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PSIR401 CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL THEORY

Course Objectives

This course aims to introduce students to contemporary political theorists and debates from the post-WWII period in particular. With the demise of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War towards the end of the century, Western liberalism appeared victorious. Francis Fukuyama argued:

“The triumph of the West, of the Western idea, is evident first of all in the total exhaustion of viable systematic alternatives to Western liberalism… What we may be witnessing in not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.”

Yet many developments we have witnessed around the world cast doubt on this assertion: Wars, economic crises, growing inequality and poverty, starvation, environmental destruction, and mass social movements that challenge existing power structures. Liberalism and liberal politics have also been challenged theoretically by many different strands of thought.

Many of the theorists/philosophers we will read do not fit neatly into specific “ism”s and many influential contemporary schools of thought (such as Poststructuralism, Postmodernism, Feminism, Critical Theory, Neo-Marxism/Post-Marxism) refer to heterogeneous bodies of work and have fluid, dynamic boundaries.  Therefore, our investigation of contemporary political thought will be organized around debates surrounding some key political concepts, such as justice, equality, power, freedom, oppression, and democracy. We will be reading primary as well as secondary texts.

Specific objectives include providing the students with:

-        Awareness on a more comprehensive understanding of “political” and “politics”.

-        Awareness on various political problems that continue to plague the world.

-        Understanding of different contemporary schools of thought and how they relate to Liberalism.

-        Skills of critical thinking and formulating their own thoughts on key political concepts.

-        Skills to make sense of political phenomena in a theoretically-grounded manner.

Course Content

This course will seek to familiarise students with some of the key political thinkers and schools of thought of the 20th century. The 20th century was arguably the most tumultuous in history, punctuated by two great human cataclysms and almost continual warfare and ongoing struggles and pressures, largely inherited from the previous century. All of these pressures have their origin one way or another in the process referred to (often ambiguously) as ‘modernity’. Modernity can be marked off for our purposes as involving two essential revolutionary currents and upheavals. Firstly, in terms of the means of production - we have witnessed the spread and rapid proliferation of the economic practice of capitalism and industrialisation. This has led to the growth of class politics, well underway during the 19th century, and the politics of resistance, criticism, reform and revolution. Second, much political theorising has surrounded the means of administration which has drawn in particular debates on the nation-state and its mechanisms and the nature and would-be expectations of liberal democracy. We shall also consider the development of totalitarian alternatives to liberal democracy and the dangers associated with them.

Course Learning Outcomes

On completion of the course students are expected to be able to demonstrate:

General

• Enhanced skills of academic enquiry and independent library research relevant to the subject.
• Enhanced ability to communicate in writing and orally, and to work independently. 
• Enhanced time-management and self-organisation skills.

Subject Specific

• A comprehensive appreciation of the nature of political speculation during the 20th century;
• An ability to relate prevalent political ideas to the specifics of their historical context, the conflicts, movements, events, etc.

Program Outcomes Matrix

0: No Contribution 1: Little Contribution 2: Partial Contribution 3: Full Contribution