TRN409H1
TRN409H1: Selected Topics in International Studies
These fourth-year seminars introduce students to advanced study of international relations focused on specific themes as determined by the course instructor. For the 2025-2026 academic year, there are seven sections of TRN409H1.
TRN409H1-F: LEC0101: Selected Topics in International Studies – Nuclear Weapons and World Politics
Course Description
This course covers the impact of nuclear weapons on warfare, diplomacy, and the international system from their invention to the present. It addresses the development of the weapons, their use in the Second World War, and the emergence of “deterrence” between the Cold War superpowers. The evolution of the weapons themselves and nuclear strategy will be addressed, along with efforts at arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation, and the major crises of the nuclear age. We will study decisions by various states to seek nuclear weapons or refrain from doing so, as well as antinuclear movements, and the presentation of nuclear weapons in popular culture.
2025-2026 Course Instructor
| Jack Cunningham
Jack Cunningham is a Fellow and Assistant Professor at Trinity College, where he is Program Coordinator of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History and teaches in the International Relations Program. He holds a BA in English and an MA in History from the University of Calgary, and a PhD in History from the University of Toronto. He has published on the recent conflict in Afghanistan, the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Canadian nuclear history, and the 1999 Kosovo War, among other topics. He is a former editor of International Journal, Canada’s principal journal of foreign affairs. He is also a frequent commentator in the media on international affairs.
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TRN409H1-F: LEC0201: Selected Topics in International Studies – Infectious Disease, Security and Society
Course Description
International relations scholars have long considered the challenges of decision making under uncertainty, particularly in response to acute crises. Infectious diseases pose one such set of challenges whether it be managing endemic disease or the prevention and management of epidemics and pandemics. To some, infectious diseases pose a risk to national security through the erosion of state capacity and stability, biosecurity and decisions around the procurement of bioweapons. To others, infectious diseases evoke matters of human rights and social justice when considering the distribution of disease and access to care. At the centre lay approaches rooted in human security that bring together the stability and protection of our national borders with the responsibility of all governments to protect the most vulnerable in our midst. Such complex and interconnected crises place high demands on intelligence, defense, public health and development agencies at the national and international level.
While such crises reveal vulnerabilities in our governing institutions, they also reveal the possibilities for positive policy change. This course unpacks why—identifying what we know about crisis prevention and management and the relationship between security, intelligence, human rights and health. It does so by drawing upon the rich literature of conflict management and crisis decision making, public health, medical anthropology, security and intelligence analysis, situating the responses to recent infectious disease outbreaks. In particular, we will focus on how policy standards are negotiated and how health and security are defined and evaluated, drawing out lessons for future crises.
2025-2026 Course Instructor
| Joy Fitzgibbon
Joy Fitzgibbon is an Associate Professor at Trinity College where she also serves as Associate Director of the Trinity One Program. She is a political scientist whose research explores solutions to governance dilemmas in pandemic control and in international security. As a scholar of international relations, she assesses the efficacy of policies shaped by global health networks, international institutions and national public health and security agencies. Her PhD research explored the Harvard NGO Partners in Health’s successful policy advocacy at the World Health Organization around multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. She is co-author of Networks of Knowledge and more recently articles including WHO, Surveillance and COVID-19 and a review of The COVID-19 Intelligence Failure, Why Warning Was Not Enough. She has three ongoing research projects: a critical assessment of global pandemic responses to COVID-19, TB and HIV-AIDs; an analysis of contested worldviews on pandemic control; and an examination of the failure to address norms of sexual and gender based violence in conflict zones. She has lectured as faculty in the International Paediatric Emergency Medicine Elective at U of T, in the Canadian Disaster and Humanitarian Response Training Program and was a member of the Expert Working Group, Re-imagining Canadian National Security Strategy for the 21st Century—Working Group 7 After COVID: Global Pandemics and Biosecurity Strategy with the Centre for International Governance Innovation at the University of Waterloo. In addition to her faculty position at Trinity College, she is also a Fellow there, a Senior Fellow at the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History and a member of the Institute for Pandemics at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
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TRN409H1-F: LEC0301: Selected Topics in International Studies – Canadian Defence Policy since the Cold War
Course Description
This course covers the evolution of Canadian defence policy since the close of the Cold War in the late 1980s. It addresses the efforts of successive governments to adjust to the changed post-Cold War security environment. Early sessions will cover the Cold War legacy and efforts to adapt such practices as peacekeeping to new circumstances. Later sessions will cover such challenges as Ballistic Missile Defence, reforming defence procurement, the mission in Afghanistan, and current threats to European security.
2025-2026 Course Instructor
| Jack Cunningham
Jack Cunningham is a Fellow and Assistant Professor at Trinity College, where he is Program Coordinator of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History and teaches in the International Relations Program. He holds a BA in English and an MA in History from the University of Calgary, and a PhD in History from the University of Toronto. He has published on the recent conflict in Afghanistan, the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Canadian nuclear history, and the 1999 Kosovo War, among other topics. He is a former editor of International Journal, Canada’s principal journal of foreign affairs. He is also a frequent commentator in the media on international affairs.
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TRN409H1-S: LEC0101: Selected Topics in International Studies – Canadian Defence Policy since the Cold War
Course Description
This course covers the evolution of Canadian defence policy since the close of the Cold War in the late 1980s. It addresses the efforts of successive governments to adjust to the changed post-Cold War security environment. Early sessions will cover the Cold War legacy and efforts to adapt such practices as peacekeeping to new circumstances. Later sessions will cover such challenges as Ballistic Missile Defence, reforming defence procurement, the mission in Afghanistan, and current threats to European security.
