POL SCI 756 / Politics and Its Others

3 unit(s)

J. Ingram

Controversy about the nature and scope of politics is as old as political philosophy, but it reached a new pitch in the twentieth century. In this course we examine thinkers from diverse theoretical and political perspectives who nevertheless agree that ‘the political’ is threatened under modern conditions, and must be recognized and defended. What is at stake in proclaiming ‘the political’ a distinct and autonomous domain of society, experience, or activity? How do various authors differentiate if from and relate it to other spheres? What are the implicit or explicit politics of doing so? Authors studied may include Max Weber, Carl Schmitt, Antonio Gramsci, Leo Strauss, Hannah Arendt, Sheldon Wolin, John Rawls, Claude Lefort, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Chantal Mouffe, Giorgio Agamben, Bonnie Honig, Étienne Balibar, Jacques Rancière, and Wendy Brown.