POL 3652:
MODERN POLITICAL THOUGHT

Spring 2007

MWF 2:00-3:05, Cina 308

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This course is about some major streams of modern political thought.  Its prerequisite course, Pol 1610, should have acquainted you with some basic historical ideologies like liberalism, fascism, communism, conservatism, and so on.  This course takes these ideologies and looks at them in finer detail, concentrating particularly on the most recent theoretical advances.  For example, classical liberalism is represented here by two recent, influential thinkers:  Jürgen Habermas and John Rawls, whose new understandings of liberalism have refreshed it as it was becoming stale.  Likewise, there is little material on Marxism and communism per se;  instead, we focus on several streams of thought (particularly critical theory and postmodernism) that have transformed our understanding of what was important in it.  If you go on to graduate school in political science (and especially political philosophy), you will be required to review the historical origins of these movements.  In this course, however, the emphasis is primarily on seeing what the most recent thinking is.

The reading schedule is tentative.  We will go only as fast as required to give you all a good sense of the various traditions we are dealing with.  I will be asking the class periodically to tell me whether we need to cover material in more depth and/or with greater background.  The timing of the exams and papers will not be affected by this;  the tests will simply cover what we have been able to deal with.  Note, however, that if we decide to go more slowly on a topic, the burden shifts to you to ask questions more vigorously in the extra classes;  otherwise, I just wind up repeating the same explanations that were insufficient in the first place.

The texts for the course are as listed below;  all are required.  Not listed are those of our readings that can be found online.

• Andrew Hindmoor (2006).  Rational Choice.  NY:  Palgrave Macmillan
• Stephen Eric Bronner (2006).  Twentieth Century Political Theory:  A Reader (2nd ed.).  NY:  Routledge.

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I am committed to being your firm ally in your education.  I'm interested in you, not just your talents as a political analyst.   Lots of things happen to students outside of school that nevertheless affect their ability to learn and perform.  And so I know that every student, without exception, has always done the best s/he could, if all the circumstances are taken into account.   This includes you.  Therefore, if you have trouble figuring out what to study, or if you study hard and get a bad grade on an exam or assignment anyway, or things simply aren't going well in your life, come and talk to me.  Please don't just suffer in silence!