Political Ideas, Fall Semester, 2007
Important notice:
There will be no class meeting on December 4. Send me your papers and/or exams by email, and I will email grades and comments back.
Handouts:
Schedule of Topics and Readings (But check below for additions and updates)
Introduction sheet (Please fill this out if you haven't already done so.)
Position Paper Assignment (Due November 27)
First exam (Due October 9)
Second exam (Due December 4)
Discussion projects: Dinner with the King (8/28)
What is government for? (9/4)
Castaways (9/11)
Politics and Human Nature (9/18)
Socialism (10/9)
Engels vs. Anarchism (10/16)
Extra Selections from Locke's 2nd Treatise on Government (read for 9/4)
Jonathan Bennett's modernization of Locke (and others)
Franklin D. Roosevelt on an economic bill of rights (read for 9/11)
Burke on the need for an aristocracy (Read for 9/18)
Robert Bork on the Culture War (Read for 9/25)
A speech by Pat Robertson (Read for 9/25)
The statement of 'core values' from Pat Buchanan's organization, "The American Cause" (Read for 9/25)
Hayek on the impossibility of central planning (Read for 10/9)
Roemer on combining socialism with markets ('market socialism' vs. 'Nordic Social Democracy') (Read for 10/9 - PDF - feel free to skip the excessively technical discussion of 'feasibility models' that runs from page 14 to page 24, but do read the summary, which starts on page 24.)
Albert and Hahnel on 'Participatory Economics (read for 10/9)
Links to material on socialism
Engels on Authority (and against Anarchism) (read for 10/16)
Links to material on fascism (read what you can for 10/23)
Links to material on globalization (read what you can for 11/20)
Bikhu Parekh on Multiculturalism (Read for 11/27)
Amartya Sen on Multiculturalism (Read for 11/27)
David Kupelian, "Multicultural Madness" (Read for 11/27)
A page of links to various sources of political news and commentary