News and events

  • Politics and Film: The Big Short

    Monday, January 30, 2017 | By

    The Big Short (2015, Dir. Adam McKay)
    5 Oscar nominations; Oscar winner, Best Adapted ScreenplayMonday, January 30, 8 pm
    The Film House
    250 St. Paul St., St. CatharinesThe 2008 Global Financial Crisis almost destroyed the world economy, and led to the rise of Donald Trump. And yet very few people saw it coming. The Oscar-winning film The Big Short is Adam McKay’s hilarious and infuriating account of what actually happened, starring Christian Bale, Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt.

    The film will be followed with a discussion and audience Q&A with political science professors Stefan Dolgert and Blayne Haggart.

    The Big Short is presented in conjunction with the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Film House. Tickets are $9 (general admission) and $7 for Film House members. Tickets can be bought online at https://firstontariopac.ca/Online/article/FilmHouse or by calling the box office at 905-688-0722. Tickets are also available the day of show.

    This is an Experience BU event.

    Categories: Events

  • When did Canada become a Democracy?

    Monday, January 23, 2017 | By

    Dennis Pilon, York University
    January 23, 2017, 2 pm – 4 pm
    Academic South 217

    Scholars routinely refer to Canadian democracy but seldom enquire about its origins or development, other than to note the extension of the franchise to women, visible minorities, and indigenous peoples.  Yet there is little doubt that while Canada was not a democracy at its founding it has been considered to be one for some time.  What changed?  When were the decisive moments that contributed to the shift from not-democracy to democracy?  The challenges in taking up this question are simultaneously theoretical, methodological and empirical, involving debate about just what ‘democracy’ is or is not and what counts as evidence in establishing its existence or depth.  This talk will explore these questions with the aid of historian Ian Mackay’s ‘liberal order framework’ to help guide the discussion.

    For further information, please contact Zachary Spicer.

    Categories: Events

  • The Rise of Trumpism: What’s Next for the United States, Canada and the World?

    Tuesday, January 17, 2017 | By

    Panel discussion
    Tuesday, January 17, 2017, 7 pm – 9 pm
    St. Catharines Public Library
    Mills Room
    54 Church St.
    St. Catharines, ON

    The inauguration of the most-unqualified presidential candidate in US history is days away. People and countries around the world are fearing the worst. What should we expect over the next four years?

    Join our experts from the Brock University Department of Political Science for a roundtable discussion and Q&A as we try to come to terms with an event that will reverberate for years to come.

    Speakers:
    Leah Bradshaw, Professor
    Stefan Dolgert, Assistant Professor
    Blayne Haggart, Associate Professor

    For more information, please contact Zachary Spicer.

    Categories: Events

  • The Inescapable Politics of Policing Fair Play in Sport

    Friday, November 25, 2016 | By

    November 25, 2016
    10:00am – 11:30am
    PL 600F

    Questions of fair play were among the many concerns that emerged in the lead up to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Scandals about alleged corruption and systematic doping plagued athletes training in both Russia and Kenya. With the suspension of the hyperandrogenism regulations, which set a threshold for testosterone levels for competitors in women’s events, there were also expressed concerns about whether or not South African 800-meter runner Caster Semenya had an unfair advantage over her competitors. This research presentation examines the enduring politics—geopolitical, classed, gendered, and postcolonial—of attempts to regulate fair play through the policing of athletes’ bodies. It also considers new techno-scientific dimensions of these politics, which have become visible in recent scandals. It draws upon qualitative and archival data collected by Dr. Henne in Australasia, Europe, and North America, including interview data with nearly 200 participants, observations of regulatory policy meetings and sport-specific events, and archival research at the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne.

    Kathryn (Kate) Henne is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo and a fellow of the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) at the Australian National University. She was previously a Senior Research Fellow at RegNet, where she worked for five years after completing her Ph.D. in Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California, Irvine. Her research focuses the how technology and law interface with social inequality in practice, focusing primarily on the growing use of biometric technologies of regulation. She has studied these issues in the contexts of sport and physical culture, drug regulation, post-incarceration, and social assistance delivery.

    For more information, please contact Zachary Spicer.

    Categories: Events

  • The Rise of Trumpism: What Happened, and What’s Next?

    Thursday, November 17, 2016 | By

    Panel Event
    Thursday, November 17, 2016
    2-4 pm
    Welch Hall 207

    The unexpected election of Donald Trump to the US presidency is shaping up to be a world-defining moment, for the United States and the world. What happened, and what are its implications for Canada and international politics?
    Join us for a roundtable discussion and Q&A on an event with few parallels in recent history.

    Speakers:
    Charles Burton, Department of Political Science
    Blayne Haggart, Department of Political Science
    Tamari Kitossa, Department of Sociology

    Categories: Events

  • Politics and Film: The Fog of War

    Wednesday, November 09, 2016 | By

    The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (Dir. Erroll Morris)
    2003 Oscar, Best Documentary, 107 mins
    Followed by Q&A and audience discussion

    Wednesday, November 9, 8 pm
    The Film House
    250 St. Paul St., St. Catharines

    Brock University’s Department of Political Science’s Politics and Film series marks Remembrance Day with a special screening and public discussion of The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara, Erroll Morris’ Academy Award-winning documentary-length interview with one the main US architect of the Vietnam War. His reflections on one of the most disastrous and destructive events in US history, and his role in it, is a gripping, enlightening must-see on the nature of war and American politics.

