One year master in Human Rights/One year master in International Relations Course 1 Political theory (15 hp/15 credits) This is an advanced course in political theory. The first part of the course is devoted to close study of central concepts in political theory: Justice (week 1), liberty (week 2), power (week 3), war and peace (week 4). The course is cumulative, so that each week s study builds on and adds complexity to the previous weeks. Check the schedule for details on lectures and seminar. It is imperative that you come to class well prepared. Below you find detailed instructions on what to prepare for each session. The texts and extracts mentioned here are minimal preparation requirements, corresponding to the themes that will be raised in class. They do not exhaust the required reading. See the literature list for information about editions and online access. After the first half of the course you will take a written exam, consisting of a number of fairly short questions. The aim is to check your familiarity with the texts that have been used. This exam counts for 30% of the course total. You have to pass the written exam to pass the course. For the second part of the course you will study in small groups together with a tutor. Four study themes will be offered. These are: 1. Revolution and constitution. Tutor: Mikael Spång. 2. Public woman. A gendered reading of political theory. Tutor: Lena Halldenius 3. Conflicts and justice. Tutor: Johan Modée 4. Power/Knowledge and the Politics of Sexuality Tutor: Dimos Chatzoglakis You will get more information about the study themes at the introductory meeting, when you will also get the opportunity to list two themes you are interested in. You will write your course paper within your chosen theme. The course paper counts for 70% of the course total. The course ends with all students presenting their papers to each other in an informal but conference like session. Part 1. Central concepts in political theory Week 1 Justice Teachers: Johan Modée (johan.modee@mah.se) and Mikael Spång (mikael.spang@mah.se) Lecture: Justice 1 Johan Modée The lecture focuses on the concept of political justice, as it was analyzed by Plato and Aristotle in the antiquities. Core texts are Plato s The Republic and Laws and Aristotle s Nichomanian Ethics. The central themes are (1) the complex relation between political ideal of (perfect) justice and the conditions for political justice in practice, and (2) the relation between justice and law. The lecture will be based on the following texts: Plato The Republic, parts 1-2, 4-5 (following Penguin Classics edition, or Stephanus' 1578 standard edition). Plato Laws, book 3-4 ( 4-7) Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics, book 5 1
Apart from these selections, which are assigned readings, the following text (in whole) is recommended reading: Plato The Republic. Seminar on Justice 1 Johan Modée Please read the following texts and prepare discussion before the seminar: Plato Crito (complete) Plato The Republic, part 9 (Penguin Classics edition, or Stephanus 1578 edition). Aristotle Politics, book 1-3 Questions for the seminar discussion: What is the relation between justice and duty? What is a good society and why? Lecture: Justice 2 Mikael Spång Contemporary discussions about justice are the focal point of this lecture, especially relating to Rawls A Theory of Justice. The main focus lies on discussing Rawls principles of justice, as they relate to earlier ideas in modern thinking about equal liberty/freedom and to the debate after Rawls concerning justice. Rawls discussion of justification (the original position) is also highlighted in the context of earlier arguments concerning justification. Required reading for lecture John Rawls A Theory of Justice: 1-4, 10-16, 20-30, 82, 86-87 and pp 302f. Seminar on Justice 2 Additional required reading for seminar: John Rawls A Theory of Justice: 5-9, 69 and 77-79; Hobbes Leviathan, chapters 14-15 Locke Two Treatises on Government, Second Treatise Kant Theory and Practice Recommended reading for seminar: Rousseau, Social Contract, book 1-3, Nussbaum, Sex and Social Justice, introduction and chapters 1-3 and 6-7, Walzer Thick and Thin, chapters 1-2. Reading for the course as a whole as it relates to justice 2: Rawls A Theory of Justice (whole book); Hobbes, Leviathan, chapters 14-19 and 21; Locke, Second Treatise, Rousseau, Social Contract, book 1-3; Kant Theory and Practice; Walzer Thick and Thin, chapters 1-2; Nussbaum, Sex and Social Justice, introduction and chapters 1-3, 6-7 and 8. Week 2 Liberty Teacher: Lena Halldenius (lena.halldenius@mah.se) In this module we will study different understandings of what liberty is, what it means to be a free agent in society, who can be such an agent, and how liberty relates to political organisation, law, social relations and morality. We will treat liberty as a concept with a distinct but varying role to play in political theory. Lecture: Liberty 1 Liberty, forms of government, and law Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics/Nikomakiska etiken, chapters 6-10 of Book 10 (Book K) 2
