9
Department of Politics and International Relations
Introduction to Political Ideas
(PO1IPI, 20 credits)
Course Outline and Reading List
Session 2020-21
MODULE CONVENOR: Dr Robert Jubb
Office: Room 304, Edith Morley Building
r.s.d.jubb@reading.ac.uk
1. Introduction
This is an introductory 20 credit module covering central questions in political theory, both domestic and international. It examines some of the major concepts we use to orient ourselves to our political institutions and which often appear in the political rhetoric of contemporary societies. The module begins by exploring how to identify a question as political and to conceptualize perhaps the most central political institution, the state. It then considers how to understand, explain and justify the state’s claim to be entitled to command its members before moving on to investigating democracy, both as a form of government and as a basis for justifying political authority. Following on from looking at the powers and structures of government, it discusses how to conceptualize liberty and rights as well as why they may be valuable. It then considers questions around the value and conceptualization of equality and social justice, the environment and finally explores when war and intervention may and may not be appropriate.
The discussion of these topics provides a foundation for more advanced modules in Politics and International Relations. Studying politics, whether domestic or international, requires being able to appropriately conceptualize the objects of that study, as well as being able to identify which questions connect to matters of real significance. Political theory helps perform both of these tasks, necessary for all students of politics. The module is not only a preparation for further study though. Just as being able to appropriately conceptualize political issues and consider their importance is important for the academic study of politics, it is also important for considering the decisions we all must take as citizens of a particular society and inhabitants of a world we must all share.
The material covered in the module is primarily conceptual, normative and evaluative. It involves asking what particular concepts mean, how particular political agents ought to act and whether particular outcomes are better or worse. This is somewhat different from many other modules in the Department of Politics and International Relations and elsewhere in the University. Part of what the module aims to do then is to familiarize you with techniques for answering these distinctive kinds of questions. We often argue about whether a particular person behaved appropriately, a particular event was good or bad or something falls under the umbrella of a particular concept. That we argue suggests we think there are reasons for preferring some answers to those questions to others, that these are not merely matters of opinion. The techniques deployed in the module aim to systematize and refine our attempts to get at those reasons, and are an important part of what it attempts to help you learn.
The textbook for the course is McKinnon, Jubb and Tomlin (eds.) Issues in Political Theory, fourth edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), copies of which can be purchased in the campus bookshop. Different editions of the textbook have different chapters. Please do not rely on earlier editions.
2. Learning outcomes
By the end of the module you should be able to demonstrate an ability to:
To explain and analyse some basic political concepts like the state, democracy, rights and liberty;
To explain and analyse the use of these basic political concepts in political theory and theories;
To explain and analyse the connections between these basic political concepts, their role in theories and traditions and policy preferences and orientations.
In addition to these module-specific objectives, the module gives you the opportunity to improve some of your personal transferable skills. It will help you improve your ability to critically analyse and summarize an argument, organise and articulate your knowledge in written and oral forms, and to work in and with groups, including learning from and with others.
3. Teaching Programme
This module is taught through 16 hours-worth of lecture material and 10 seminars over both the Autumn and Spring Term. The lecture material will be delivered online via the module’s Blackboard page, at least in the Autumn Term. The seminars will be fortnightly and delivered in person, with alternative provision for those unable to attend. Further details will be provided through weekly emails via Blackboard. Your timetables will have full details of all in person teaching, but it is also crucial that you regularly check your emails and the module’s Blackboard page because of the module’s online components.
Lectures and seminars provide different learning outcomes. Lectures introduce topics and provide you with a framework for thinking about relevant debates. Seminars offer the opportunity to explore that framework in greater depth. One is not a substitute for the other. Equally, it will not be possible to benefit fully from a seminar without first having made proper use of the associated online lecture material. Please make sure you remain up to date with the lecture programme throughout the module.
Lecture Material
Introduction
Politics, the State and Sovereignty I
Politics, the State and Sovereignty II
Authority and Obligation I
Authority and Obligation II
Democracy and Majority Rule I
Democracy and Majority Rule II
Liberty and Rights I
Liberty and Rights II
Equality and Social Justice I
Equality and Social Justice II
Environmentalism I
Environmentalism II
War and Intervention I
War and Intervention II
Revision
Seminars
Each of the seminars is structured around a particular assigned activity or sets of activities and are in combination designed not only to help you understand the material and techniques covered in the module, but also to acquire a range of skills, useful both as an undergraduate student and more broadly. Your seminar leader will inform you in more detail about the particular activity for each seminar. Details of the alternative online provision will be provided through Blackboard.
