00983 - History of Political Doctrines (F-N)

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Political, Social and International Sciences (cod. 8853)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students: - know the fundamental features of the modern and contemporary History of Political Thought, - know the main forms of political communication and understand the complex relationships between ideas and facts, - know the most important political doctrines and are able to critically analyze them in connection with the relevant cultural, institutional, historical and social context,- is able to understand the most important political and institutional changes in Western history.

Course contents

The course analyses the most important modern and contemporary Western political doctrines through the lenses on the one hand of the concept of freedom/liberty, on the other hand of political concepts of war and peace, focusing on classical authors like Machiavelli, Bodin, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Kant, Burke, Sieyès, Hegel, Constant, Tocqueville, Marx, Mill, Nietzsche, Weber, Schmitt, Kelsen e Arendt. The course will pay particular attention on the one hand to constitutionalism as “technique of freedom”, as a means to defend rights against arbitrary power, on the other hand to the complex relationship between liberalism and democracy as it went to shape, from the age of Revolutions, during the 19th and 20th Centuries, to the most recent events. Secondly, the course will pay attention on most important works - by Montesquieu, Rousseau, Kant, Hamilton, Marx, Weber, Schmitt, Kelsen - focused on political concepts of war and peace.

The course is organized with a part of lectures taught online on MS TEAMS (30 hours) and another taught in presence (30 hours). The number of students allowed in class is determined on the basis of class capacity and by the health and safety provisions that deal with the pandemic emergency. In case more students want to attend classes in presence than permitted by the rules, a system of shifts will be organized so to allow students to participate. 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

STUDENTS ATTENDING THE COURSE

Mandatory books:

- C. GALLI (a cura di), Il pensiero politico moderno, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2017 (parts to be agreed during the lessons);

- R. GHERARDI (a cura di), La politica e gli Stati. Problemi e figure del pensiero occidentale, Roma, Carocci, nuova edizione (parts to be agreed during the lessons);

- R. GHERARDI (a cura di), Relazioni fra gli Stati: pace e guerra, Bologna, Clueb, 2002.

- M.L. LANZILLO (a cura di), Libertà, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2014, III ed. (gli autori indicati durante le lezioni);

 

One book to be chosen in the following list:

- G. BEDESCHI, Storia del pensiero liberale, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2004 (oppure Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2015).

- I. BERLIN, Libertà, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2010 (parts to be agreed) or in english: I. Berlin, Liberty, ed. by Henry Hardy, Oxford-New York, Oxford University Press, 2008.

- N. BOBBIO, Liberalismo e democrazia, Milano, Simonelli, 2006, (pp. 29-126).

- M. FIORAVANTI, Costituzione, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2010.

- E. GREBLO, Democrazia, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2000.

- N. MATTEUCCI, Organizzazione del potere e libertà, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2016.

- Y. MOUNK, Popolo vs democrazia. Dalla cittadinanza alla dittatura elettorale, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2018 o in english: Y. Mounk, The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom is in Danger and How to Save It, London, Harvard University Press, 2018.

 

STUDENTS NOT ATTENDING THE COURSE

PAY ATTENTION. Since the bibliography for students not attending the course is partially different from that of the attending ones, not attending students are kindly requested to meet the teacher at least once before the exam to get in touch with the program.

Teaching methods

The course includes the reading and conceptual analysis of texts by classical authors of political thought. The aim is to provide the conceptual tools and vocabulary of the history of modern and contemporary political thought.

The course is organized with lectures taught online on MS TEAMS and at the same time in presence. The number of students allowed in class is determined on the basis of class capacity and by the health and safety provisions that deal with the pandemic emergency. In case more students want to attend classes in presence than permitted by the rules, a system of shifts will be organized so to allow students to participate. 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 ATTENDING THE COURSE

Two written examinations with 6 open questions will be held during classes in order to understand how familiar the students have become with taught matters.

In case of a positive result in both tests, students will be able to record he final evaluation will be an average of the two written examinations.

 

STUDENTS NOT ATTENDING THE COURSE

For not attending students the exam will be exclusively oral. The examination will focus on the institutional and monographic part (previously agreed with the teacher) in order to demonstrate how confident the students are with the analysis and criticism of the history of modern and contemporary political thought.

Office hours

See the website of Giuseppe Sciara