POL 1200 Political Theory
What is justice? Who should wield authority—and why? What is the ideal form of government? What are the obligations of citizenship? Must one always obey the law? And how is power organized outside the law? This reading, writing, and discussion intensive course introduces students to the study and history of political theory, the field of politics aimed at answering ethical and theoretical questions such as these. Key topics in political theory include the nature of justice, truth, virtue, happiness and the good life, individual and common good, the foundations of political society, legitimacy, the origins and implications of inequality, freedom and security, subjectivity, citizenship, civil disobedience, resistance, and revolution. This course covers both canonical texts and critical perspectives by political thinkers such as Plato, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, Wollstonecraft, Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nancy Fraser, spanning the ancient, modern, and contemporary eras.
Course Types
Society, Classical Studies Elective