Revolution and Modern Political Thought
| Module title | Revolution and Modern Political Thought |
|---|---|
| Module code | POL3198 |
| Academic year | 2019/0 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 30 |
|---|
Module description
The concept of revolution stands at the centre of our understanding of modern politics. Journalists and political scientists routinely use the term ‘revolution’ to capture phenomena as disparate as the Arab Spring and the Tea Party movement, while the roster of celebrated revolutionaries has included communist guerrillas (Che Guevara) and conservative US Presidents (Ronald Reagan). Yet the casualness with which the language of revolution is employed conceals the fact that few concepts in the history of political thought have had their meaning as heavily disputed. Focusing primarily on the American and French revolutions of the late eighteenth century you will trace the troubled conceptual career of revolution, posing the following questions as we go: What distinguishes a revolution from a mere rebellion, civil war, revolt, or other tumultuous event? What sources of authority or legitimacy have modern revolutionaries drawn upon? Are revolutions inextricably associated with political violence and if so how can that violence be tempered? Are attempts to remodel society in accordance with some rational scheme necessarily doomed to fail? Accompanying us in our engagement with these questions will be a group of eighteenth and nineteenth century political theorists who came to grips with the phenomenon of revolution, its promises and its dangers, like few others before or since: John Locke, Thomas Paine, Edmund Burke, Abbé Sieyès, the Marquis de Condorcet, Benjamin Constant, Mary Wollstonecraft, Alexis de Tocqueville, Frederick Douglas, Karl Marx, and Hannah Arendt. The module concludes with a set of reflections on contemporary attempts to revive and reinterpret the eighteenth-century revolutionary tradition in contemporary world politics.
Module aims - intentions of the module
This module aims to familiarize you with a range of foundational texts vital to understanding modern revolution and the conceptual difficulties it gives rise to. You will learn not only to exegetically reconstruct the arguments of these texts but also to use them as a starting point for critical reflection on the nature of modern revolution.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Understand political-theoretical arguments as both rhetorical interventions intended to influence an immediate historical context and as more abstract contributions to long-standing debates over the nature of political power and authority
- 2. Demonstrate detailed understanding of the theoretical arguments and conceptual vocabularies concerning the nature and legitimacy of revolution in the Western tradition
- 3. Comprehend the contested nature of political concepts whose meanings are often taken for granted in political debate
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. Critically evaluate competing interpretations of texts in the history of political thought
- 5. Formulate a sustained and intellectually rigorous interpretive argument in the history of political thought backed by appropriate textual and historical evidence
- 6. Learn to form independent positions on major controversies in histories of political thought scholarship without excessive dependence on secondary sources
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 7. Engage in respectful discussion with peers
- 8. Demonstrate oral and written communication skills
Syllabus plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
- The political theory of the American Revolution
- Popular Sovereignty and the French Revolution
- The Burke-Paine debate
- Revolutionizing Manners, Moeurs and Sentiments
- The Contested Legacy of the Age of Revolution
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 44 | 256 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 44 | 22 weekly two hour seminar classes |
| Guided independent study | 88 | Preparing for seminars; reading and research |
| Guided independent study | 168 | Complete assessment tasks: reading, research and writing |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Students will be requires to respond orally to Socratic questions in the course of each seminar | Discussion in seminar | 1-8 | Oral |
| Draft of essay 1 | 3000 words | 1-6, 8 | Written |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 90 | 0 | 10 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay 1 | 35 | 3000 words | 1-6, 8 | Written |
| Essay 2 | 40 | 3000 words | 1-6, 8 | Written |
| Each student is expected to contribute to an ELE discussion eight times (200 words) | 15 | 1600 words | 1-8 | Via ELE |
| In class presentation | 10 | 15 minutes | 1-8 | Oral and written |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay 1 | Essay 1 (3000 words) | 1-6, 8 | August / September re-assessment period |
| Essay 2 | Essay 2 (3000 words) | 1-6, 8 | August/ September re-assessment period |
| In class presentation | Written review of one week's reading (1,000 words) | 1-6, 8 | August/ September re-assessment period |
| ELE discussion | Two textual analysis of 800 words on two different week's reading | 1-6, 8 | August/ September re-assessment period. |
Re-assessment notes
Students referred or deferred for the ELE discussions will have to write two textual analyses (750 words each) on the readings for two different weeks in the August/September reassessment period. This will count for 15% of the module. If students are referred or deferred for either of the two essays they will need to write it again in the August/September reassessment period. Essays 1 will count for 35% and essay 2 will count for 40%. Students referred or deferred for the oral presentation will submit a brief written analysis in the August/September reassessment period covering the readings of the relevant week. This will constitute 10% of the module
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
The specific readings will vary from year to year but will usually comprise a number of canonical works in early modern political thought. The following is a sample:
Hannah Arendt, On Revolution (New York: Penguin, 1977)
Edmund Burke, Revolutionary Writings Iain Hamspher-Monk ed. (Cambridge: 2014)
Marquis de Condorcet, Political Writings, Stephen Lukes and Nadia Urbinati eds. (Cambridge: 2012)
Frederick Douglas, Selected Speeches and Writings, Philip Sheldon Foner and Yuval Taylor eds. (Chicago: 1999)
John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, Peter Laslett ed. (Cambridge: 1988)
Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, Common Sense, and other Political Writings, Mark Philp ed. (Oxford: 1995)
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Sylvana Tomasselli (Cambridge: 1995)
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
There will be an ELE for the module that will include a discussion forum where students share their thoughts on and reactions to the readings each week
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| NQF level (module) | 6 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 29/04/2016 |
| Last revision date | 29/04/2016 |
