Module Identifier IP32220  
Module Title MODERN POLITICAL THEORY  
Academic Year 2002/2003  
Co-ordinator Professor Howard L Williams  
Semester Semester 1  
Course delivery Lecture   11 Hours (11 x 1 hour)  
  Seminars / Tutorials   11 Hours (11 x 1 hour)  
Assessment Semester Exam   2 Hours   70%  
  Semester Assessment   Essay: 1 x 2,000 words   30%  
  Supplementary Exam   Students may, subject to Faculty approval, have the opportunity to resit this module, normally during the supplementary examination period. For further clarification please contact the Teaching Programme Administrator in the Department of International Politics.    

Learning outcomes

To ensure that the student:

Brief description

This module provides a discussion of the concept of ideology and a close analysis of specific ideologies and thinkers.

Aims

The aims of this course are to introduce the student to the use and critical appraisal of some of the principal texts in political thought in the late modern era. This will be done through the study of the problem of ideology and the investigation of a number of ideologies such as liberalism, nationalism, conservatism, fascism, socialism, and anarchism.

Content

These are the anticipated lecture topics:

1. Marx's theory of ideology
2. Mannheim's Ideology and Utopia
3. Nationalist political thought
4. Liberal political ideology - Hobbes and Locke
5. Liberalism and Utilitarianism - John Stuart Mill, James Mill & Bentham
6. Conservatism - contemporary and classical
7. Fascism - is there a coherent ideology?
8. Anarchism - Bakunin, Godwin and Kropotkin
9. Feminism - classical and contemporary
10. Socialism - is there a non-marxist socialism?
11. John Rawls and contemporary liberalism

Transferable skills

This module will provide the opportunity for students to develop their oral, intellectual and communication skills. In the lectures emphasis will be placed on understanding, following the argument and summarizing it concisely. In the seminars emphasis will be placed on developing clear, cogent and persuasive arguments. The seminars offer the opportunity for students to show independent reasoning and judgement. Essay writing will encourage students to carry out research on their own initiative and to develop their IT presentation skills. The examination will test knowledge retention, comprehension and skills of analysis under conditions of time constraint.

10 ECTS credits

Reading Lists

Books
** Recommended Text
A Vincent. Modern Political Ideologies.
G Goodwin. Using Political Ideas.
H Williams. Concepts of Ideology.