Political Theory (KAM602) Course Detail

Course Name Course Code Season Lecture Hours Application Hours Lab Hours Credit ECTS
Political Theory KAM602 1. Semester 3 0 0 3 5
Pre-requisite Course(s)
N/A
Course Language Turkish
Course Type Compulsory Departmental Courses
Course Level Ph.D.
Mode of Delivery Face To Face
Learning and Teaching Strategies Lecture, Discussion, Question and Answer, Problem Solving, Team/Group.
Course Coordinator
Course Lecturer(s)
  • Prof. Dr. Funda Gençoğlu
Course Assistants
Course Objectives The history of humanity is also the history of people's efforts to understand and give meaning to the world they live in. Naturally, a parallel effort would also involve social distancing that people sometimes call "best", sometimes "right", sometimes "most moral", sometimes "most plausible", sometimes "most natural", sometimes "best suited to God's will". There have been attempts to think, imagine, envision, and/or realize the order. The central problematic, on the other hand, has essentially been the issue of what the connection between the individual and the community he lives in, sometimes small like the police, sometimes big enough to be expressed with the concept of "universecity", could be. This course will trace all these efforts from Ancient Greece to the up-to-date discussions of contemporary political theory, and will examine thinkers who are representatives of different traditions in a wide range from Aristotle to postmodernism and radical democracy. The course will be conducted in the form of reading the original texts of these thinkers, presenting the assignments prepared about the questions that will be given to the students beforehand, and discussing them in class.
Course Learning Outcomes The students who succeeded in this course;
  • Why/how efforts to understand the world and give it a meaning are thought of as an effort to seek social order that is sometimes "best", sometimes "right", sometimes "most moral", sometimes "most plausible", sometimes "most natural", sometimes "best suited to God's will".
  • S(he) will have an idea about whether the classical debates in political theory and the corpus formed as a result of them are cumulative, cyclical or both.
  • By reading the original texts, s(he) will have seen the impact of classical texts on the nature and quality of today's political debates.
Course Content Liberalism; Marxism; Conservatism; Totalitarianism; Fascism; Radical Political Thought; Theories of Democracy.

