Modern Political Theory

(2.5-7 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This unit considers key themes in modern and contemporary political thought. It uses primary texts to address topics such as sovereignty, democracy, fascism, liberalism, human rights, politics and religion, violence, and political identity. Authors may include Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Kant, Nietzsche, Marx, J.S. Mill, Tocqueville, Rawls, Arendt, Schmitt, and Foucault. Berlin, Germany (BG): This seminar examines strategic controversies in the history of the labor movement¿primarily in German-speaking countries¿and explores the fundamental political-theoretical assumptions that underpin the respective positions. Political theory is understood here as a systematic reflection on collective agency, the constitution and organization of political actors, and the nature and transformation of political power. We will address controversies concerning leadership and grassroots, spontaneity and organization, party and trade union, councils and parliamentarism, as well as the possibility of a united front against German fascism. We will read key speeches, programmatic writings, and theoretical interventions by Karl Marx, Rosa Luxemburg, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Alexandra Kollontai, Ferdinand Lassalle, Eduard Bernstein, Anton Pannekoek, and others. One focus is on the heyday of the German-speaking labor movement between the founding of social democratic workers' associations in the 1860s and the transfer of power to the Nazi Party in 1933. Particular attention is paid to the interrelationship between strategy and theory development, as well as the tensions between class politics, anti-colonial liberation struggles, and gender issues¿problems that continue to shape political debates today. For an introduction to the historical context of the seminar readings, the following are recommended: - Wolfgang Abendroth (1976): A Life in the Labor Movement. Conversations, recorded and edited by B. Dietrich and J. Perels, Suhrkamp. - Ralf Hoffrogge (2017): Socialism and the Labor Movement in Germany and Austria. From the Beginnings to 1914, Schmetterling. BT - Bologna, Italy: This unit considers key themes in modern and contemporary political thought. It uses primary texts to address topics such as sovereignty, democracy, fascism, liberalism, human rights, politics and religion, violence, and political identity. Authors may include Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Kant, Nietzsche, Marx, J.S. Mill, Tocqueville, Rawls, Arendt, Schmitt, and Foucault. Berlin, Germany (BG): This seminar examines strategic controversies in the history of the labor movement¿primarily in German-speaking countries¿and explores the fundamental political-theoretical assumptions that underpin the respective positions. Political theory is understood here as a systematic reflection on collective agency, the constitution and organization of political actors, and the nature and transformation of political power. We will address controversies concerning leadership and grassroots, spontaneity and organization, party and trade union, councils and parliamentarism, as well as the possibility of a united front against German fascism. We will read key speeches, programmatic writings, and theoretical interventions by Karl Marx, Rosa Luxemburg, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Alexandra Kollontai, Ferdinand Lassalle, Eduard Bernstein, Anton Pannekoek, and others. One focus is on the heyday of the German-speaking labor movement between the founding of social democratic workers' associations in the 1860s and the transfer of power to the Nazi Party in 1933. Particular attention is paid to the interrelationship between strategy and theory development, as well as the tensions between class politics, anti-colonial liberation struggles, and gender issues¿problems that continue to shape political debates today. For an introduction to the historical context of the seminar readings, the following are recommended: - Wolfgang Abendroth (1976): A Life in the Labor Movement. Conversations, recorded and edited by B. Dietrich and J. Perels, Suhrkamp. - Ralf Hoffrogge (2017): Socialism and the Labor Movement in Germany and Austria. From the Beginnings to 1914, Schmetterling. OX - Oxford in England This unit considers key themes in modern and contemporary political thought. It uses primary texts to address topics such as sovereignty, democracy, fascism, liberalism, human rights, politics and religion, violence, and political identity. Authors may include Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Kant, Nietzsche, Marx, J.S. Mill, Tocqueville, Rawls, Arendt, Schmitt, and Foucault. Berlin, Germany (BG): This seminar examines strategic controversies in the history of the labor movement¿primarily in German-speaking countries¿and explores the fundamental political-theoretical assumptions that underpin the respective positions. Political theory is understood here as a systematic reflection on collective agency, the constitution and organization of political actors, and the nature and transformation of political power. We will address controversies concerning leadership and grassroots, spontaneity and organization, party and trade union, councils and parliamentarism, as well as the possibility of a united front against German fascism. We will read key speeches, programmatic writings, and theoretical interventions by Karl Marx, Rosa Luxemburg, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Alexandra Kollontai, Ferdinand Lassalle, Eduard Bernstein, Anton Pannekoek, and others. One focus is on the heyday of the German-speaking labor movement between the founding of social democratic workers' associations in the 1860s and the transfer of power to the Nazi Party in 1933. Particular attention is paid to the interrelationship between strategy and theory development, as well as the tensions between class politics, anti-colonial liberation struggles, and gender issues¿problems that continue to shape political debates today. For an introduction to the historical context of the seminar readings, the following are recommended: - Wolfgang Abendroth (1976): A Life in the Labor Movement. Conversations, recorded and edited by B. Dietrich and J. Perels, Suhrkamp. - Ralf Hoffrogge (2017): Socialism and the Labor Movement in Germany and Austria. From the Beginnings to 1914, Schmetterling. BT - Bologna, Italy: This unit considers key themes in modern and contemporary political thought. It uses primary texts to address topics such as sovereignty, democracy, fascism, liberalism, human rights, politics and religion, violence, and political identity. Authors may include Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Kant, Nietzsche, Marx, J.S. Mill, Tocqueville, Rawls, Arendt, Schmitt, and Foucault. Berlin, Germany (BG): This seminar examines strategic controversies in the history of the labor movement¿primarily in German-speaking countries¿and explores the fundamental political-theoretical assumptions that underpin the respective positions.