COURSE INTRODUCTION AND APPLICATION INFORMATION


Course Name
Political Theory
Code
Semester
Theory
(hour/week)
Application/Lab
(hour/week)
Local Credits
ECTS
PSIR 603
Fall
3
0
3
7.5
Prerequisites
None
Course Language
English
Course Type
Required
Course Level
Third Cycle
Mode of Delivery -
Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course
Course Coordinator
Course Lecturer(s)
Assistant(s)
Course Objectives This core course has two major objectives: (1) to introduce doctoral students to the fundamental questions and core concepts of political theory and (2) to explore the philosophical debates underlying political studies.
Learning Outcomes The students who succeeded in this course;
  • to discuss core concepts and ideas in political theory from a variety of angles
  • to interpret ethical and epistemological assumptions of various perspectives in political theory
  • to assess political phenomena and problems from a critical perspective
  • to evaluate historical and contemporary issues in light of the possibilities offered by theoretical research
  • to make scholarly contributions to political theory, political science and international relations
  • to participate in academic debate through seminar presentations and class discussion
  • to apply political theory to contemporary public debates
Course Description This course is specifically designed for doctoral candidates in the Ph.D. programme and constitutes the core course in the field of political theory. The main purpose of the course is to assist students in preparing for their comprehensive examinations in the subfield. We will focus on exploring key texts within modern and contemporary political theory which are considered particularly influential and controversial.
Related Sustainable Development Goals

 



Course Category

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

 

WEEKLY SUBJECTS AND RELATED PREPARATION STUDIES

Week Subjects Required Materials
1 Introduction: Political Theory and Empirical Research Rainer Bauböck, “Normative Political Theory and Empirical Research”, in Approaches and Methodlogies in the Social Sciences: A Pluralist Perspective, Donatella della Porta and Michael Keating (Cambridge University Press, 2008), 40-59. Hélène Landemore, “On Method”, in Open Democracy: Reinventing Popular Rule for the Twenty-First Century (Princeton University Press, 2020), 19-24.
2 Democracy: Foundations Madison, The Federalist Papers, No. 10. Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Vol. One, Part II, Chp. 1-3, 6-9. Gordon Wood, “Democracy and the Constitution”, in How Democratic is the Constitution? R. A. Goldwin and W. A. Schambra (ed.) (AEI, 1980), 1-18.
3 Visions of Democracy: Representative, Direct, Open Norberto Bobbio, “Representative and Direct Democracy”, in The Future of Democracy (Polity Press, 1991), 43-62. Hélène Landemore, Open Democracy: Reinventing Popular Rule for the Twenty-First Century (Princeton University Press, 2020), 1-18, 25-56, 74-78.
4 Illiberal Democracy or Populism? Fareed Zakaria, “The Rise of Illiberal Democracy”, Foreign Affairs 76 (8) (1997): 22-43. Margaret Canovan, “Trust the People: Populism and the Two Faces of Democracy”, Political Studies XLVII (1999): 2-16. Alexander Kirshner, A Theory of Militant Democracy: The Ethics of Combatting Political Extremism (Yale University Press, 204), 1-60.
5 Paper submission I
6 Arendt on Political Action Hannah Arendt, “Action” The Human Condition (Chicago University Press, 1992).
7 Federalism: Foundations The Federalist Papers, Hamilton, No. 1, 6, 9 & 23; Madison, No. 14, 39, 45 & 46. Thomas Hueglin, “Federalism at the Crossroads: Old Meanings, New Significance”, Canadian Journal of Political Science 36 (2) (2003): 275-294.
8 Federalism: Pluralism-Monism Debate Ferran Requejo, “Political Liberalism in Multinational States: the Legitimacy of Plural and Asymmetrical Federalism”, in Multinational Democracies, Alain G-Gagnon and James Tully (ed.) (Cambridge University Press, 2001), 110-131. Will Kymlicka, “Federalism, Nationalism, Multiculturalism”, in Theories of Federalism: A Reader, Dimitrion Karmis and Wayne Norman (Palgrave, 2005), 269-292. Ephraim Nimni, “The Twilight of the Two-State Solution in Israel-Palestine: Shared Sovereignty and Nonterritorial Autonomy as the New Dawn”, Nationalities Papers 48 (2) (2020): 339-356.
9 Arendt on Federalism Hannah Arendt, “The Revolutionary Tradition and Its Lost Heritage” On Revolution (Penguin, 1963). Hannah Arendt, “To Save the Jewish Homeland”, The Jewish Writings (Schocken, 2007), 388-401.
10 Paper submission II
11 Genocide, Holocaust and Colonial Violence Raphael Lemkin, “Genocide”, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe (The Lawbook Exchange, 2008), 79-90. Jehuda Bauer, Rethinking the Holocaust, (Yale University Press, 2002), 39-66. Claudia Card, “Genocide and Social Death”, Hypatia 18 (1) (2003): 63-79. Frant Fanon, “Concerning Violence” The Wretched of the Earth (Grove Press, 2005), 35-106.
12 Guilt and Responsibility Karl Jaspers, The Question of German Guilt, Fordham University Press, 2001). Hannah Arendt, “Collective Responsibility” Responsibility and Judgment (Schocken, 2003), 147-158. Michael Rothberg, The Implicated Subject: Beyond Victims and Perpetrators (Stanford University Press, 2019), 1-58.
13 Forms of Forgetting and Politics of Remembrance Paul Connerton, “Seven Types of Forgetting”, Memory Studies 1 (1) (2008): 59-71. Aleida Assmann, “Dialogic Memory”, in Dialogue as a Transdisciplinary Concept, Paul Mendes-Flohr (De Gruyter, 2015), 199-214.
14 Memory Narratives: Cosmopolitan, Agonistic, Illiberal Daniel Levy and Nathan Sznaider, “Memory Unbound: The Holocaust and the Formation of Cosmopolitan Memory”, European Journal of Social Theory, 5 (1) (2002): 87-106. Anna Cento Bull and Hans Lauge Hansen, “On Agonistic Memory”, Memory Studies 9 (4) (2016): 390-404. Gavriel Rosenfeld, “The Rise of Illiberal Memory”, Memory Studies 16 (4) (2023): 709-723.
15 Epistemic Injustice Miranda Fricker, Epistemic Injustice (Oxford University Press, 2007), 1-59. Jose Medina, The Epistemology of Resistance (Oxford University Press, 2013), 27-56.
16 Final Exam
Course Notes/Textbooks

