POLS 3440 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Karlheinz Schreiber, Munsinger Affair, Watergate Scandal

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLS 3440
• Professor: Geoff Stevens

Document Summary

During this course we will examine political corruption and ethics in both historical and contemporary contexts. The course will consider canada"s first great political scandal, the canadian pacific railway. Scandal of the 1870s, which led to the defeat of the sir john a. macdonald"s conservative government, then move on to such controversies as the profumo sex-and-security scandal in 1960s britain, the. Diefenbaker-era munsinger affair in canada, the 1970s watergate scandal in washington that destroyed the presidency of richard m. nixon, and the highly publicized bill clinton-monica lewinsky uproar. We will also examine recent canadian scandals, including the sponsorship affair, the toronto computer- leasing scandal, the airbus scandal involving former prime minister brian mulroney and lobbyist. Karlheinz schreiber, and the maxime bernier-julie couillard sex and (maybe) security affair. Students will be encouraged to reflect on the underlying causes of these scandals, whether personal or political ambition, hubris, greed, power or sex.