Weekly Subjects and Releated Preparation Studies

Week Subjects Preparation
1 Course Introduction and Course Introduction  Tinder, Glenn. “Why Engage in Political Thinking?” in G. Tinder Political Thinking. Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1986, pp. 11-22.  Dryzek, John, S., Bonnie Honig and Anne Phillips. “Introduction” in The Oxford Handbook of Political Science ed. Dryzek, John, S., Bonnie Honig and Anne Phillips. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 3-30.  Wolin, Sheldon. “Political Theory as a Vocation”, APSR 63 (1969), 1062-82.  Grant, Ruth W. “Political Theory, Political Science, and Politics” in Political Theory Vol. 30 No. 4, August 2002, 577-595.  Thiele, Leslie Paul. Thinking Politics Perspectives in Ancient, Modern and Postmodern Political Theory. New York, London: Chatham House Publishers, 2003, pp. xi-26.  Vincent, Andrew. “Introduction” in Political Theory, Tradition and Diversity, edited by A. Vincent. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 1-27.  Ball, Terence. “Political Theory and Conceptual Change” in Political Theory, Tradition and Diversity, edited by A. Vincent. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 28-44.
2 John Locke Hükümet Üzerine İkinci İnceleme/ 2nd Treatise, 5, 7-9, 11, 14, 19 bölümler
3 John Stuart Mill Özgürlük Üzerine/ On Liberty/TAMAMI
4 John Rawls - Uygur, Gülriz (2013) “John Rawls,” Siyaset Felsefesi Tarihi Platon’dan Zizek’e içinde, Ahu Tunçel ve Kurtul Gülenç (ed.) Ankara: Doğu Batı Yayınları, s. 712-735. - Kymlicka, Will (2016) Çağdaş Siyaset Felsefesine Giriş, İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları, s. 73-104. - Mehmet Kocaoğlu, John Rawls, Adalet Teorisi Ve Temel Kavramlari, İmaj, 2015
5 Libertarianism and Nozick - Kymlicka, Will (2016) Çağdaş Siyaset Felsefesine Giriş, İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları, s. 141-232. - Nozick, Robert. 1984 [1974]. "Moral Constraints and Distributive Justice." In Liberalism and its Critics, ed. M. Sandel. New York: New York University Press, 100-22 [e- book available.]
6 Aristotle Politika (Özellikle 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. BÖLÜMLER.)
7 Machiavelli OKUMA: Söylevler/ Tamami (EK OLARAK PRENS DE OKUNABİLİR.)
8 Rousseau Toplumsal Sözleşme (Özellikle 1, 2, 3 & 4) -İnsanlar Arasindaki Eşitsizliğin Kökenleri (TAMAMI)
9 Habermas and Liberal Republicanism - Özbank, Murat (2013) “Jürgen Habermas,” Siyaset Felsefesi Tarihi Platon’dan Zizek’e içinde, Ahu Tunçel ve Kurtul Gülenç (ed.) Ankara: Doğu Batı Yayınları, s.754-768. - Habermas, Jürgen “The Public Sphere,” in Jürgen Habermas on Society and Politics. A reader, ed. by Steven Seidman (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989), pp. 231-236. - Habermas, Jürgen. “Introduction: Preliminary Demarcation of a Type of Bourgeois Public Sphere,” in The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society (Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 1989), pp. 1-26. - Habermas, Jürgen. 1995. "Reconciliation through the Public Use of Reason: Remarks on John Rawls's Political Liberalism." The Journal of Philosophy 92 (3): 109-31. - Gençoğlu O. Funda. “Democracy, Pluralism and the Idea of Public Reason: Rawls and Habermas in Comparative Perspective” CEU Political Science Journal, 2011; 6(3):433-458.
10 Karl Marx Komünist Manifesto Yahudi Sorunu Üzerine/ On the Jewish Question Alman İdeolojisi/ The German Ideology
11 Gramsci - Gramsci Kitabı: Seçme Yazılar 1916-1935. Dipnot Yayınları, 2018. - Gramsci, Antonio. “State and Civil Society,” in Selections from Prison Notebooks, ed. by Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith (London: Lawrence & Wishhart, 1973), pp. 206-276. [e-book available] - Simon, Roger. Gramsci’s Political Thought, An Introduction (London: Lawrence and Wishart 1991) [e-book available]
12 Post-Marxism Laclau ve Mouffe, Hegemonya ve Sosyalist Strateji. İletişim, 2012. Mouffe, Dünyayı Politik Düşünmek, Agonistik Siyaset. İletişim, 2017 (2. Baskı)
13 Postmodern/Poststructuralist Theory (Foucault) - Keskin, Ferda (2013) “Michel Foucault,” Siyaset Felsefesi Tarihi Platon’dan Zizek’e içinde, Ahu Tunçel ve Kurtul Gülenç (ed.) Ankara: Doğu Batı Yayınları, s.754-768 - Foucault, Özne ve İktidar. Ayrıntı, 2011.
14 Student Presentations -
15 General Evaluation -

