BPS101 | Political Science I

This course is designed as an introduction to some of the key concerns of the discipline of political science. In some ways, the course is centred on the institution of the modern state, which continues to remain an important actor in conceptions and enactments of the political community. The course seeks to introduce students to different normative and institutional dimensions of the problems of the political community through engagements with scholarship in the history of political thought, political institutions and processes, and contemporary political theory.  Focus on the state calls into question not only issues of political institutions but also, vitally, the people, and the forms of relationships that tie members of a political community and generate inclusion or exclusion.  Thus, in conjunction with a focus on the institution of the state, the course will also familiarize students with some core concepts and themes in politics — such as freedom, coercion, equality, justice and secularism — from different methodological orientations with a view to capturing the diversity of human experience.  The aim is to sharpen the facility with which students can read and respond independently to ideas contained in different kinds of texts about politics.  Some of the course readings have been selected to enable a transcultural orientation for the study of political ideas and institutions.  

Please note that the instructors may change the readings, or the order of readings, if required.  Information about any such changes will be circulated duly.