Award Winners

Award Winners

Honourary Lifetime Members

  • 2005 – Alex Michalos, UNBC
  • 2000 – Neil Swainson, UVIC
  • 1997 – Alan Cairns, UBC
  • 1998 – Bo Hansen, UCC

Honourary Members

  • 1999 – Stevie Cameron, journalist

Weller Prize Winners

Every other year the BCPSA presents the Weller Prize–an award that recognizes the best political science book by a BC author published in the preceding two years. Named after the late Geoffrey Weller, the distinguished BC scholar, the Weller Prize is awarded by an adjudication committee consisting of past presidents of the BCPSA.

Weller Prize.

Ted Cohn, 2003.

Claire Cutler, 2005.
The Weller Prize – named for Geoff Weller, 1st President UNBC 2003 winner Ted Cohn from SFU awarded prize by BCPSA President Alex Michalos 2005 winner Claire Cutler from UVIC awarded prize by former BCPSA President Paddy Smith

2018 – Barbara Arneil, University of British Columbia – for Domestic Colonies: the Turn Inward to Colony. (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2017).

2016 – Genevieve Fuji Johnson, Simon Fraser University – for Democratic Illusion: Deliberative Democracy in Canadian Public Policy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015)

2007 – Steve McBride, Simon Fraser University – for Paradigm Shift: Globalization and the Canadian State (Halifax: Fernwood Press, 2005)

2005 – Claire Cutler, University of Victoria – for Private Power and Global Authority: Transnational Merchant Law in the Global Political Economy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)

2003 – Ted Cohn, Simon Fraser University – for Governing Global Trade: International Institutions in Conflict and Convergence” (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002)