Stated above.

All course readings are available at the University Library and as open sources.

Suggested Readings/Materials

 

EVALUATION SYSTEM

Semester Activities Number Weigthing
Participation
1
10
Laboratory / Application
Field Work
Quizzes / Studio Critiques
Portfolio
Homework / Assignments
3
30
Presentation / Jury
1
20
Project
Seminar / Workshop
Oral Exam
Midterm
Final Exam
1
40
Total

Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade
5
60
Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade
1
40
Total

ECTS / WORKLOAD TABLE

Semester Activities Number Duration (Hours) Workload
Course Hours
(Including exam week: 16 x total hours)
16
3
48
Laboratory / Application Hours
(Including exam week: 16 x total hours)
16
Study Hours Out of Class
12
8
96
Field Work
Quizzes / Studio Critiques
Portfolio
Homework / Assignments
2
20
Presentation / Jury
1
20
Project
Seminar / Workshop
Oral Exam
Midterms
Final Exams
1
21
    Total
225

 

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES AND PROGRAM QUALIFICATIONS RELATIONSHIP

#
Program Competencies/Outcomes
* Contribution Level
1
2
3
4
5
1

To be able to improve and deepen the theoretical and conceptual proficiencies on Political Science and International Relations.

X
2

To be able to evaluate critically and analytically the relationships between various factors in the discipline of Political Science and International Relations such as structures, actors, institutions and culture at an advanced level.

3

To be able to determine the theoretical and empirical gaps in Political Science and International Relations literature and gain the ability of questioning at an advanced level.

X
4

To be able to gain the ability to develop innovative, leading and original arguments in order to fill the gaps in Political Science and International Relations literature.

X
5

To be able to gather, analyze, and interpret the data by using advanced qualitative or quantitative research methods in Political Science and International Relations.

6

To be able to develop original academic works and publish scientific articles in refereed national or international indexed journals in the field of Political Science and International Relations.

X
7

To be able to describe individual research and contemporary developments in Political Science and International Relations in written, oral, and visual forms.

X
8

To be able to take responsibility in an individual capacity and/or as part of a team in generating innovative and analytical solutions to the problems that arise in relation to the politics in daily life.

X
9

To be able to develop projects in determining the institutional and political instruments for conflict resolution in national and international politics.

10

To be able to prepare an original thesis in Political Science and International Relations based on scientific criteria.

X
11

To be able to follow new research and developments, publish scientific articles and participate the debates in academic meetings in Political Science and International Relations through a foreign language.

X
12

To be able to have ethical, social and scientific values in the stages throughout the processes of gathering, interpreting, disseminating and implementing data relevant to Political Science and International Relations.

X

*1 Lowest, 2 Low, 3 Average, 4 High, 5 Highest