European Political Ideas

obligatory courses

The course is aimed at introducing the participants to contemporary European political ideas, including a study of the development of such fundamental contemporary ideologies, such as Liberalism, Conservatism and Socialism.

Remote learning

The course is aimed at introducing the participants to contemporary European political ideas, including a study of the development of such fundamental contemporary ideologies, such as Liberalism, Conservatism and Socialism.

The course is aimed at introducing the participants to contemporary European political ideas, including a study of the development of such fundamental contemporary ideologies, such as Liberalism, Conservatism, and Socialism.

The student learns the basic issues of contemporary social and political ideas in Europe, including the evolution of the most important contemporary ideologies such as liberalism, conservatism, and socialism. The student finds out the most important elements of the intellectual tradition of the West. Student learns to analyse major epochs and turning points in the history of European and Western socio-political thought. The student gets to know how to discuss issues that are present in Western political ideas.

Main topics:

1. Ideology

2. Classical liberalism

3. From progressive liberalism to neoliberalism and libertarianism

4. Conservatism

5. Socialism

6. Feminism

7. Anarchism

8. Nationalism

9. Fascism

10. Green Ideology

11. Democracy

12. Globalization

Essential readings:

Ball, Terence, Richard Dagger, and Daniel I. O’Neill, eds. 2017. Ideals and Ideologies: A Reader. Abington, New York: Routledge (selected texts).

Heywood, Andrew. 2017. Political Ideologies: An Introduction. London: Palgrave.

Sargent, Lyman Tower. 2009. Contemporary Political Ideologies: A Comparative Analysis. Belmont: Wadsworth.

Further readings:

Anderson, Benedict. 2006. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.

Arendt, Hanna. 1951. The Origins of Totalitarianism. London: Allen & Unwin.

Aschraft, Richard. 1986. Revolutionary Politics and Locke’s Two Treatises of Government. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.

Beck, Ulrich. 2005. Power in the Global Age: A New Global Political Economy. Translated by Kathleen Cross. Cambridge: Polity.

Bell, Daniel. 2000. The End of Ideology: On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties with “The Resumption of History in the New Century.” Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Bloom, Allan. 1987. The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Brown, Wendy. 2006. “Neoliberalism, Neoconservatism, and De-Democratization.” Political Theory 34(6): 690–71.

Bryson, Valerie, ed. 2003. Feminist Political Theory: An Introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Call, Lewis. 2002. Postmodernism Anarchism. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Carvell, Terrell. 2017. “Ideology: The Career of a Concept.” In eds. 2017. Ideals and Ideologies: A Reader, edited by Terence Ball, Richard Dagger, and Daniel I. O’Neill, 4–12. Abington, New York: Routledge.

Chan, Andy. 2004. “Violence, nonviolence, and the Concept of Revolution in Anarchist Thought.” Anarchist Studies 12(2): 103–123.

Crick, Bernard. 2002. Democracy: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Crick, Bernard. 2006. “Justifications of Violence.” The Political Quarterly 77 (4): 433–438.

Dahl, Robert A. 1989. Democracy and Its Critics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Debord, Guy. 1994. The Society of the Spectacle. Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith, New York: Zone Books.

Dobson, Andrew. 2007. Green Political Thought. London: Routledge.

Eatwell, Roger. 1994. “Fascism.” In Contemporary Political Ideologies, edited by Roger Eatwell, and Anthony Wright, 169–191. London: Pinter Publishers.

Kalyvas, Andreas, and Ira Katznelson. 2008. Liberal Beginnings: Making a Republic for the Moderns. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kennedy, Emmet. 1979. "Ideology" from Destutt De Tracy to Marx.” Journal of the History of Ideas 40(3): 353–368.

Freeden, Michael. 1998. “Is Nationalism a Distinct Ideology?” Political Studies 46(4): 748–765.

Freeden, Michael. 2003. Ideology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Freeden, Michel. 2006. “Ideology and Political Theory.” Journal of Political Ideologies 11(1): 3–22.

Freeden, Michael. 2008. “European Liberalisms: An Essay in Comparative Political Thought.” European Journal of Political Theory 7(1): 7–30.

