Values in Political Advocacy

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Politics is often the selling of values. Political advocates claim that their preferred policies are more fair, or increase security, or enhance liberty, or improve efficiency, or reduce injustice, and so forth. In this course we focus on the values used in political advocacy. The course has two main elements. First, what are the most important values defined? How are they contested? Second, how do advocates seek to use values to obtain political change. The class will be both normative and positive. By the end of the course the successful student will be more effective in defining and promoting values in the political process.