POL 370 - Seminar in American Political Thought

FDR: SS2
Credits: 3 credits in fall or winter; 4 credits in spring.
Planned Offering: Offered when interest is expressed and departmental resources permit.

Prerequisite: POL 100 or 111. An examination of classic themes and current issues in American political thought. Depending on the instructor, emphases may include the Federalists, Anti-Federalists, Alexis de Tocqueville, Abraham Lincoln, and voices from the Progressive and civil rights eras. Course readings stress primary sources including speeches, essays, and books by politicians and theorists. The course explores the effort to reconcile liberty and equality, individualism and community, liberalism and republicanism, politics and religion, among other themes. The course highlights the contemporary relevance of the enduring tensions between political principles and practice.

Spring 2013 topic:

POL 370: Seminar in American Political Thought (4). Prerequisite: POL 100 or 111. Open to all classes and majors. Counts as elective toward major. An examination of classic themes and current issues in American political thought. In particular, the course concentrates upon a series of American debates about what liberty consists of, debates which necessarily also consider the nature of a truly democratic society. Readings stress primary sources including speeches, court decisions, letters, essays, and books. (SS2) Holston.