PLT3420

Political imagination

Ray Nichols and others

8 points
* 3 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton

Objectives On successful completion of this subject students should have an enriching sense of the range of resources that can be tapped and combined to nurture political study, beyond conventional assumptions and specialties; have clarified their general sense of the discipline and their particular orientations within it; have attained some common background and sense of collegiality; have moved towards mastering the arts of close, critical reading and succinct, analytical summary.

Synopsis All students considering doing Honours in Politics are expected to take this seminar, which meets for two one-and-a-half hour sessions weekly. It exposes students to fundamentals they need before undertaking Honours, especially the practical importance and sources of political imagination. It draws on a range of ideas and modes, including political biographies, dramas, novels, and appearances by a variety of members of the Department in which they explain the links among the ways they see Politics, their research, and their political stances. Issues explored are culture and culture clash, `practical' understanding and interpretation, ethics/ideology, public/private/gender, fact/fiction, governing and revolt.

Assessment Two 1500-word critical analyses of required readings: 25% each
* Examination (three hours, three questions): 50%

Recommended texts

Le Guin U The dispossessed Panther, 1974
Maraniss D First in his class: A biography of Bill Clinton Simon and Schuster, 1995