EPOKA UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF LAW AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
COURSE SYLLABUS
COURSE INFORMATIONCourse Title: ISSUES IN POLITICAL THEORY |
| Code | Course Type | Regular Semester | Theory | Practice | Lab | Credits | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PIR 415 | B | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7.5 |
| Academic staff member responsible for the design of the course syllabus (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) | NA |
| Lecturer (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours: | Salih Özcan , Monday & Tuesday 2-3 pm; |
| Second Lecturer(s) (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours: | NA |
| Teaching Assistant(s) and Office Hours: | NA |
| Language: | English |
| Compulsory/Elective: | Compulsory |
| Classroom and Meeting Time: | On Wednesdays |
| Course Description: | This is a master level course. This course is intended to familiarize students with some of the most important issues introduced throughout the political discourse of humankind. Themes such as the state, justice, liberty, equality and democracy will be considered in terms of the assumptions they provide about human nature, and the challenges they continue to pose to politics in the 21st century. This course is divided into four parts: the first reflects on the basic unit of political power, the state, and the nature of power itself; the second one focuses on the discussion of justice, liberty and equality ; the third considers modern democracy and ideologies that have purported to rival it; while the fourth and final part is devoted to crucial and emergent issues within the modern democratic framework itself including democratization as process, multiculturalism and feminism. Students will be expected to develop a grasp of most important issues in political theory and assess the relevance of individual thinkers in the contemporary setting. |
| Course Objectives: | Module is designed for Master students in order to give information about politics and political theories. It is known that some of these students have not been thought the subject at all. This is not a disadvantage for those students, because we aimed to convey basic terms on the subject. This module will provide clear understanding for students on political theory. It will ‘shows students why an understanding of theory is crucial to an understanding of issues and events in a rapidly shifting global political landscape. Bringing together classic and contemporary political concepts and ideologies into one book, this new text introduces the major approaches to political issues that have shaped the modern world, and the ideas that form the currency of political debate’. |
|
COURSE OUTLINE
|
| Week | Topics |
| 1 | Introductory Class |
| 2 | What is Political Theory? Power and Politics. McKinnon, C. (Ed.) (2019, 2015) Introduction; • Heywood, A. (2015), Chapter 1: What is Political Theory; • Goodwin, B. (2014), Chapter 1: What is Political Theory; • McKinnon, C. (Ed.) (2019,2015), Chapter 5/14: Power; • Hoffman, J & Graham, P. (2015), Introduction and Part 1: What is Power? • Savigny, H. & Marsden, L. (2011) Chapter 2: Power |
| 3 | Political Authority and Obligations. • McKinnon, C. (Ed.) (2015) Chapter 1: Political Authority and Obligation; • Heywood, A. (2015), Chapter 5: Power, Authority and Legitimacy (pp. 109-130 + 220-226); • Goodwin, B. (2014), Chapter 13: Power, Authority and State (pp. 341-351+389-402); |
| 4 | Liberty. • McKinnon, C. (Ed.) (2015) Chapter 2: Liberty; • Heywood, A. (2015), Chapter 9: Freedom, Toleration and Identity (pp.237-250); • Goodwin, B. (2014), Chapter 14: Freedom and Rights (pp.361-371); |
| 5 | Toleration. • McKinnon, C. (Ed.) (2015) Chapter 3: Toleration; • Heywood, A. (2015), Chapter 9 (pp. 250-257); • Goodwin, B. (2014), Chapter 14: Freedom and Rights (pp.381-385) |
| 6 | Democracy. • McKinnon, C. (Ed.) (2015, 2008) Chapter 4: Democracy; • Heywood, A. (2015), Chapter 6: Democracy, Representation and Public Interest; • Goodwin, B. (2014), Chapter 12: Democracy |
| 7 | Equality & Social Justice. • McKinnon, C. (Ed.) (2015) Chapter 5: Equality and Social Justice; • Heywood, A. (2015), Chapter 10: Equality, Social Justice and Welfare (pp.268-287); • Goodwin, B. (2014), Chapter 16: Social Justice and Equality |
| 8 | Midterm or Guest lecturer |
| 9 | Human Rights. • McKinnon, C. (Ed.) (2015) Chapter 8: Human Rights; • Heywood, A. (2015), Chapter 8: Rights, Obligations and Citizenship; • Goodwin, B. (2014), Chapter 14: Freedom and Rights (pp. 373- 381) |
| 10 | Gender. • McKinnon, C. (Ed.) (2015) Chapter 12: Gender; • Heywood, A. (2017), Chapter 8: Feminism; • Goodwin, B. (2014), Chapter 9: Feminism |
| 11 | Global Justice and Global Poverty.• McKinnon, C. (Ed.) (2015) Chapter 9: Global Justice; • Heywood, A. (2015), Chapter 7: Law, Order and Justice (pp.196-204); • McKinnon, C. (Ed.) (2019) Chapter 10: Global Poverty |
| 12 | War and Intervention / Sovereignty and Borders. • McKinnon, C. (Ed.) (2015) Chapter 10: War and Intervention; • McKinnon, C. (Ed.) (2019) Chapter 12: Sovereignty and Borders; • Heywood, A. (2015), Chapter 12: Security, War and World Order |
| 13 | Environment. • McKinnon, C. (Ed.) (2019) Chapter 14: Environment; • McKinnon, C. (Ed.) (2015) Chapter 11: Environment; • Heywood, A. (2017), Chapter 9: Green Ideology; • Goodwin, B. (2014), Chapter 10: Green Ideologies; • Savigny, H. & Marsden, L. (2011) Chapter 10: The Environment |
