Course Description:
This course does not have any pre-requisite and is intended for students who want to study Political Science as well as those whose professional interests lie elsewhere. The purpose of the course is to provide the students with the tools to think analytically about politics in a variety of settings, and to recognize different ways to examine it.
The course is organized in 6 modules. The first module offers the students an overview of the discipline of Political Science, its methodologies, and its key concepts.
The second and third modules present and analyze a fundamental topic in politics. They offer a historical and theoretical perspective of Liberalism, as well as a comparative and international study of this political ideology.
The fourth and fifth modules study the concept of democracy and its application in modern times. The liberal roots of Western democratic systems are analyzed and criticized, and alternative ways to conceiving democracy are presented.
Finally, the last module will look into the future of liberal and democratic theories, and of the discipline of political science and its subfields.
Author: Marinés Fornerino, Ph.D.
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