Contemporary Political Theory

This course is an inquiry into some of the key concepts, questions and recurring debates in political theory from the seventeenth century to our present. The first part examines different implications of the use of the notion of contemporary in four contexts: modern, temporal, ecological, and as calls for inclusion amidst loss and spectacle. The second part focusses on how representation and rights have been problematized in the historically specific debates on sovereignty, democracy, legitimacy, citizenship and freedom. The third part scrutinizes the role of law and constitutions, globalized market economy, and biopolitics in addressing specific problems concerning the so-called state of exception.