Political theory and the history of political ideas support the consideration of contemporary issues of political science with regard to several important aspects: They help to grasp the complexity (and sometimes inconsistency) of certain topics (a), reflect history and ambiguity of relevant political concepts (b), offer critical or alternative perspectives to the current state of research (c), and therefore provide not only descriptive but also normative claims (d).
Proceeding from this, the course addresses three issue areas which can be identified as main challenges for contemporary democracies in the age of global economy, technology innovation and migration. In this respect, it will be discussed whether digitization and big data are rather supposed to strengthen or to weaken the theory and practice of public governance and grass-root society; why degrowth and sustainability belong to the structural deficits of all modern democracies; and finally, how to assess the risk that Western democracies are currently infiltrated and subverted by illiberal populist and far right movements.
Studienleistung/Coursework: Presentation
Prüfungsleistung/Examination: Seminar Paper or Oral Examination
Recommended Works:
Derrida, Jacques: Rogues. Two Essays on Reason, Stanford: UP 2005.
Gallie, W. B.: Essentially Contested Concepts. In: Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 56 (1956): 167-198.
Hidalgo, Oliver: The Theory of Democratic Antinomies and the Identification of Value Trade-Offs in Political Practice. In: Politics and Governance 7.4 (2019): 264-274.
Hindman, Matthew: The Internet Trap: How the Digital Economy Builds Monopolies and Undermines Democracy, Princeton: UP 2018.
Jackson, Tim: Prosperity without Growth. Economics for a Finite Planet, London: Earthscan 2009.
Miller, David: Strangers in our Midst: The Political Philosophy of Immigration. Cambridge: Harvard University Press 2016.
Müller, Jan-Werner: What is Populism? London: Penguin 2017.
Rawls, John: A Theory of Justice, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard UP 1971.
Sunstein, Cass R.: #Republic. Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media, Princeton: UP 2017.
Zakaria, Fareed: The Future of Freedom. Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad. New York/London: W. W. Norton 2003.
- Lehrende/r: Oliver Hidalgo