In the year 1500, democracy was a disreputable term that implied anarchy, and the words capitalism and liberalism did not yet exist. By 1900, democracy, capitalism, and liberalism were among the most powerful ideas in world politics. Victor Hugo wrote that “an invasion of armies can be resisted; an invasion of ideas cannot.” POLSC201 examines key ideas that have flourished in political thought in modern times.

This course is an introduction to and survey of a sample of major thinkers in Western political thought from the 1500s to the 1900s. Thinkers discussed include Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Burke, Marx, Mill, and Arendt. The course is organized by thinker and a different major thinker is focused upon each week. Over the course, we also explore the origins and development of key concepts and ideologies.

POLSC201 aims to help students: to identify and compare and contrast a range of political thinkers; to develop a clear understanding of fundamental political concepts; to analyze major ideas and debates in Western political thought; and to think clearly and critically about the ideas of the thinkers discussed and how they are connected to one another.

STRUCTURE

There are three parts to the course. Each part lasts four weeks.
Part 1: Road to the French Revolution. Examines core concepts in political thought, including sovereignty, the state, leadership, the social contract, rights, liberty, and equality.
Part 2: Ideologies and the State. Debates about the rise and nature of modern forms of conservatism, capitalism, liberalism, nationalism, and totalitarianism.
Part 3: Identity, Equality, and Social Justice. Discussion of gender and equality, race and equality, justice, individualism, and social justice.

TIMETABLE

POLSC201-23A is a NET course, meaning that all content is delivered online, all assessment is submitted online, and no in-person contact is required. Every week, several short lecture videos are posted to the course website in Moodle. An online tutorial is held every week using Zoom, beginning in week 2.

Lectures
Every week, lecture videos are posted to the Panopto section on the course website in Moodle. There will be approximately two hours of lecture content per week, divided up into four or five short videos of approximately 20-30 minutes each on average. One short lecture video will be posted to Moodle each weekday. Students can choose to watch new lecture videos daily, or to wait and bingewatch several of them at the end of the week. A lecture schedule for the semester is available on Moodle.

Tutorials
An online tutorial is held every week using Zoom, beginning in week 2. Tutorials discuss the readings and lecture content for the previous week. E.g., the week 2 tutorial discusses week 1 content. Tutorial information is available on Moodle.

Participation in tutorials will help students to understand the content of lectures and readings, and in particular help students identify the key points and questions they should focus upon. The best way to prepare for tests is to participate in tutorials.

WORKLOAD

The expected workload for this paper is ten hours per week, which includes time spent reading, watching lectures, taking notes, participating in tutorials, and preparing for assessment. From the end of week 2, there is assessment due to be completed or submitted most weeks, mainly quizzes. There is an assessment schedule on Moodle that shows what is due each week.

As POLSC201-23A is a NET course, there is a lot of responsibility on students to independently manage their time well and to engage with the course content in a timely manner. The first few quizzes (held at the end of weeks 2, 3, and 4) will give students early feedback on whether they are devoting sufficient time and attention to this course.

There is a required textbook:

• Jones, Tudor. (2002). Modern Political Thinkers and Ideas: An Historical Introduction. Routledge.

We read all of the Jones textbook. An ebook can be accessed through the university library, or bought online, or may be available on the publisher’s website. A hard copy is available in the university library high-demand section, or bought online.

Any additional required readings are provided as PDFs on the course website on Moodle. This mainly applies to thinkers not discussed in detail in the Tudor Jones textbook, such as Arendt, Rawls, and Young.

OPTIONAL READINGS

Primary Sources
Below is a list of some major primary sources mentioned in this course. Students are not required to read the entirety of any of these books. Some short excerpts are required reading from time to time, and these are noted on Moodle and provided there as PDFs. However, students are encouraged to make an effort to read key parts of the major text by each of the two thinkers they choose to write about in their research essay.

• Part 1
  • Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince
  • Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
  • John Locke, Second Treatise on Government
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract
• Part 2
  • Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
  • Tom Paine, Rights of Man
  • Karl Marx, 18th Brumaire, and The Communist Manifesto
  • John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
  • Hannah Arendt, Origins of Totalitarianism
• Part 3
  • Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
  • Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
  • Charles Mills, The Racial Contract
  • John Rawls, A Theory of Justice
  • Iris Marion Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference

Secondary Sources
A list of some major secondary sources, on specific individual thinkers or on modern political thought in general, is provided on Moodle.