Friedan, Betty. 2001. The Feminine Mystique. New York: W.W. Norton.

Fung, Archon. “Deliberation Before the Revolution: Toward an Ethics of Deliberative Democracy in an Unjust World.” Political Theory 33(3): 397–419.

Geertz, Clifford. 1964. “Ideology as a Cultural System.” In Ideology and Discontent, edited by David E. Apter, 47–76. New York: Free Press of Glencoe.

Gordon, Uri. 2007. “Anarchism Reloaded.” Journal of Political Ideologies 12(1): 29–48.

Griffin, Roger. 2006. “Ideology and culture.” Journal of Political Ideologies 11(1): 77–99.

Hardt, Michael, and Antonio Negri. 2000. Empire. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Harootunian, Harry. 2006. “The Future of Fascism.” Radical Philosophy 136: 23–33.

Harvey, David. 2005. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Held, David. 2006. Models of Democracy. Cambridge: Polity.

Huntington, Samuel P. 1957. “Conservatism as an Ideology.” American Political Science Review 51(1): 454–473.

Jennings, Jeremy. 1994. “Anarchism.” In Contemporary Political Ideologies, edited by Roger Eatwell, and Anthony Wright, 127–146. London: Pinter Publishers.

Laclau, Ernesto, and Chantal Mouffe. 2001. Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. Translated by Winston Moore and Paul Cammack. London: Verso.

Mannheim, Karl. 1986. Conservatism: A Contribution to the Sociology of Knowledge. London: Routledge.

Leach, Robert. 1996. British Political Ideologies. London: Prentice Hall.

Máiz, Ramón. 2003. “Framing the Nation: Three Rival Versions of Contemporary Nationalist Ideology.” Journal of Political Ideologies 8(3): 251–267.

Micocci, Andrea, and Flavia Di Mario. 2018. The Fascist Nature of Neoliberalism. Abington, New York: Routledge.

Mouffe, Chantal. 2005. On the Political. London: Routledge.

Norton, Bryan G. 2005. Sustainability: A Philosophy of Adaptive Ecosystem Management. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.

Paxton, Robert O. 2004. The Anatomy of Fascism. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Phillips, Anne. 2006. “‘Really’ Equal: Opportunities and Autonomy.” Journal of Political Philosophy 14(1): 18–32.

Purkis, Jonathan, and James Bowen, eds. 2004. Changing Anarchism: Anarchist Theory and Practice in a Global Age. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Sassoon, Donald. 2014. One Hundred Years of Socialism: The West European Left in the Twentieth Century. London: I.B. Tauris.

Spencer, Philip, and Howard Wollman. 1998. “Good and Bad Nationalisms: A Critique of Dualism.” Journal of Political Ideologies 3(3): 255–274.

Spencer, Philip, and Howard Wollman. 2002. Nationalism: A Critical Introduction. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage.

Steger, Manfred B. 2005. Globalism: Market Ideology Meets Terrorism, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Stiglitz, Joseph E. 2002. Globalization and Its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton.

Tebble, Adam James. 2006. “Exclusion for Democracy.” Political Theory 34(4): 463–487.

Turner, Rachel S. 2007. “The ‘rebirth of liberalism’: The origins of neoliberal ideology.” Journal of Political Ideologies 12(1): 67–83.

Vincent, Andrew. 2010. Modern Political Ideologies. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

Ward, Colin. 2004. Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Woodcock, George. 2004. Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements. Peterborough: Broadview Encore Editions.

Žižek, Slavoj. 1989. The Sublime Object of Ideology. London: Verso.

Upon completion of the course the students will:

• understand principal theories of European political ideas and their influence on contemporary social and political life as well as their influence on international relations and European integration (K_W01),

• be able to name the most important periods and turning points in the history of contemporary social and political ideas (K_W06),

• be able to monitor, interpret and discuss the major issues present in European political ideas (K_U01),

• be able to draw his / her own conclusions and to present them in the form of a presentation (K_K01).

• Attendance (two abstentions per semester are acceptable),

• In-class participation,

• One short assignment on Google Classroom,

• Presentation.

None