| 14 | Student Presentations |
| Prerequisite(s): | NA |
| Textbook: | C. McKinnon (Ed.), Issues in Political Theory, 3rd edition, 2015 and 4th edition 2019; A. Heywood, Political Theory An Introduction, 4th edition, 2015; B. Goodwin, Using Political Ideas, 6th edition, 2014; A. Heywood, Political Ideologies An Introduction, 6th edition, 2017; H. Savigny and L. Marsden, Doing Political Science and International Relations, 3rd edition, 2011 |
| Other References: | Gerald F. Gaus and Fred D’Agostino (eds) (2013) The Routledge companion to social and political philosophy, Routledge; David Leopold and Marc Stears (eds.) (2008) Political Theory: Methods and Approaches, Oxford: Oxford University Press; John S. Dryzek, Bonnie Honig and Anne Phillips (eds.) (2008) The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory, Oxford: Oxford University Press; Robert E. Goodin and Philip Pettit (eds.) (1993) A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy, Oxford: Blackwell; Michael Smith (1994) The Moral Problem, Oxford: Blackwell; Keith Dowding (2015) The Philosophy and Methods of Political Science, Palgrave. ***************************************************************************************************** Web pages (among others): 1) https://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/calendar/courseGuides/GV/2020_GV4H4.htm 2) http://colinfarrelly.blogspot.com/2006/04/what-is-political-theory.html 3) https://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html 4) https://oxfordre.com/politics/browse?t0=ORE_POL:REFPOL012 5) https://blog.politics.ox.ac.uk/category/political-theory/ 6) https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/ |
| Laboratory Work: | NA |
| Computer Usage: | NA |
| Others: | No |
|
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES
|
| 1 | At the end of the course the students will be able to discuss the classical ideas such as the state, freedom, equality, justice and classical ideologies namely liberalism, conservatism, socialism and as well as contemporary ideologies such as feminism, multiculturalism, fundamentalism and ecologism. |
| 2 | Democracy and democratization process in the world and the contribution of Muslim and Eastern scholars to the western political ideas and ideologies will be wellknown from the students. |
| 3 | At the end of the course, the students will develop their ability to formulate current problem within framework of political theory. |
| 4 | This module will provide clear understanding for students on political theory |
|
COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO... PROGRAM COMPETENCIES
(Blank : no contribution, 1: least contribution ... 5: highest contribution) |
| No | Program Competencies | Cont. |
| Master of Science in Political Science and International Relations Program | ||
| 1 | Having and using advanced knowledge and comprehension supported by textbooks including actual knowledge in political sciences and international relations literature, materials and the other scientific resources. | 5 |
| 2 | Analyzing data, ideas and concepts of current political issues and international relations, determining complex events and topics, making discussions and developing new suggestions in accordance with researches. | 5 |
| 3 | Having knowledge and thought about actual topics and problems together with their historical, social and cultural aspects. | 5 |
| 4 | Introducing those who are interested in politics and international events with the topics of Political Science and IR and teaching clearly the problems and the types of solutions. | 5 |
| 5 | Improving skills of working together with the main social science disciplines and other disciplines which are related to Political Science and International Relations. | 5 |
| 6 | Improving critical thinking and skills in making research independently. | 5 |
| 7 | Developing solutions about the problems and conflicts which are common in national and international arena. | 5 |
| 8 | Improving skills for leadership and research and analyze capacity of those who is responsible with national and international ones. | 4 |
| 9 | Knowing any foreign language enough to communicate with colleagues and understand actual researches and articles. | 5 |
| 10 | Gaining IT skills to use computer and technology) in order to reach actual knowledge. | 2 |
| 11 | Gaining skills to follow societal, scientific and ethic values during collecting, interpreting, conducting of data related to social and political developments. | 4 |
| 12 | Having consciousness about human rights and environment. | 4 |
| 13 | Gaining the skills to follow actual developments and pursue long-life learning. | 5 |
|
COURSE EVALUATION METHOD
|
| Method | Quantity | Percentage |
| Presentation |
1
|
15
|
| Term Paper |
1
|
30
|
| Final Exam |
1
|
45
|
| Attendance |
10
|
|
| Total Percent: | 100% |
|
ECTS (ALLOCATED BASED ON STUDENT WORKLOAD)
|
| Activities | Quantity | Duration(Hours) | Total Workload(Hours) |
| Course Duration (Including the exam week: 16x Total course hours) | 16 | 3 | 48 |
| Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice) | 16 | 2 | 32 |
| Mid-terms | 1 | 15 | 15 |
| Assignments | 2 | 29 | 58 |
| Final examination | 1 | 35 | 35 |
| Other | 0 | ||
|
Total Work Load:
|
188 | ||
|
Total Work Load/25(h):
|
7.52 | ||
|
ECTS Credit of the Course:
|
7.5 | ||