2025-2026 Course Instructor
| Jack Cunningham
Jack Cunningham is a Fellow and Assistant Professor at Trinity College, where he is Program Coordinator of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History and teaches in the International Relations Program. He holds a BA in English and an MA in History from the University of Calgary, and a PhD in History from the University of Toronto. He has published on the recent conflict in Afghanistan, the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Canadian nuclear history, and the 1999 Kosovo War, among other topics. He is a former editor of International Journal, Canada’s principal journal of foreign affairs. He is also a frequent commentator in the media on international affairs.
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TRN409H1-S: LEC0201: Selected Topics in International Studies – Canada and Asia in Revolution, 1945 to Present Time
Course Description
This course examines the fascinating history of Canada’s relations with Asia since 1945. Together we will explore key themes regarding diplomacy, trade, human rights, development and immigration during a period of great political, economic and social change. While the main focus will be on official relations, we also will consider the role of business, military, cultural and other non-state actors. Course readings include scholarly books and articles as well as biographies, memoirs and primary documents. Since this is a seminar course, students will be assessed on their participation, presentations and written work. They will be expected to engage intelligently and critically with the course material, thereby deepening their understanding of Canada’s role in this increasingly important region.
2025-2026 Course Instructor
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John Meehan Professor John Meehan is the Director of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History at Trinity College and a Senior Fellow at Massey College. A historian by training, Dr. John Meehan has a BA in History and Russian Studies from McGill University, a diploma in Theology from Magdalen College, Oxford, an MA in International Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in History from the University of Toronto. His publications include The Dominion and the Rising Sun: Canada Encounters Japan, 1929-1941 (winner of the Prime Minister’s Award in Japan) and Chasing the Dragon in Shanghai: Canada’s Early Relations with China, 1858-1952. A former President of Campion College (U of Regina) and the University of Sudbury, he has taught and published on Canadian foreign relations, Asia Pacific studies and relations with Indigenous peoples. |
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TRN409H1-S: LEC0301: Selected Topics in International Studies – War and its Theorists
Course Description
This course surveys the evolution of the theory and practice of armed conflict from prehistory to the contemporary era. Early sessions look at the heroic ethos of ancient Greece, as exemplified in Homer, and the realist analysis of the origins of wars as set out in Thucydides’ history of the Peloponnesian War. Subsequent sessions cover the early modern “Military Revolution”, Clausewitz and Napoleonic warfare, the impact of industrialization on war, the emergence of modern seapower, airpower, total war, and guerrilla warfare, closing with discussion of the birth of nuclear strategy. Students will be evaluated on the basis of class presentations, overall participation, and written work, including a substantial research paper.
2025-2026 Course Instructor
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Jack Cunningham Jack Cunningham is a Fellow and Assistant Professor at Trinity College, where he is Program Coordinator of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History and teaches in the International Relations Program. He holds a BA in English and an MA in History from the University of Calgary, and a PhD in History from the University of Toronto. He has published on the recent conflict in Afghanistan, the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Canadian nuclear history, and the 1999 Kosovo War, among other topics. He is a former editor of International Journal, Canada’s principal journal of foreign affairs. He is also a frequent commentator in the media on international affairs. |
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TRN409H1-S: LEC5101: Selected Topics in International Studies – AI, Governance and Democracy: Legal, Ethical and Policy Frontiers
Course Description
As artificial intelligence reshapes societies at an unprecedented pace, the challenges for governance, ethics, legal frameworks, and international relations grow ever more urgent. This course explores the intersection of AI, law, policy, and democracy within a rapidly evolving regulatory and geopolitical landscape. Students will examine how governments, corporations, civil societies, and international bodies are responding to AI’s promises and perils — from protecting privacy and fostering/impeding innovation to regulating misinformation, managing global competition, the intellectual property rights race, and ensuring safety and accountability. Through case studies, debates, and expert insights, we will critically engage with the legal questions, ethical considerations, and governance models that are shaping our AI-driven future.
2025-2026 Course Instructor
| Steven Wang
Steven Wang is a corporate attorney based in Toronto and serves as a lecturer at Harvard Law School (on US-China relations) and previously as an adjunct professor at University of Toronto Faculty of Law (on innovation and corporate governance). Steven began his legal career at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions and capital markets. He has also served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard International Law Journal. Prior to legal practice, Steven founded a social enterprise in Asia supported by the Gates Foundation cultivating the next generation of social innovation leaders. Steven is a David Rockefeller Fellow at the Trilateral Commission and sits on the advisory board of Canadian International Council and board of Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers. Steven graduated with a B.A. from University of Toronto at Trinity College, J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Master of Public Policy from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.
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| Christie Bates
Christie Bates is an intellectual property lawyer at Smart & Biggar, Canada’s leading IP law firm. She is an experienced educator in the field of IP, regularly teaching professionals, startups, and creatives through courses, workshops, and community programs. Her teaching portfolio includes institutions such as the Canadian and Ontario Bar Associations, Ted Rogers School of Management, Artists’ Legal Advice Services, MaRS, Seneca College and McGill University, where she will serve as Assistant Course Director for the 2025 Copyright Master Class. Since 2021, Christie has been consistently recognized as a Best Lawyer: Ones to Watch and as a Rising Star in Intellectual Property by Managing IP. Christie holds both civil and common law degrees from McGill University and earned an M.Phil. in Political Thought and Intellectual History from the University of Cambridge where her thesis explored theories of private property. She completed her undergraduate studies at Trinity College, University of Toronto, as a National Scholar, graduating with an HBA with High Distinction.
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