Course Details Language of Instruction English Level of Course Unit Bachelor's Degree Department / Program Political Science and Public Administration (English) Type of Program Formal Education Type of Course Unit Elective Course Delivery Method Face To Face Objectives of the Course The aim of this course is to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the major debates, thinkers and theoretical approaches that have shaped contemporary political theory since the second half of the 20th century. The course seeks to familiarize students with key concepts such as liberty, equality, justice, democracy, power, identity and political community, and to enable them to critically assess how these concepts have been reinterpreted by liberal, post-structuralist, post-Marxist, feminist and critical theoretical perspectives. By examining both individual theories and the intellectual tensions among them, the course aims to develop students ` capacity for comparative and critical analysis, and to equip them with the theoretical tools needed to interpret the political and social conditions of the contemporary world. Course Content This course examines major debates, thinkers and theoretical approaches that have shaped contemporary political theory from the second half of the 20th century to the present. It focuses on fundamental questions on liberty, equality, justice, democracy, power, political community, identity, resistance, gender, populism and political discourse. The first half of the course introduces major political thinkers and their contributions to contemporary political theory, especially views of liberalism, democracy, political authority, community and power. The second half turns to broader theoretical approaches, including post-structuralism, postmodernism, post-Marxism, radical democracy, feminist political theory, contemporary critical theory, populism, and post-truth politics. Throughout the course, students are encouraged to examine both individual theories and intellectual tensions among them. The course therefore asks a broader question: How should politics, democracy, freedom, and power be understood under the social and political conditions of the contemporary world? Course Methods and Techniques Prerequisites and co-requisities None Course Coordinator None Name of Lecturers Dr. MEHMET GÖKHAN UZUNER Assistants None Work Placement(s) No Recommended or Required Reading Resources Abbey, R. (2011). "Another Philosopher-Citizen: The Political Philosophy of Charles Taylor". In Zuckert, C. H. (ed.), Political Philosophy in the Twentieth Century: Authors and Arguments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 264-277. Baynes, K. (2005). "Habermas". In Boucher, D. & Kelly, P. (eds.), Political Thinkers: From Socrates to the Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 480-493. Bennett, J. (2004). "Postmodern Approaches to Political Theory". In Gaus, G. F. & Kukathas, C. (eds.), Handbook of Political Theory. London: SAGE, pp. 46-54. Browning, G. (2016). A History of Modern Political Thought: The Question of Interpretation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 111-133. Carver, T. (2000). "Post-Marxism". In Browning, G., Halcli, A. & Webster, F. (eds.), Understanding Contemporary Society: Theories of the Present. London: SAGE, pp. 71-83. Clohesy, A. M., Isaacs, S. & Sparks, C. (2009). Contemporary Political Theorists in Context. London & New York: Routledge, pp. 36-51, 119-132. Cosentino, G. (2020). Social Media and the Post-Truth World Order: The Global Dynamics of Disinformation. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-27. Cristi, R. (2006). "Carl Schmitt". In Carver, T. & Martin, J. (eds.), Palgrave Advances in Continental Political Thought. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 120-135. Dryzek, J. S., Honig, B. & Phillips, A. (2006). "Introduction". In Dryzek, J. S., Honig, B. & Phillips, A. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 3-35. Farrelly, C. (2004). Introduction to Contemporary Political Theory. London: SAGE, pp. 3-52. Finlayson, A. & Valentine, J. (2002). "Introduction". In Finlayson, A. & Valentine, J. (eds.), Politics and Post-structuralism: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 1-15. Gauba, O. P. (2010). An Introduction to Political Theory. Delhi: Macmillan, pp. 1-13. Goldstein, P. (2005). Post-Marxist Theory: An Introduction. New York: State University of New York Press, pp. 53-65. Held, V. (2002). "Feminism and Political Theory". In Simon, R. L. (ed.), The Blackwell Guide to Social and Political Philosophy. Malden & Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 154-172. Heywood, A. (2004). Political Theory: An Introduction. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-14. Honig, B. (1993). Political Theory and the Displacement of Politics. Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, pp. 162-195. Howarth, D. R. (2013). Poststructuralism and After: Structure, Subjectivity and Power. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-18. James, S. (2003). "Feminisms". In Ball, T. & Bellamy, R. (eds.), The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Political Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 493-516. Kalpokas, I. (2019). A Political Theory of Post-Truth. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 9-42. Mason, A. (2000). "Communitarianism and Its Legacy". In O ` Sullivan, N. (ed.), Political Theory in Transition. London & New York: Routledge, pp. 19-32. McNay, L. (2013). "Contemporary Critical Theory". In Freeden, M., Sargent, L. T. & Stears, M. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Ideologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 138-154. Müller, J. W. (2016). What Is Populism?. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 7-40. Oswald, M., Schäfer, M. & Broda, E. (2022). "The New Age of Populism: Reapproaching a Diffuse Concept". In Oswald, M. (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Populism. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 3-27. Papaioannou, T. (2012). Reading Hayek in the 21st Century: A Critical Inquiry into His Political Thought. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 128-179. Patton, P. (2005). "Foucault". In Boucher, D. & Kelly, P. (eds.), Political Thinkers: From Socrates to the Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 516-532. Shearmur, J. (2006). "Hayek ` s Politics". In Feser, E. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Hayek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 148-170. Sinnerbrink, R., Deranty, J. P. & S Course Category Social Sciences %100