Introduction. Weeks 1 and 2, Autumn Term
Politics, the State and Sovereignty. Work in pairs and then in larger groups. Weeks 3 and 4, Autumn Term
Political Authority and Obligation. Close reading and then group work. Weeks 5 and 7, Autumn Term
Democracy and Majority Rule. Group work. Weeks 8 and 9, Autumn Term
Liberty and Rights. Whole group discussion. Weeks 10 and 11, Autumn Term
Study skills. Individual exercise then group discussion. Weeks 1 and 2, Spring Term
Equality and Social Justice. Group work. Weeks 3 and 4, Spring Term
Environmentalism. Work in pairs. Weeks 5 and 7, Spring Term
War and Intervention. Prepared group presentations. Weeks 8 and 9, Spring Term
Exam Preparation. Individual exercise then group discussion. Weeks 10 and 11, Spring Term
4. Participation
Seminar attendance is compulsory. If you repeatedly miss seminars, your academic tutor will be informed. If you arrive unable to participate because you have not prepared appropriately, you may be asked to leave and your academic tutor informed. Participation in the alternative online provision will also be monitored.
5. Assessment
This module is assessed by two 1,500 word essays, each worth 20%, and a written exam in the summer, worth 60%. The first essay must be submitted by Wednesday the 16th of December 2020 and the second by Friday the 26th of March 2021. Please also bear in mind that a 20 credit module is supposed to involve 200 hours of work. Given that there are 26 hours of contact time, that means you should spend roughly the equivalent of five full working weeks working on the module outside of class. Assessed work which does not seem like it is the product of that kind of level of engagement with the module will do badly.
Marks and comments will be returned via Blackboard within 15 working days. Public holidays and days of University closure do not count towards this total. This may mean that the work is returned more than three weeks after the deadline. Non-submitted essays will be awarded a mark of zero. 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day or part thereof following the deadline, up to a total of five working days. Any work submitted more than five working days after the original deadline will receive a mark of zero (0).
Requirements for a pass
40% overall.
6. How to do well in these assessments
A pair of successful past essays is available on Blackboard, including the feedback provided. Please look at this for guidance. There is also a writing guide available on the Blackboard site for this module. Please consult it too. It is full of very useful advice, illustrated with examples, which will help you avoid many of the mistakes undergraduates commonly make. It rightly emphasizes the importance of clearly completing the task you have been set. This is the most basic criteria for success in the assessments on this module. They set you tasks. If you perform those tasks adequately, you will almost certainly get a 2.i-level mark.
Your essays should answer the question using material covered in the module. That is the task the essay questions set. The relevant material may be covered in the lectures, the seminars or be drawn, directly or indirectly, from assigned readings. However, if you find yourself writing an answer to an essay for this module which does not base itself around what the module actually discussed, you will most likely be setting yourself up to do badly.
Please ask if you are unsure about how to complete your assignments, including if you are unsure about what the question is asking or whether you’re using relevant material to answer it. We would much rather help you to do well than for you to do badly because you did not understand what you were supposed to be doing. Relatedly, please make use of the feedback on your first assessment. The comments are meant help you improve your work. If you do not understand comments or how best to respond to them, please arrange to discuss them.
Lastly, there are a pair of stylistic and grammatical weaknesses which importantly weaken many undergraduate assignments. First, many undergraduates do not write in proper sentences. Please avoid run-on sentences, particularly with comma splices, and fragments. If in doubt, write in short simple sentences with one main verb. Second, many undergraduates use the passive voice incorrectly, particularly with modal verbs. ‘It could be argued’ notes a fact about possibility and so does not endorse whatever it introduces. If you mean to make an argument, make it, and if you mean to attribute an argument to someone else, attribute it to them.
7. Plagiarism and Poor Academic Practice
Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another’s work as your own. For the purposes of this module, this means that wherever you have used a distinctive idea or piece of information which is not widely known or familiar, you should provide a reference for it. Failure to do so may not always be plagiarism, in that you may not be representing the distinctive idea or piece of information as your own. It will however usually be poor academic practice. Please consult your seminar leaders or the Department’s ASK advisor if you unsure about how to reference appropriately. The University’s regulations on academic integrity are available at https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/QualityAssurance/PoliciesandProcedures/cqsd-assessmenthandbook.aspx.
8. Essay questions
Autumn Term
What makes an activity, institution or relationship political?
Is and ought the state to be sovereign?
No-one consents to their state and so there is no political obligation. Is this true?
When, if ever, is it right to break the law?
If almost all a society’s adult population has the right to vote in regular elections, does it have rule by the people?
Should democracy be justified instrumentally or intrinsically?
Is being unable to afford to buy something an inability or a limit to freedom?
Can Mill’s harm principle be justified?
Spring Term
If everyone has enough, do we have any reason to care about inequalities in welfare or resources?
What should the currency of equality be?
