Global Political Thought

Catalog description

This class introduces students to a survey of political thought from around the globe and invites them to evaluate these ideas on their own merits and in a comparative fashion. Thinkers and topics are covered from different regions and time periods. We will also explore how traditions overlap and intertwine with others through adaptation and violence. Students enrolled in this class may cover Chinese, Greek, Islamic, and Indian political philosophies as well as political thought from the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment, and periods of empire and decolonization. The thinkers and texts covered may vary from semester to semester, depending on the expertise and interests of the instructor, and might include Kongzi (Confucius), Aristotle, Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi, Francisco de Vitoria, Immanuel Kant, Mohandas Gandhi, and Frantz Fanon, as well as Indigenous worldviews from Turtle Island. Students will learn from the ideas and political practices of such thinkers and use this knowledge to supplement and inform their own intellectual progress and growth and how political change can occur. Course Rotaion: NYC & NYC: TBD