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Semester 2

Political Thinkers (PLIT08011)

Subject

Politics

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

1

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

**Please see Additional Restrictions below**

Course Summary

The course aims to introduce students to historical thinkers whose reflection on politics - international or domestic - shape the way we understand the global challenges we face today. Students will be introduced to a broad range of approaches to thinking about politics, from different historical, cultural, and international perspectives. We will consider such questions as: a. What is political authority? b. What is political legitimacy? c. What forms of social organisation are best suited to ensure freedom? d. How should we understand the relations between citizens, and between states? e. What is justice, and what principles of justice should societies adopt? f. What is gender? g. What is colonialism and what is the relationship between colonialism and racialisation? h. How should we think about the political challenges caused by large-scale climate change? i. What challenges do complex and overlapping inequalities present to our understanding of a just society? j. How can we conceptualise historical and contemporary oppression? **The content of the course is innovative in two respects: first, it conceives of political thought as a discipline encompassing thinking pertinent to both domestic politics and international relations; second, it aims to decolonise the canon institutionalised in Western academia by pluralising the voices discussed over the course of the term.

Course Description

Political Thinkers introduces students to the main arguments and claims made by the most influential thinkers on politics, whose work continues to inform current thought and practice. Through studying the writings of these important thinkers, students will consider the fundamental questions of politics, from a normative and critical perspective. Students will study the primary works of the selected thinkers, and engage with a range of debates and controversies about their arguments in the secondary literature.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 50%, Coursework 50%, Practical Exam 0%

Additional Restrictions

Unless you are nominated on a Politics exchange agreement, visiting students are only permitted to enrol in one Politics course each, per semester, before the start of the relevant semester’s welcome period – and spaces on each course are limited so cannot be guaranteed for any student. Enrolment in a second Politics course will depend on whether there are still spaces available in the January Welcome Period, and cannot be guaranteed. It is NOT appropriate for students to contact staff within this subject area to ask for an exception to be made; all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. This is due to the limited number of spaces available in this very popular subject area.

view the timetable and further details for this course