Module description
This module introduces students to a selection of canonical thinkers in the history of western political thought: Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Mary Wollstonecraft, John-Stuart Mill, and Peter Kropotkin. The module covers a wide range of theoretical perspectives and topics – see the provisional lecture programme below for a sense of the topics we will address.
This module will particularly suit students who enjoy political theory and would like to become more acquainted with the history of political thought. You might have come across some of these thinkers in your first year, but we will be analysing their texts in far greater detail. There is a lot of reading and much of it is very challenging. In the seminars we will carefully work our way through selections from the primary texts, so do not take this module if you dislike reading books that are difficult to understand. Do take this module if you would like to gain first-hand appreciation of some of the most impressive and important contributions in shaping western political thought.
Assessment details
2,500-word essay (40%) and 3,000-word essay (60%)
Educational aims & objectives
This course is designed to give students:
- a good knowledge of selected political thinkers (e.g. Machiavelli, Rousseau and Mill);
- an understanding of different ways of interpreting political texts;
- the ability to assess the strengths and weaknesses of these texts.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this module, students will be able to:
- understand and evaluate the arguments of selected political thinkers;
- compare and assess competing interpretations of those thinkers;
- analyse the implications of these texts (e.g. by relating them to their historical context or by applying them to contemporary problems).
Teaching pattern
Provisional lecture programme
Week Topic
1 Machiavelli on Political Morality
2 Hobbes on Human Nature and Conflict
3 Hobbes on Political Order and Sovereignty
4 Montesquieu’s Typology of Government
5 Montesquieu on Political Liberty and Commerce
6 Reading week
7 Rousseau on Inequality
8 Rousseau on Freedom and the General Will
9 Wollstonecraft on the Rights of Women
10 Mill on Individuality and Liberty of Expression
11 Kropotkin on Anarchist Communism
Suggested reading list
Indicative reading
- Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince
- Thomas Hobbes, On the Citizen
- Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality; The Social Contract
- Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women
- John-Stuart Mill, On Liberty
- Peter Kropotkin, The Conquest of Bread