Teaching

This course provides students with an introduction to key texts, concepts, and traditions within the field of political theory.  It is comparative in scope, considering texts and thinkers from the European, Chinese, Indian, Islamic, and Afro-Caribbean traditions.

This course offers a survey of Chinese political thought from Early China until the present day.  It provides students with a basic grounding in the various traditions of Chinese political thought, including: Confucianism (classical, neo-, and new), Mohism, Daoism, Legalism, Buddhism, and Maoism.  Key themes will include the relationship between ethics and politics, concepts of political legitimacy, and the construction of political authority.

This course focuses on the historical development of ancient democracy and the principles and institutions central to its practice. The course thus uses the study of ancient politics as a way of investigating some of the key theoretical issues (both normative and conceptual) surrounding the practice of democracy in both the ancient and contemporary worlds.