Hobbes, Thomas Leviathan, chapters 14 and 21 Locke, John Second Treatise of Government, chapters 1-4 Rousseau, Jean Jacques The Social Contract/Om samhällsfördraget, Book I Kant, Immanuel Theory and Practice, Part 2 Constant, Benjamin On the Liberty of the Ancients Compared with that of the Moderns Lecture: Liberty 2 Liberty, social relations and morality Wollstonecraft, Mary A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, section 1 of chapter 5, chapter 9 Mill, John Stuart On Liberty/Om friheten, chapters 1-2 Mill, John Stuart The Subjection of Women, chapter 1 Berlin, Isaiah Two Concepts of Liberty Pettit, Philip Freedom as Antipower in Ethics 1996 vol. 106 no. 3 pp. 576-604 (NB! Not on the literature list. Available online via Jstor.) Seminar on liberty They will be one seminar for the English group and one for the Swedish group (see schedule). The seminar discussion will be based on the texts by Constant, Berlin and Pettit. It is imperative that you have read these ahead of the seminar since you will be given discussion assignments based on these texts. Week 3 Power Teacher: Dimos Chatzoglakis (dimos@mah.se) Lecture: Power 1 This lecture deals with the classic understandings of power. We will start with Plato and Aristotle and through Machiavelli we will arrive at the modern discussion of power exemplified by Karl Marx and Max Weber. Specifically our aim will be to understand how these thinkers answer the questions: What is Power? How can one get it/keep it? What is its proper use? We will focus on the relationship between power and knowledge, and the kind of subject, individual or collective, that corresponds to them. Plato: Republic Book IX Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics Books VIII, IX Aristotle: Eudemian Ethics Book VII Aristotle: Politics Books I, VII, VIII Machiavelli: The Prince Karl Marx: The German Ideology, part I (selections) Karl Marx: The Eighteen Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (selection) Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: The Communist Manifesto Gerth and Mills: From Max Weber Part II Power Lecture: Power 2 The departure point of this lecture will be the Post-modern understanding of power predominantly associated with the work of Michel Foucault. We will approach then the thinkers that have been presented through the course, and try to understand what reason 3
thinkers like Foucault have, for dismissing the classical understanding of power as we discussed it in the previous lecture. Michel Foucault: Society Must Be Defended, Ch. 2,3 and 11. Seminar on power Instructions for the seminar will follow. Week 4 War and peace Teachers: Johan Modée (johan.modee@mah.se) and Magnus Ericson (magnus.ericson@mah.se) In this part of the course we focus on different ideas concerning the nature and causes of war as well as possible remedies for this social ill. How does war relate to ideas about morality, what prospects do law and political organization have in regulating violent conflict? Lecture: War and peace 1 (Johan Modée) The just war tradition and the possibility of peace: What is a just war and what are the prospects for peaceful relations between nations? Hugo Grotius The Rights of War and Peace, book 1 (complete) and the following selections from book 3: sections I + III. Immanuel Kant Perpetual Peace (complete) Edward Hallett Carr The Twenty Years Crisis, 1919-1939, ch. 4-5 Michael Walzer Thick and Thin, ch. 1-4. Lecture: War and peace 2 (Magnus Ericson) Man, the State and War: Arguments on war and peace categorized in relation to three levels of analysis. Kenneth Waltz Man, the State and War, ch. 1-2, 4, 6 and 8. Chapters 3, 5 and 7 are not assigned readings but merely recommended. After these four weeks of study there is a written examination. Part 2 Thematic study For the second part of the course you will study in small groups together with a tutor. The following study themes will be offered. 1. Revolution and constitution. Tutor: Mikael Spång. 2. Public woman. A gendered reading of political theory. Tutor: Lena Halldenius 3. Conflicts and justice. Tutor: Johan Modée 4. Power/Knowledge and the Politics of Sexuality Tutor: Dimos Chatzoglakis 4
More information about the tutorials and the course paper, which will be completed as part of your thematic study, will follow. 5