PSCI1601 - Political Ideas: Left, Right, and Center

“Political Ideas: Left, Right, and Center” is an undergraduate lecture course aimed at all levels and does not require prerequisites. Its goal is to give students a broad orientation in theoretical reflection on politics in the Western world from the end of World War II down to the present day. What have been the primary ideological configurations, arguments, debates, trends, continuities, and fissures in European and especially American political thinking during this period? The class will focus on clashes between the broad liberal center (center left and center right) and more radical forms of dissent arising from those further out on the left and right. The structure of the course—divided into six blocks of readings (six modules on Canvas)—provides answers that will guide us through the semester. These blocks are:
• Postwar Liberalism
• The New Left
• The New Right
• The Neoliberal Center
• The New New Left
• Right-Populist Reaction