Are the only reasons for humans to take action to limit environmental damage connected to humans’ own goals and purposes?
If rich states should pay for the costs of global environmental problems like climate change, is this only because their wealth makes it easier for them to do so?
Can an unjust war be fought justly?
‘War can never be justified because all wars involve the deaths of some innocents.’ Discuss.
READING LIST
An individual chapter of Issues in Political Theory is listed under each topic as ‘Essential Reading’. ‘Essential Reading’ means exactly that. If it becomes clear during the seminar to your seminar leader that you have not read the assigned chapter of Issues in Political Theory, she or he may ask you to leave. The same goes for online alternative provision.
Items listed under ‘Further Reading’ suggest texts which will help prepare for seminars and for the two essays. The chapters in Issues in Political Theory also have their own lists of further reading which will guide you in delving deeper into their topics, and you should also be aware of the online Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy which contains many detailed entries on topics covered in this module (https://plato.stanford.edu/). You should use both of these as well as this list to expand your understanding beyond that offered by the Issues in Political Theory chapters.
Essays which rely only the textbook chapters and even on the further readings listed here will tend to do less well than those which draw on a wider range of texts. One important skill you should begin to acquire during this module is the ability to identify and locate appropriate academic texts relevant to the topics you are studying and the assessments you must complete. Successfully doing this will enable you to make points of greater depth, breadth and sophistication in your contributions to seminars and in your written work.
Please also note that reading here does not simply mean flicking through a text. It means reading carefully, usually taking detailed notes. You should aim to have a set of notes which allow you to reconstruct the points and arguments of the various texts you have read without returning to them. This may mean taking thousands of words of notes per topic, but will serve you well when it comes to the assessments.
Weeks 3 and 4, Autumn Term: POLITICS, THE STATE AND SOVEREIGNTY
Essential Reading
Sarah Fine, ‘Sovereignty and Borders’, Issues in Political Theory.
Further Reading
Bernard Crick, ‘Politics as a Form of Rule: Politics, Citizenship and Democracy’ in A. Leftwich, What is Politics: The Activity and its Study (Cambridge: Polity, 2004).
Bernard Crick, In Defence of Politics, available in several editions.
Garrett Hardin, ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’, Science 162 (3859) (1968), 1243-1248.
Adrian Leftwich, ‘Thinking Politically: On the Politics of Politics’ in A. Leftwich, What is Politics: The Activity and its Study (Cambridge: Polity, 2004).
Judith Squires, ‘Politics Beyond Boundaries: A Feminist Perspective’ in A. Leftwich, What is Politics: The Activity and its Study (Cambridge: Polity, 2004).
Albert Weale, ‘Politics as Collective Choice’ in A. Leftwich, What is Politics: The Activity and its Study (Cambridge: Polity, 2004).
Max Weber, ‘Politics as a Vocation’ in D. Owen and T. Strong (eds.), The Vocation Lectures (Cambridge: Hackett, 2004) and widely available online.
Weeks 5 and 7, Autumn Term: AUTHORITY AND OBLIGATION
Essential Reading
Keith Hyams, ‘Political Obligation’, Issues in Political Theory
Further Reading
John Horton, Political Obligation (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2010).
David Hume, ‘Of the Original Contract’ (available in most collections of Hume’s writings).
Bhikhu Parekh, ‘A Misconceived Discourse on Political Obligation’, Political Studies 41 (2) (1993), 236-251.
Hanna Pitkin, ‘Obligation and Consent I’, American Political Science Review, 59 (4) (1965), 990-999.
Hanna Pitkin, ‘Obligation and Consent II’, American Political Science Review, 60 (1) (1966), 39-52.
Joseph Raz, ‘Authority and Justification’, Philosophy and Public Affairs, 14 (1) (1985), 3-29.
A. John Simmons, Moral Principles and Political Obligations (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979).
Robert Paul Wolff, ‘The Conflict Between Authority and Autonomy’, in his In Defense of Anarchism (New York: Harper & Row, 1970).
Weeks 8 and 9, Autumn Term: DEMOCRACY
Essential Reading
Thomas Christiano, ‘Democracy’, Issues in Political Theory.
Further Reading
Robert Dahl, Democracy and its Critics (New Haven: Yale University Press).
David Estlund (ed.), Democracy (Oxford: Blackwell).
Jon Elster, ‘The Market and the Forum’ in R. Goodin and P. Pettit (eds.), Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Anthology (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009); T. Christiano (ed.), Philosophy and Democracy: An Anthology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003); J. Bohman and W. Rehg (eds.), Deliberative Democracy: Essays on Reason and Politics (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1997); and J. Elster and A. Hylland, Foundations of Social Choice Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986).