    This screening of The Fog of War will be followed by a discussion and audience Q&A with Brock political scientists Stefan Dolgert and Blayne Haggart. Stefan Dolgert calls it “one of the finest meditations on the seductions of realpolitik, the precarious nature of international security, and the horrible cost of failing to think ethically about the origin and conduct of war.”

    The Fog of Waris presented in conjunction with the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Film House. Tickets are $9 (general admission) and $7 for Film House members. Tickets can be bought online at https://firstontariopac.ca/Online/article/FilmHouse or by calling the box office at 905-688-0722. Tickets are also available the day of show.

    For further information, please contact Blayne Haggart.

    Categories: Events

  • With Her or with the Hair? Making Sense of the US Presidential Election

    Thursday, November 03, 2016 | By

    Panel Event
    Thursday, November 3
    2-4 pm
    Sankey Chamber

    For more than a year, Americans (and frankly, most of the world) have been riveted by the 2016 presidential race. While most of us are finding it hard to look away, we are also trying to make sense of what we’re seeing. What are the conditions that gave rise to Donald Trump? How did Hillary Clinton manage to become the Democratic nominee? What are the big issues in this campaign that are being ignored? What might be the lasting consequences of this election? And, of course, what is the impact for Canada?

    Join us as we explore these questions with an public lecture, featuring:

    • Stefan Dolgert (Department of Political Science, Brock University)
    • Paul Hamilton (Department of Political Science, Brock University)
    • Tami Friedman (Department of History, Brock University)

    Each will make a brief presentation about the state and history of the current race and help to put the election in context as well as answering questions from the audience.

    For further information, please contact Zachary Spicer.

    Categories: Events

  • Making Sense of the 2016 Presidential Election

    Tuesday, November 01, 2016 | By

    Panel Event
    Tuesday, November 1
    7-9 pm
    St. Catharines Public Library

    For more than a year, Americans (and frankly, most of the world) have been riveted by the 2016 presidential race. While most of us are finding it hard to look away, we are also trying to make sense of what we’re seeing. What are the conditions that gave rise to Donald Trump? How did Hillary Clinton manage to become the Democratic nominee? What are the big issues in this campaign that are being ignored? What might be the lasting consequences of this election? And, of course, what is the impact for Canada?

    Join us as we explore these questions with an public lecture, featuring:

    • Stefan Dolgert (Department of Political Science, Brock University)
    • Paul Hamilton (Department of Political Science, Brock University)
    • Tami Friedman (Department of History, Brock University)

    Each will make a brief presentation about the state and history of the current race and help to put the election in context as well as answering questions from the audience.

    Please note you must register online for this event. To register, click here.

    For further information, please contact Zachary Spicer.

    Categories: Events

  • Politics and Film: Brace yourself for US Election 2016 by reliving the first time a Clinton won the presidency

    Friday, October 28, 2016 | By

    The War Room (Dir. DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus)
    1993, Oscar nomination, Best Documentary, 93 mins
    Followed by Q&A and audience discussion

    As the most improbable and high-stakes US presidential election in modern times careens to an unpredictable close, the Brock University Department of Political Science invites you to join us for a screening and discussion of The War Room, the influential 1993 documentary of the first time a Clinton ran for President.

    The War Room, the third film in the department’s Politics and Film Series,offers a behind-the-scenes account of Bill Clinton’s insurgent and (at the time) improbable campaign for the presidency, and offers an illuminating contrast to the 2016 campaign between Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump.

    This special screening of The War Room will be followed by a discussion of the film and of the current presidential race with Brock political scientists Stefan Dolgert and Blayne Haggart. “The stakes for the current election couldn’t be higher, for Americans, Canadians and the whole world,” says Politics and Film series coordinator Blayne Haggart. “It’s also been a really, really unusual election. Tonight’s event will give us and audience members a chance to talk about the state of the most bizarre election in recent memory, and to see what’s changed and what’s stayed the same since Bill Clinton ran in 1992.”

    The War Room is presented in conjunction with the PAC Film House. Tickets are $9 (general admission) and $7 for Film House members. Tickets can be bought online at https://firstontariopac.ca/Online/article/FilmHouse or by calling the box office at 905-688-0722. Tickets are also available the day of show.

    For further information, please contact Blayne Haggart.

    Categories: Events

  • An Interactive Forum on Electoral Reform in Canada

    Thursday, October 20, 2016 | By

    Thursday, October, 20, 2016
    7:00 pm
    Thistle Hall 325

    This event will be hosted by the Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship at McGill University, but will be live-streamed into Thistle Hall 325 and will allow both in-room and remote attendees to ask questions and vote on their preferred electoral system via a mobile platform.
    The forum itself will feature commentary by Canada’s Minster of Democratic Institutions, the Honourable Maryam Monsef, as well as four political scientists, each making the case for a particular electoral system: Peter Loewen (University of Toronto), Laura Stephenson (University of Western Ontario), Marc André Bodet (Université Laval) and Sven-Oliver Proksch (McGill University).

    Political scientists from Brock will also be on hand to answer questions/offer commentary to audience members whose online questions are not addressed via the Mobile Platform.

    For further information, please contact Zachary Spicer.

    Categories: Events

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