00983 - History of Political Doctrines (O-Z)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will know the fundamental moments and authors in the history of modern and contemporary political thought; knows the forms of political communication and understands the problematic relationship and the mutual influence between ideas and facts: knows the main political theories and is able to correctly contextualize them: is able to recognize the most important political and institutional changes in western history.

Course contents

In our study of the history of Western political thought we will adopt the perspective of the history of ideas and of constitutional history, as they have been developed by such authors as Quentin Skinner and Reinhart Koselleck. We will examine the main concepts in the vocabulary of politics, such as State, sovereignty, liberty, equality, power and so on. We will also study the main authors who contributed to Western political thought, from Plato to John Rawls.

The course is organized in lectures and seminars, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (28 hours in remote on MS TEAMS) aim to introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. Seminars aim to provide occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises. The division into lessons and seminars is specified in the program that follows. For the seminar section, students will be divided into X groups according to their preferences and according to rules concerning the current pandemic emergency: one/two group(s) will do the seminar in classroom (16hours) and one/two group(s) will do the seminar remotely on MS TEAMS (16 hours). Therefore, a total of 44 classroom hours are scheduled for each student. Students are required to carefully read the assigned material before the session and - in the case of seminars - active participation through presentations of existing scholarship and case studies will also be expected. Regardless of the health-related conditions and the specific organization of the course, students will be able to follow the lessons of the entire course remotely on MS TEAMS.

Readings/Bibliography

I) One mandatory reading for all students:

R. Gherardi (ed.), La politica e gli Stati. Problemi e figure del pensiero occidentale , Roma, Carocci, 2013.

II) One work to be chosen in the following list:

R. Caporali,Uguaglianza, Bologna, Il Mulino,2012.

C. De Pascale, Giustizia, Bologna, Il MUlino, 2010.

E. Greblo, Democrazia, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2000.

P.P. Portinaro, Stato, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1999.

M. Ricciardi, Rivoluzione, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2001.

Teaching methods

The course is organized in lectures and seminars, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (28 hours in remote on MS TEAMS) aim to introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. Seminars aim to provide occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises. The division into lessons and seminars is specified in the program that follows. For the seminar section, students will be divided into X groups according to their preferences and according to rules concerning the current pandemic emergency: one/two group(s) will do the seminar in classroom (16hours) and one/two group(s) will do the seminar remotely on MS TEAMS (16 hours). Therefore, a total of 44 classroom hours are scheduled for each student. Students are required to carefully read the assigned material before the session and - in the case of seminars - active participation through presentations of existing scholarship and case studies will also be expected. Regardless of the health-related conditions and the specific organization of the course, students will be able to follow the lessons of the entire course remotely on MS TEAMS.

Assessment methods

Students who attend the classes will have an intermediate written exam on the first part of the course and a final written exam on the second part of the course as well as on the thematic part which will be illustrated in the classes.

Students who do not attend the classes will take the whole exam in one day. The exam will be on the general part of the course (see R. Gherardi (ed.). La politica e gli Stati, Rome, Carocci, 2013) as well as the additional mandatory reading.

Office hours

See the website of Giovanni Giorgini

See the website of Alina Scudieri