Global Governance (PhD)

Normally, candidates must write comprehensive examinations in two areas within 16 months of starting the program. Normally, students will write comprehensive exams in September at the start of their second year.

The first examination will be on Global Governance and will test the breadth and depth of a student’s comprehension of the leading literature. For their second examination, students will choose to write a comprehensive examination in one of the six fields of the program.

Students can only write an examination in a field if they have completed two courses, one of which must be a “core course” in that field.

Normally, students will complete and have approved a doctoral dissertation proposal by the end of February of their second year in the program. Completion of the proposal will normally involve a formal presentation and defence of the proposal to the Supervisory Committee. Normally, committee members and the student will also complete their second Annual Progress Report following the defence/approval of the dissertation proposal.

Within one week after completion of the presentation and defence, the student will make any final changes to the proposal that arise from the defence and provide the respective Program Director or Associate Director as well as the respective Program Graduate Coordinator/Program Officer with a copy of the final proposal for their records and the student’s file.

Normally, the doctoral dissertation research proposal will be no more than 30 pages or approximately 15,000 words, exclusive of bibliography. A proposal will include the following: a statement of the principal research question(s) and a justification of the question or questions; an outline of the principal theoretical orientations that are framing the research questions; a detailed outline of the research methods and steps to be taken to obtain answers to the research questions; an assessment of the likely contribution to knowledge of the dissertation research; a timetable for completion of the research.

Laurier students are required to complete the Dissertation Proposal Approval form.

Doctoral theses can take various forms. The traditional thesis is a sole-authored document with various chapters. However, some theses – the multiple manuscript thesis – consist of a collection of papers that are published or submitted for publication; any such thesis must comply with the following guidelines:

• The multiple manuscript thesis must comply with the policies and guidelines of the student’s host institution.
• Any multiple manuscript thesis must contain at least three articles.
• At least two of the articles must be single-authored, and one may be co-authored provided the student first obtains approval from their supervisor committee, preferably at the time of the proposal defence. If an article is co-authored by the student and authors, the relationship should be explicitly stated with regards to the nature and extent of contributions to the work by all parties involved.
• There must be a common theme among the three articles that is explained in the introduction and conclusion.
• All articles must be of a publishable quality. Acceptance of a manuscript from a journal is separate from and does not constitute acceptance or approval by the advisory committee.

This field is concerned with the referent objects of security and associated threats; the causes and management of conflict; and the global governance challenges of human, state, societal, national, international, ecospheric, and global security.

Courses in this stream examine the theory and practice of security at all levels of analysis.

This field is concerned with the global governance of environmental issues. Courses in this stream examine contemporary dilemmas relating to the ways in which environmental challenges are being addressed and managed by multiple agents through a range of transnational institutions and governance structures, both existing and proposed. Conceptual issues and debates, set within the context of a variety of internationally significant sustainability challenges, are investigated. Multilevel governance of these challenges at the international, regional, national and local levels are examined.

Key topics covered include: global climate change, agriculture and food security, international water resource management and environmental aspects of the global economy.

This field is concerned with the study of the relationship between global governance and issues of global justice and human rights.

Courses in this stream explore themes such as: the practical and ethical challenges that international human rights and relief organizations encounter when operating in the global south; theoretical approaches to understanding global justice as a contemporary social justice issue, with a particular focus on the cultural constructs relating to conceptions of freedom, obligation, and community; and contemporary debates in the field of human rights, such as those related to cultural relativism and universal human rights, human rights and foreign policy, the place of economic rights, the relationship between gender and human rights, and human rights and retrospective justice.

This field is concerned with the governance of the global economy and contemporary issues in international economic relations. Courses in this stream focus on the theoretical and public policy debates relating to governance of the global economy, as well as the evolution of international trade policy.

Topics covered include: international finance and intellectual property rights; labour and environmental standards; the control of illicit economic activity; the removal of tariffs on goods and services; and current efforts to integrate services, investment, and intellectual property into the trading regime through the increasing overlap of trade policy with monetary, competition, cultural, environmental and labour policies.

This field examines the prospects for the supranational governance of social issues with a particular focus on the political and philosophical underpinnings of transnational social policy cooperation.

Topics covered include: the implicit and explicit prescriptions for and impact upon national social policy of intergovernmental organisations (such as the UN and Bretton Woods Institutions), international non-governmental organisations and international private actors (such as TNCs and consultancy companies); the contribution of supranational organisations, international NGOs and other global actors to the global discourse on social policy; the role of private actors and global public-private partnerships in global health policy; the development of systems of transnational social redistribution, social regulation and social provision and empowerment; and the methods and concepts used by development agencies to assess the social policy of countries and shape their interventions.

This field is concerned with the formal and informal practices, institutions and organizations which generate global governance.

Courses in this stream focus primarily on the theory, practice and machinery of international organization, public policy, and diplomacy. Topics covered include organization theory, multilateral co-operation, foreign policy, diplomatic history, global social and public policy, representation and negotiation.

• A master’s degree in political science, history, economics, international development studies, international peace studies, globalization studies, environmental studies, or a related field with a minimum A- standing.
• Applications are reviewed by the graduate program committee, which considers all prior university grades, a statement of research interests and letters of reference.
• Applicants whose native language is not English must provide evidence of proficiency in English prior to admission.
• Contact a prospective faculty advisor prior to submitting your application.

Note: It is a requirement of the application process, that you contact a prospective faculty member who shares your interests and would be a supervisor "in principle" for your PhD, should you receive an offer of admission. This must be done in advance and the information must be included on the Application Summary of the online application.

The idea of "in principle" means a professor has reviewed your statement of intent and your CV, and agrees "in principle" to supervise your doctoral dissertation. Sometimes, after the successful acceptance of an offer, another professor may be deemed to be more a suitable advisor; on the basis of this determination, it is possible to change supervisors in the early stages of your PhD program.

After you have submitted your OUAC application, paid the non-refundable application fee, and Laurier has received your application, you'll receive an email from gradadmissions@wlu.ca advising you to upload the additional required documentation to Laurier’s Online Registration and Information System (LORIS).

The application process and the uploading of supplemental documentation, which includes references, typically takes two weeks. To avoid disappointment, please apply early.

An application for admission to our PhD program in Global Governance must include:

• The Application Summary, which is generated after you complete your OUAC application (log back in to OUAC to retrieve it).
• Be sure you can respond "yes" to the question, "Have you spoken with any faculty at WLU?" and include the faculty member's name.
• Transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate work. Documents must be dated within the past six months.
• A completed statement of intent.
• A resume of your academic and work experience. Include a history of your publication and scholarly paper activity and any other information you feel will interest the admissions committee.
• A sample of your scholarly writing (10-20 pages in length). This may be a chapter of your master's thesis or a paper written for a graduate course.
• Completed reference forms. Three academic references are required. Note: Reference forms are electronically submitted to Laurier by the referee and do not need to be uploaded.
• A completed Authorization of Information Release (AIR) form is required if you have engaged the services of an education agent/agency. Upload it to your application checklist when you identify your agent in the OUAC application. Visit Step 2 for more information about the AIR.

Visit our Graduate Admissions Toolkit for more information about applying.

Proficiency in written and spoken English is essential to graduate studies at Laurier. Applicants whose language of instruction during their previous postsecondary education was not in English must submit evidence of proficiency in English. If applicable, results from accepted testing services must be uploaded to LORIS.