Teaching

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Global Ethics

This course critically examines some of the most pressing ethical questions (questions concerning what we ought morally to do) arising in the contemporary international arena. Focusing on recent debates in global justice and political theory, the course introduces students to a range of views on the scope of moral duties that exist between states and individuals at the global level, and critically examines key normative challenges that arise from the global political interaction between states, international governmental organisations, NGOS and other key players.

Contemporary Political Philosophy

This course critically examines the ethical and philosophical questions surrounding the relationship between the individual and the political authority, with a particular focus on how these questions have been addressed by contemporary Anglo-American analytic political philosophers. The course is divided into two parts. the first part examines whether states (or at least some states) have the right to rule and their citizens have the obligation to obey the state’s commands. What are the grounds of these rights and obligations? Is the state’s right to rule compatible with the autonomy of the individual? Do citizens ever have the right to engage in civil disobedience? And under what circumstances may groups within the state withdraw their loyalty and secede? the second part examines the concept and normative justification of democracy.

Democracy Authority and Resistance

This module cover three core areas in contemporary political theory, which have received growing or renewed attention in recent years. Political Authority: do states have the right to demand obedience of their citizens? Do citizens have a duty to obey the law? What is the best answer to the ‘anarchist challenge’? What are the relative merits and weaknesses of various accounts of political obligations? Democracy: Is democracy the only legitimate form of political authority? What are the intrinsic and instrumental values of democratic rule? Should there be limits to the will of the majority in democracies? Do democratic citizens have special duties, such as the duty to vote? Resistance: what are the limits of obedience in just and unjust societies? Do citizens have a right to civil disobedience, and what is the proper legal response to this form of protest? Do citizens have the duty to engage in resistance to injustice? Under what circumstances might they resort to violent protest?