Sources

Other Sources 1.  Tinder, Glenn. “Why Engage in Political Thinking?” in G. Tinder Political Thinking. Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1986, pp. 11-22.
2.  Dryzek, John, S., Bonnie Honig and Anne Phillips. “Introduction” in The Oxford Handbook of Political Science ed. Dryzek, John, S., Bonnie Honig and Anne Phillips. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 3-30.
3.  Wolin, Sheldon. “Political Theory as a Vocation”, APSR 63 (1969), 1062-82.
4.  Grant, Ruth W. “Political Theory, Political Science, and Politics” in Political Theory Vol. 30 No. 4, August 2002, 577-595.
5.  Thiele, Leslie Paul. Thinking Politics Perspectives in Ancient, Modern and Postmodern Political Theory. New York, London: Chatham House Publishers, 2003, pp. xi-26.
6.  Vincent, Andrew. “Introduction” in Political Theory, Tradition and Diversity, edited by A. Vincent. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 1-27.
7.  Ball, Terence. “Political Theory and Conceptual Change” in Political Theory, Tradition and Diversity, edited by A. Vincent. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 28-44.
8. Hükümet Üzerine İkinci İnceleme/ 2nd Treatise, 5, 7-9, 11, 14, 19 bölümler
9. - Uygur, Gülriz (2013) “John Rawls,” Siyaset Felsefesi Tarihi Platon’dan Zizek’e içinde, Ahu Tunçel ve Kurtul Gülenç (ed.) Ankara: Doğu Batı Yayınları, s. 712-735.
10. - Kymlicka, Will (2016) Çağdaş Siyaset Felsefesine Giriş, İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları, s. 73-104.
11. - Mehmet Kocaoğlu, John Rawls, Adalet Teorisi Ve Temel Kavramlari, İmaj, 2015
12. - Kymlicka, Will (2016) Çağdaş Siyaset Felsefesine Giriş, İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları, s. 141-232.
13. - Nozick, Robert. 1984 [1974]. "Moral Constraints and Distributive Justice." In Liberalism and its Critics, ed. M. Sandel. New York: New York University Press, 100-22 [e- book available.]
14. Politika (Özellikle 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. BÖLÜMLER.)
15. Söylevler/ Tamami (EK OLARAK PRENS DE OKUNABİLİR.)
16. Toplumsal Sözleşme (Özellikle 1, 2, 3 & 4)
17. İnsanlar Arasindaki Eşitsizliğin Kökenleri (TAMAMI
18. - Özbank, Murat (2013) “Jürgen Habermas,” Siyaset Felsefesi Tarihi Platon’dan Zizek’e içinde, Ahu Tunçel ve Kurtul Gülenç (ed.) Ankara: Doğu Batı Yayınları, s.754-768.
19. - Habermas, Jürgen “The Public Sphere,” in Jürgen Habermas on Society and Politics. A reader, ed. by Steven Seidman (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989), pp. 231-236.
20. - Habermas, Jürgen. “Introduction: Preliminary Demarcation of a Type of Bourgeois Public Sphere,” in The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society (Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 1989), pp. 1-26.
21. - Habermas, Jürgen. 1995. "Reconciliation through the Public Use of Reason: Remarks on John Rawls's Political Liberalism." The Journal of Philosophy 92 (3): 109-31.
22. - Gençoğlu O. Funda. “Democracy, Pluralism and the Idea of Public Reason: Rawls and Habermas in Comparative Perspective” CEU Political Science Journal, 2011; 6(3):433-458.
23. Komünist Manifesto
24. Yahudi Sorunu Üzerine/ On the Jewish Question
25. Alman İdeolojisi/ The German Ideology
26. - Gramsci Kitabı: Seçme Yazılar 1916-1935. Dipnot Yayınları, 2018.
27. - Gramsci, Antonio. “State and Civil Society,” in Selections from Prison Notebooks, ed. by Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith (London: Lawrence & Wishhart, 1973), pp. 206-276. [e-book available]
28. - Simon, Roger. Gramsci’s Political Thought, An Introduction (London: Lawrence and Wishart 1991) [e-book available]
29. Laclau ve Mouffe, Hegemonya ve Sosyalist Strateji. İletişim, 2012.
30. Mouffe, Dünyayı Politik Düşünmek, Agonistik Siyaset. İletişim, 2017 (2. Baskı)
31. - Keskin, Ferda (2013) “Michel Foucault,” Siyaset Felsefesi Tarihi Platon’dan Zizek’e içinde, Ahu Tunçel ve Kurtul Gülenç (ed.) Ankara: Doğu Batı Yayınları, s.754-768
32. - Foucault, Özne ve İktidar. Ayrıntı, 2011.

Evaluation System

Requirements Number Percentage of Grade
Attendance/Participation - -
Laboratory - -
Application - -
Field Work - -
Special Course Internship - -
Quizzes/Studio Critics - -
Homework Assignments 12 60
Presentation - -
Project 1 20
Report - -
Seminar - -
Midterms Exams/Midterms Jury - -
Final Exam/Final Jury 1 20
Toplam 14 100
Percentage of Semester Work 65
Percentage of Final Work 35
Total 100

Course Category

Core Courses
Major Area Courses X
Supportive Courses
Media and Managment Skills Courses
Transferable Skill Courses

The Relation Between Course Learning Competencies and Program Qualifications

# Program Qualifications / Competencies Level of Contribution
1 2 3 4 5
1 Improving knowledge and understanding of the disciplines political science and public administration so as to enable the Ph. D. candidates to produce new knowledge on these disciplines. X
2 Improving knowledge and understanding in the parallel disciplines of sociology, anthropology, history etc. to create a multi-disciplinary perspective of the field of study. X
3 Introducing and improving knowledge and skills of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and methods so as to create a capacity to utilize them in researches in the field of political science and public administration. X
4 Enabling the Ph. D. candidates to utilize their thoretical, methodological, and multi-disciplinary knowledge so as to critically understand the discussions in those fields, and to understand the gaps in the literature concerned. X
5 Improving academic writing skills so as to enable the Ph. D. candidates to write their dissertations or research papers in a suitable manner. X

ECTS/Workload Table

Activities Number Duration (Hours) Total Workload
Course Hours (Including Exam Week: 16 x Total Hours) 14 3 42
Laboratory
Application
Special Course Internship
Field Work
Study Hours Out of Class 14 3 42
Presentation/Seminar Prepration 1 2 2
Project 1 10 10
Report
Homework Assignments 12 2 24
Quizzes/Studio Critics
Prepration of Midterm Exams/Midterm Jury
Prepration of Final Exams/Final Jury 1 10 10
Total Workload 130