Concepts and theories in Politics Concepts and

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Concepts and theories in Politics

Concepts and theories in Politics is a compulsory course in the MA program of the department. Its main aim is to accustom the students to central topics of political theory, focusing especially in the theme of modern ethico-practical values. The course is organized in two main parts: a) theories of sovereignty and b) modern political systems and values. In the first part, emphasis is given to the theory of Machiavelli and Hobbes with the axis being the concept of sovereignty. The second part begins with Rousseau’s Social Contract taken as a developed theoretical form of normative politics. The issue of the intricate but also complex relation between the political system and modern values is then followed consecutively in Hegel’s analysis of the English political system (Hegel’s text on the English Reform bill) and in Marx’s concept of primitive accumulation and the relevant concept of the state developed there (Marx’s text: 24th chapter of Capital vol.1). Next, this issue is discussed through Hobson’s theory of imperialism (Hobson’s text: mainly the second part of his work Imperialism: A Study) and Weber’s analysis on nationalism in his inaugural address in Freiburg, with the mediations and results of imperialism and nationalism in the political system in general and the realization of values in particular being our prominent interest. Lastly, the problem of the realization of values in modern society is conceptualized according to Ernst Bloch’s theory of human rights and political values (Bloch’s text: Natural law and human dignity).