BCPSA Student Essay Award Winners

  • Best PHD Essay
    • 1997 – Adam Jones, University of British Columbia – “Press, Regime and Society in Jordan Since 1989”
    • 1998 – William W. Bain, University of British Columbia – “Deconfusing Realism: Hans Morganthau and International Theory in a ‘Postmodern’ World”
    • 1999 – Karen Lochead, Simon Fraser University – “The Creation of Nunavut and the Development of Responsible Government for Torres Strait: Practical Solutions for Indigenous Empowerment in Hinterland Regions”
    • 2000 – Linda Elmose, Simon Fraser University – “Learning, Symbolism and Legitimacy: Policy Instrument Choice in Canada’s New Media Industry”
    • 2001 – No Award
    • 2002 – Karen Lochead, Simon Fraser University – “Native Title’s Source and Nature: A Comparison of Judicial Definitions in Canada and Australia”
    • 2003 – Phil Orchard, University of British Columbia – “Go Home or Sleep under the Stars: The Plight of Internally Displaced Persons, An Emerging Norm?”
    • 2004 – Kathleen McNutt-Darragh, Simon Fraser University – “Navigating Small Worlds: Virtual Policy Networks, e-Governance, and a Digitalized Canada – Consideration on Research Design”
    • 2005 – Kathleen McNutt-Darragh, Simon Fraser University – “e-Government, e-Governance, and e-Democracy: The Canadian Chronicle”
    • 2006 – Sima Joshi-Koop, Simon Fraser University – “The Fictitious Fourth Commodity: Explloioting Subjugation within Municipal-Provincial-Federal Relations in Canada and the Resulting Commodification of City Life”
    • 2007 – Julie MacArthur, Simon Fraser University – “Challenging Development; Ecological Ontology and Limits to Growth”
    • 2013 – Assem Dandashly’ University of Victoria, “Domestic Politics Comes First: Euro Adoption Strategies in Central Europe”
    • 2015 – Vincent Hopkins, Simon Fraser University, “Policy Entrepreneurship: An Epistemological Perspective for Future Research”
  • Best MA Essay
    • 1997 – Michael Goehring, Simon Fraser University – “Cascadia: Transborder Regionalism in the Pacific Northwest”
    • 1998 – Kathyrn Taylor, Simon Fraser University – “Agenda-Setting and Canadian Environmental Policy: A Look at the 1992 East Coast Fishing Moratorium and the 1985 Canadian Acid Rain Control Program”
    • 1999 – Erin Tettensor, University of British Columbia – “International Arms Control Arrangements: A Recipe for Lukewarm State Cooperation”
    • 2000 – Jonathan Ferschau, Simon Fraser University – “An Analysis of the Long-term Cost Reduction Tools Employed by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia Road Sense Advertising and the Road Safety Strategy”
    • 2001 – Fiona MacDonald, Simon Fraser University – “Recognizing the Politics of Recogniton: Examining the French Example of Anti-Racism”
    • 2002 – Daniel Storms, Simon Fraser University – ” The Liberal Ontology of Possessive Individualism & the Study of Development”
    • 2003 – Kimberley Worthington, Simon Fraser University – “Local Economic Development Strategies in a Globalized World: Coquitlam British Columbia’s Investment and ITC Programs.”
    • 2004 – James Steidle, Simon Fraser University – “Failure of the Compact Region in the Greater Vancouver Regional District: Unrealistic Hopes for Policy Integration?”
    • 2005 – Daisaku Higashi, UBC – “Battle for the Kyoto Protocol in Japan: The Driving Forces Pushing the Japanese Government to Ratify and Implement the Kyoto Protocol”
    • 2006 – James Baker, UBC – “The Responsibility to Protect at the 2005 World Summit: An Investigation of Policy by Regime Type”
    • 2007 – Stephanie Vielle, Simon Fraser University – “Building Bridges Through Reconciliation: An Investigation of Traditionall Healing Processes After Mass Violations of Human Rights”
  • Best Upper Division Undergraduate Essay – Norman Ruff Prize
    • 1997 – Wendy Marks, University of Northern British Columbia – “Mirror Images: Don Munton and International Relations Theory”
    • 1998 – Shaila Seshia, University of British Columbia – “Environmental Politics in India: A Clash of Imperatives”
    • 1999 – David Farmer, Simon Fraser University – “Community Forestry as an Agenda in the BC Forest Policy Community”
    • 2000 – Terri Giesbrecht, University of Northern British Columbia – “Federal-Provincial relations in the Pacific Salmon Dispute: A ‘Checkers’ Game Approach to Analyszing Intergovernmental Conflict”
    • 2001 – Micah Bond Rankin, Simon Fraser University – “Civilizing the World Trade Organization: A Case for Reform”
    • 2002 – Tereza Fonda, Okanagan University College – “Policy Options: Political, Philosophic and Economic Aspects of Decriminalizing Marijuana”
    • 2003 – Matthew A. Hoekstra, Simon Fraser University – “The Free Trade Agreement of the Americas and Labour: How Pressing Labour Issues will Play out in the Proposed Hemispheric Trading Bloc.”
    • 2004 – Jessica Edge, Simon Fraser University – “The Creation of an International Climate Change Regime: The Impact of Epistemic Communities on the Kyoto Protocol”
    • 2005 – Carl Linder, UBC – “Iraq and the Perils of Consequentialist Ethics for Human Rights”
    • 2006 – Brenton Walters, Simon Fraser University – “How Much is Enough: Aristotle and Foreign Aid”
    • 2007 – Grace Lorie, UBC – “Collective Action, International Institutions and the World’s Future – Hope or Hell?”
    • 2015 – Maxina Spies, University of the Fraser Valley, “Transformation of Sovereignty: The Construction of Kurdistan”
    • 2016 – Dylan Thiessen, University of the Fraser Valley, “Revisiting the Big Shift: Discovering Shifting Ethnic Vote Allegiances Through a Microanalysis of the 2015 Federal Election”
  • Mike Meade Prize for Best Lower Division Undergraduate Essay
    • 1997 – Ian Hodges, Capilano College – “Ideology Within American Foreign Policy”
    • 1998 – Yuk Wai Chan, Langara College – “Why Did the United States Become Involved in Vietnam?”
    • 1999 – Paul Zollmann, Langara College – “Curing Cancer with a Carrot and a Stick: A Case for the Tobin Tax”
    • 2000 – Lance Noble, Douglas College – “Modern Mercantilism: The World Trade Organization and the Exploitation of the Developing World”
    • 2001 – Ron Greavison, Selkirk College – “Sustainable Development in the Era of Globalization”
    • 2002 – Philip Kanigan, Selkirk College – “New Feminism and the Revival of Masculinity (A Critique of Feminism)”
    • 2003 – Derek Light, University College of the Fraser Valley – “Brokerage Parties and Consociational Democracy in Canada.”
    • 2004 – Leila Hartford, North Island College – “Effective Representation: The Case For Electoral Reform”
    • 2005 – Natasha Sharwood, Langara College – “The WTO: Protectionist Measures”
    • 2006 – Garth Jones, Langara – “Canada’s Environmental Policy: A New Approach”
    • 2007 – Kelly Wolfe, UCFV – “Canada’s Fiscal Imbalance”
    • 2015 – Emma Kehler, Simon Fraser University, “EHR Innovation and the Triple Helix Concept”
    • 2016 – Sophia Vartanian, Quest University – “Something to Die For: French Foreign Fighters Searching for Identity, Purpose, and Belonging in the Islamic State“
  • Best Honour’s Essay
    • 2006 – Heather Cohran, UVIC – “Canada’s Arctic Sovereignty: On Thin Ice or Finally Thawing?”
    • 2007 – John Kendler, UBC – “Teaching Habits: Political Education and the Youth Vote”