POL2027H1S L5101
Undergraduate Course Code: POL485H1S L5101
Topics in Political Thought II
Power and Interest in Political Theory
Themes
The need to consider interest and power as fundamental political concepts (on a par with, e.g., liberty, equality, democracy, and justice); liberal, radical, and conservative conceptions of interest and power; interests and power as characteristics of individuals, groups, and/or social systems; methods of evaluating and critiquing—analytically and normatively—assertions of interest and deployments of power.
Texts
To include some but probably not all of the following: Arendt, On Violence; Becker, The Economic Approach to Human Behavior; Elster, Securities Against Misrule; Foucault, The History of Sexuality; Galbraith, American Capitalism; Hirschman, The Passions and the Interests; Hobbes, Leviathan; Lukes, Power: a Radical View; Marx, Capital (selections); Weber, Economy and Society; various articles and selections (e.g. from Bentham, Bourdieu, Mansbridge, Shklar, I.M. Young)
Format and Requirements
One two-hour seminar per week. Course requirements TBA.