10538 Modern Political Ideologies 1
Credits: 6 advanced credits in Political Science
Prerequisites: 36 credits, including Introduction to Political Thought. Students must also fulfill all English requirements and take bibliographic instruction in the Library.
The course is based on Left and Right: A Primer of Contemporary Ideological Discourse, by Bernard Susser (Schocken, 1999) and on readers (in Hebrew and English) edited by B. Susser.
The course systematically presents the leading ideological theories of the modern era and presents the complexity of the ideological discourse. It focuses on a theoretical discussion of the central characteristics of modern ideological discourse and reviews various ideological stands from different viewpoints: interpretive and critical.
Topics: Introduction – characteristics of modern ideological discourse; Liberalism – classical liberalism and welfare liberalism; Marxism – socialism, classic Marxism, communism, new left and social-democracy; Fascism; Nationalism – nationalism as ideology, the nation-state and extreme nationalism; Contemporary ideological issues – feminism, multiculturalism, globalization and post-modernism; Summary – the relevance of ideological discourse at the beginning of the 21st century.
1Students may write a seminar paper in this course, although it is not required.