Joint Honours BA in History and Political Science

History is the discipline that focuses on the diverse and complex ways that individuals and groups have created and adjusted to change over thousands of years around the world. In studying change over time, history students learn to interpret evidence of human thought and behavior, in order to understand the impact of individual and collective decision-making, the changing relationships among people and societies, and between humans and their environment.

Political Science

Politics is omnipresent in our lives. Political science seeks to describe, analyze, understand and assess the principles and power relations that govern social life. It revolves as much around the structures and institutions that define these relations and principles as around the ideas and practices that drive them. It studies everything that influences political life and institutions (ideologies, groups, social movements, etc.) on a local, regional, national and international scale.

Our programs offer in-depth training in political science and encourage critical reflection on pivotal issues like citizenship, identity, political participation, globalization and development, governance and the state, and ethics and democracy. A discipline open to many theoretical and methodological approaches, political science constantly exchanges and shares with other fields. At the University of Ottawa's School of Political Studies, you build your knowledge in four subfields of political science: political thought, Canadian and Quebec politics, comparative politics, and international relations and global politics.

This program is offered in English and in French.