POL4275

Contemporary Political Theory systematically analyzes the meaning and significance of concepts central to current politics: domination, exclusion, and justice. Starting from basic concerns about the nature of politics, humans, power and justice, this course will explore how these basic starting assumptions organize the norms, practices, and institutions of political and social order. To explore these topics, the field turns to key texts, as well as to political and social events and other media (film, historical documents, etc.). Through this course, students will also be introduced to different interpretive approaches, ranging from democratic theory, feminist, queer and critical race theories, as well as ethics and moral philosophy. Organized around the politics of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the course will pursue a range of questions about democratic legitimation, the exclusion of historically marginalized communities, systematic inequalities of different kinds, as well as ideals of democracy and justice. It will range from theoretical inquiry to practical questions of implementing different political projects. Through this course, students will develop skills in critical thinking, careful reading and clear writing, as well as recognizing and constructing arguments. These skills are basic for the critical, lifelong role that all of us play as members of political community.

prereq: 1201 recommended