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 2026-2027 academic year, there are 6 sections of TRN409H1.
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鈥攊dentifying 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.
2026 – 2027 Course Instructor
Joy Fitzgibbon
Joy Fitzgibbon is an Associate Professor at AV精品 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鈥檚 successful policy advocacy at the World Health Organization around multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. She is co-author of 聽and more recently articles including 聽and a review of . 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, : 聽with the Centre for International Governance Innovation at the University of Waterloo. In addition to her faculty position at AV精品, she is also a Fellow there, a Senior Fellow at the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History and a member of the .
Course Description:
The twenty-first century has brought remarkable shifts in how states鈥痑nd鈥痮ther actors define themselves in world politics.鈥疶his course examines how identities, including national,鈥痯olitical鈥痑nd鈥痗ultural, are constructed, contested,鈥痑nd鈥痬obilized鈥痠n international relations,鈥痑nd鈥痟ow they shape conflict鈥痑nd鈥痗ooperation in the international system. Drawing on constructivist, feminist,鈥痑nd鈥痗ritical approaches, the course examines how identities are formed, whose identities are considered,鈥痑nd鈥痟ow identities influence state behaviour鈥痑nd鈥痝lobal politics. Through theoretical readings鈥痑nd鈥痚mpirical case studies, students will learn to critically analyze the role that identities play in shaping both continuity鈥痑nd鈥痗hange in international relations.
Course Instructor:
Emily Le Roux-Rutledge
Emily LeRoux-Rutledge is an Assistant Professor at AV精品 and the . She received her BA in International Relations and English from the University of Toronto, and both her MSc in Social and Public Communication, and her PhD in Social Psychology, from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is a migration and international development scholar whose research examines the identities and wellbeing of marginalized groups in global contexts, using quantitative, qualitative and narrative methodologies. She publishes in leading interdisciplinary journals, including The Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies and World Development. Alongside her academic work, she has had a 20 year international research career in media and communication for development, working across more than 25 countries on issues including gender equality, health, education, governance, elections, peacebuilding and climate change.