Teaching was created in 1983 by the Alumni Association, Faculty Union, and Students’ Representative Council (now SMUSA), in honour of Father Stewart who faithfully served the Saint Mary’s community for many years, both as a teacher of Philosophy and an academic administrator.
Dr. Doucet joins Drs. Edna Keeble, Ron Landes, and Edward McBride as recipients of this award from the Department of Political Science.
The Department is proud to put on display at the Patrick Power Library its first book acquisitions purchased with the Gerald P. Beech Memorial Fund. Many thanks go to Wendell Sanford for initiating the fund and to members of the Saint Mary’s Alumni for their contributions.
Professor Alexandra Dobrowolsky is the proud recipient of Saint Mary’s University’s President’s Award for Research Excellence. Dr. Dobrowolsky is thrilled with the fact that she is the first woman in the Faculty of Arts (and the third woman in the history of the Award) to achieve this distinction, and she has every confidence that this marks the beginning of a long line of Research Excellence Awards to come for women in the Arts, and throughout the university.
First row, from left to right: Laura Crocker, Sydney Hull, Cassie Hill, Tatiane Camargo, Isalean Philip, Julia Rodgers (Head Delegate), Thokozani Sithole
Second row, from left to right: Yannick Manga, Brandon Hawley, Aaron Johnston, Benjamin Mawdlsey, Emily Prosser, Matt Gaul, Wesley Wilcox, Antoine Dutil, Alexander Isenor, Thomas Redden, Dr. Marc Doucet (Faculty Advisor).
In the photo: Dr. Marc Doucet, Michael Smith, Sean Hanlon, Callee Luddington, Tatiane Camargo
Callee Luddington, 2014-15 Political Science Honours student, awarded prestigious scholarship by the Consulate for the Royal Kingdom of Norway and
Congratulations to Dr. Alexandra Dobrowolsky, who received the Award for Overall Excellence in the Field of Education at Saint Mary's's 2014 Charter Day celebrations!
Halifax- Over the past 20 years, the number of immigrants to Nova Scotia has increased, but the share of immigrants coming to the province has not, and retention rates remain among the worst in the country. This is the context for the challenges that are tackled in a new report released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia today.
Halifax- Over the past 20 years, the number of immigrants to Nova Scotia has increased, but the share of immigrants coming to the province has not, and retention rates remain among the worst in the country. This is the context for the challenges that are tackled in a new report released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia today.