Jane Mansbridge, ‘Should Blacks Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women? A Contingent “Yes”’, Journal of Politics 61 (3) (1999), 628-657.
Anne Phillips, ‘Dealing with Difference: A Politics of Ideas or a Politics of Presence?’, Constellations 1 (1) (1994), 74-91.
Albert Weale, Democracy (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2nd edition 2007)
Richard Wollheim, ‘A Paradox in the Theory of Democracy’ in P. Laslett and W. G. Runciman, Philosophy, Politics and Society (Oxford: Blackwell, 1962).
Weeks 10 and 11, Autumn Term: LIBERTY AND RIGHTS
Essential Reading
Ian Carter, ‘Liberty’, Issues in Political Theory
Further Reading
Tom Campbell, ‘Human Rights’, Issues in Political Theory.
G. A. Cohen, ‘Freedom and Money’ in G. A. Cohen, ed. M. Otsuka, On the Currency of Egalitarian Justice and Other Essays in Political Philosophy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011).
Patrick Devlin, ‘Morals and the Criminal Law’ in R. Wasserstrom (ed.), Morality and the Law (Belmont: Wadsworth, 1971).
Joel Feinberg, ‘The Nature and Value of Rights’, Journal of Value Inquiry, Vol. 4 (1970), pp. 243-60.
H. L. A. Hart, ‘Immorality and Treason’ in R. Wasserstrom (ed.), Morality and the Law (Belmont: Wadsworth, 1971) and N. Warburton (ed.), Freedom: An Introduction with Readings (London: Routledge, 2001).
H. L. A. Hart, Law, Liberty and Morality (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Stephen Holmes, ‘The Permanent Structure of Antiliberal Thought’, in N. Rosenblum, Liberalism and the Moral Life (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989).
Catharine McKinnon, ‘Pornography, Civil Rights, and Speech’, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 20 (1), 1-70.
Jeremy Waldron, The Harm in Hate Speech (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011).
Weeks 3 and 4, Spring Term: EQUALITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Essential Reading
Jonathan Wolff, ‘Equality and Social Justice’, Issues in Political Theory
Further Reading
Harry Brighouse, Justice (Cambridge: Polity 2004).
Martin O’Neill, ‘What Should Egalitarians Believe’, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 36 (2008), pp. 119-156.
Serena Olsaretti, ‘Responsibility and the Consequences of Choice’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol. 109 (2009), pp. 165-188.
John Rawls, ed. Erin Kelly, Justice as Fairness (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2001), especially Part II, ‘Principles of Justice’.
Stuart White, Equality (Cambridge: Polity, 2007).
Bernard Williams, ‘The Idea of Equality’ in his Problems of the Self (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976) and his G. Hawthorn (ed.) In the Beginning was the Deed (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005).
Iris Marion Young, ‘Structural Injustice and the Politics of Difference’, in A. Laden and D. Owen (eds.), Multiculturalism and Political Theory, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007).
Weeks 5 and 7, Spring Term: ENVIRONMENTALISM
Essential Reading
Simon Caney, ‘The Environment’, Issues in Political Theory.
Further Reading
Andrew Dobson, Green Political Thought (London: Routledge, 2000), Chapter 2.
Robyn Eckersley, ‘Politics’ in D. Jamieson, Companion to Environmental Philosophy (Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2001).
Garrett Hardin, ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’, Science 162 (3859) (1968), 1243-1248.
Robert Goodin, Green Political Theory, (Cambridge: Polity, 1992).
Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
James Scott, Seeing Like a State, (New York: Yale University Press, 1998)
Henry Shue, ‘Subsistence Emissions and Luxury Emissions’ in his Climate Justice: Vulnerability and Protection (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014) and S. Gardiner et al (eds.) Climate Ethics: Essential Readings (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).
Weeks 8 and 9, Spring Term: WAR AND INTERVENTION
Essential Reading
Helen Frowe, ‘War and Intervention’, Issues in Political Theory
Further Reading
Sarah Fine, ‘Sovereignty and Borders’, Issues in Political Theory
Christopher Finlay, Is Just War Possible?, (Cambridge: Polity, 2018)
Philippa Foot, ‘The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of Double Effect’, The Oxford Review 5 (1967), 5-15. Republished in her Virtues and Vices and Other Essays in Moral Philosophy (1977/2002).
Thomas Nagel, ‘War and Massacre’, Philosophy and Public Affairs 1 (2) (1972), 123-144.
Judith Jarvis Thomson, ‘Killing, Letting Die, and the Trolley Problem’, The Monist 59 (2) (1976), 204-217.
Bernard Williams, ‘Humanitarianism and the Right to Intervene’ in his G. Hawthorn (ed.), In the Beginning Was the Deed (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005).
RJ PO1IPI 20-21
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