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Professor Kai Spiekermann

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Political Theory. This course is not available as an outside option.

This course provides an introduction to the philosophical and methodological foundations of political theory. It aims to give participants a conceptual toolbox that can be brought to bear on many different substantive problems and research questions in political theory and neighbouring fields. The course introduces some central methodological debates in contemporary political theory, explores the links between political theory and related disciplines, and familiarises students with different approaches to political theorising.

This course provides a combination of lectures, seminars, and other activities totalling 25 hours in the Autumn Term.

There will be a reading week in AT Week 6.

Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the AT.

David Leopold and Marc Stears (eds.) (2008) Political Theory: Methods and Approaches (Oxford: Oxford University Press); Adrian Blau (ed.) (2017) Methods in Analytical Political Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press); John S. Dryzek, Bonnie Honig and Anne Phillips (eds.) (2008) The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press); Robert E. Goodin and Philip Pettit (eds.) (1993) A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy (Oxford: Blackwell); Keith Dowding (2015) The Philosophy and Methods of Political Science (London: Palgrave).

Essay (100%, 3000 words) in the WT.