Information Package
baskent.edu.tr

M.A.In Political Science with Thesis

PSIR535

COMPARATIVE POLITICAL THEORY

Course Code
PSIR535
Semester
-
Theory+Practice
3 + 0
ECTS
10
Course TypeElective Course
Course LevelMaster's Degree With Thesis
Year of Study-
Semester-
ECTS10
Name of Lecturer(s)
Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, the students;

  1. Explain the core assumptions and methodological debates of comparative political theory.
  2. Analyze the manifestations of political thought across different traditions at a conceptual level.
  3. Critically evaluate Eurocentric narratives in political theory.
  4. Engage in comparative reading and discussion of thinkers from diverse traditions.
  5. Develop the capacity to rethink key political concepts?such as secularism, justice, and liberty?within their cultural contexts.
Mode of DeliveryFace to face
PrerequisitesNo
Recommended Optional Programme ComponentsNo recommended optional programme components.
Course DescriptionThis course examines political thought through a comparative lens, engaging both Western and non-Western traditions. Comparative Political Theory (CPT) assumes that political ideas formed in distinct cultural, religious, and historical settings can enter into dialogue, and that the presumed universality of key concepts should be interrogated. Throughout the semester, fundamen-tal political ideas?such as justice, sovereignty, community, liberty, and the public sphere will be discussed through texts from both Western and non-Western thinkers. Concepts like secular-ism will be explored from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. The course aims to help students develop conceptual analytical skills, become accustomed to plural modes of thought, and reflect critically on comparative methodologies.
Course Contents
WEEK TOPICS
1st Week Introduction to Comparative Political Theory
2nd Week Translation and Cultural Difference
3rd Week The Universe of Political Theory
4th Week Justice
5th Week Sovereignty
6th Week Community
7th Week The People and the Ummah
8th Week Secularism
9th Week Liberty
10th Week The Public Sphere
11th Week Postcolonial Interventions
12th Week The Politics of Secularism (Case Study)
13th Week Project Draft Presentations
14th Week Peer Critiques, Feedback, and Revisions
Recommended or Required ReadingAsad, Talal. 2003. Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Berlin, Isaiah. 2002. ?Two Concepts of Liberty.? In Liberty, edited by Henry Hardy, 166?217. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Confucius. 2003. The Analects. Translated by D.C. Lau. London: Penguin Classics.
Connolly, William E. 2005. Pluralism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Dallmayr, Fred. 1996. Beyond Orientalism: Essays on Cross-Cultural Encounter. Albany: Sta-te University of New York Press.
El-Mawardi. 1996. The Ordinances of Government (al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya). Translated by Wafaa H. Wahba. Reading: Garnet Publishing.
Euben, Roxanne L. 2006. Journeys to the Other Shore: Muslim and Western Travelers in Se-arch of Knowledge. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Gandhi, Mahatma. 1997. Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule. Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publis-hing House. (Original work published 1909)
Godrej, Farah. 2011. Cosmopolitan Political Thought: Method, Practice, Discipline. New York: Oxford University Press.
Habermas, Jürgen. 1991. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Translated by Thomas Burger and Frederick Lawrence. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Hobbes, Thomas. 1996. Leviathan. Edited by Richard Tuck. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mbembe, Achille. 2019. Necropolitics. Translated by Steven Corcoran. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Mignolo, Walter D. 2009. ?Epistemic Disobedience, Independent Thought and Decolonial Fre-edom.? Theory, Culture & Society 26 (7?8): 159?181.
Ramose, Mogobe B. 2003. ?African Philosophy Through Ubuntu.? In The African Philosophy Reader, edited by P.H. Coetzee and A.P.J. Roux, 230?238. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.
Rawls, John. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Ricoeur, Paul. 2006. ?The Task of the Translator.? Translated by Kathleen Blamey. In The Translation Studies Reader, edited by Lawrence Venuti, 43?56. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. 2002. The Social Contract. Translated by Maurice Cranston. London: Penguin Classics.
Said, Edward W. 1978. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books.
Soroush, Abdolkarim. 2000. ?Theoretical Expansion and Contraction of Religious Knowledge.? In Reason, Freedom, and Democracy in Islam: Essential Writings of Abdolkarim Soroush, edited and translated by Mahmoud Sadri and Ahmad Sadri, 29?56. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Taylor, Charles. 1998. ?Modes of Secularism.? In Secularism and Its Critics, edited by Rajeev Bhargava, 31?53. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Wolin, Sheldon S. 2004. Politics and Vision: Continuity and Innovation in Western Political Thought. Expanded ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods
  • Lecture
  • Discussion
  • Presentation
Assessment Methods and Criteria
Quantity Percentage (%)
Assignment 4 40
Project 1 60
Total(%) 100
Contribution of In-term Studies to Overall Grade(%) 100
Contribution of Final Examination to Overall Grade(%) 0
Total(%) 100
ECTS Allocated Based on Student Workload
Activities Quantity Duration (Hour) Total Workload (Hour)
Midterm exam
Preparation for Quiz
Individual or group work 14 5 70
Preparation for Final exam
Course hours 14 3 42
Preparation for Midterm exam
Laboratory (including preparation)
Final exam
Homework 4 20 80
Project 1 110 110
Total Work Load302
Total Work Load / 30 (h)10.06
ECTS Credit of the Course10
Language of InstructionTurkish
Work Placement(s)No

Programme Qualifications / Learning Outcomes

LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5
K1 X X
K2 X X X X
K3 X
K4 X X
K5 X X X
K6 X X X
K7
K8 X