STOP PRESS!

ESSAYS

Marked essays are available from the School of Social Sciences office (2nd Floor, Copland Building).

EXAMINATION

The Examination has now been timetabled. The Examination is on Thursday 6th November from 2.15 pm to 4.00 pm in Melville Hall. The Examination includes 15 minutes Reading Time and 90 minutes Writing Time.

GUIDELINES ON THE EXAMINATION

The Examination will be held during the examination period. It will be 90 minutes in length with an additional 15 minutes study period. Students will answer two questions from at least 10 unseen questions. There will be at least one question for each of the topics from Weeks 2-13. Please see below some Guidelines on the Exam. You can access past exam papers via the Library.

Ten Points to remember for a Successful Exam!

1. Do not answer a question on the same topic as your first assignment.

2. Do not repeat material used in response to one question in your answer to another question. Think of both of your answers as parts of a single examination.

3. You must answer two questions in the exam from a choice of about twelve questions, including one question for each of the weekly topics of the course. Be prepared to answer a question on one of the major parts or aspects of each topic, not just on the topic as a whole.

4. Revise more than just two topics (bearing in mind point 1), as you may find you aren’t able to answer the question on one of your chosen topics. Ideally, you should have a good knowledge of the course as a whole.

5. Reading should include at least the readings for the weekly tutorial topics. But obviously, the more reading and thinking you do, the better! Your understanding of each topic will also benefit from a broad understanding of the course as a whole.

6. Revise using essay plans or some other way of concentrating on the ideas and their relationships to one another. Don’t just re-read your notes without thinking about them (which is boring anyway). You may find the weekly lecture outlines useful in organising your ideas.

7. In the exam, use the study period to plan your essay. Think carefully about the question and what you need to do in order to provide a good answer to it! Make sure you consider all parts or aspects of the question. Make sure your answer and all your points are relevant to the topic.

8. A good answer will include both a lot of relevant points and a good overall structure or organisation of your ideas. You should provide arguments rather than just express personal opinions. Your answers should reflect your reading and what you have learned in the course, not just what you think about a topic.

9. The best answers will also be critical and/or consider alternative approaches. If you disagree with the assumptions of the question, you are free to say so and present your own argument. The best answers will thus display both knowledge and independent thought – either on its own is not enough for the very best answers!

10. Write clearly and concisely. What matters is how many good and clear points you make, not how many words you use.

TUTORS

Contact David at David.West@anu.edu.au

Contact John at john.shellard@gmail.com

Contact Adam at adam.packer@anu.edu.au

Contact Michael at michaelhlo@hotmail.com

RECORDING OF LECTURES Please note that from WEEK 5 onwards (Lecture 4B on Thursday 14 August) recordings of lectures are available on WebCT. Previous lectures (up to and including Lecture 4A on Monday 11 August) are available from the Reserve Collection of the Library.

SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Do I need to buy the texts?

Yes! The texts for this course are Andrew Heywood, Political Theory: An Introduction, 3rd Ed. and Andrew Heywood, Political Ideologies, 4th Ed. The price for the 'pack' contain both texts is $86.45 for members of the Co-op Bookshop (RRP $95). These books contain most of the essential readings for this course. Theyare also useful reference books for politics and political ideas - you will find them useful for other courses in Political Science and International Relations. Other readings are contained in a very short reading brick of 'Additional Readings'.

How can I buy the Reading Brick?

The Reading Brick for this course will be available in the first week of Second Semester (price TBA). The Reading Brick can be paid for in the Manning Clark Foyer (first two weeks of Semester). You can then collect your Reading Brick from the School of Social Sciences Office.

Signing up for Tutorials

You will be able to sign up for Tutorials using the Faculty of Arts Tutorial Signup system from Week One of Second Semester. Go to http://arts.anu.edu.au/tutorials/ Please note that you can only access the system via an ANU computer.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES - Any student who may have a disability that interferes with their ability to study for this course should contact me (David West) in confidence as soon as possible.

CONSULTATION TIMES

During teaching weeks...

CONTENTS
 

1.  Introduction.
2.  Lecture Programme.
3.  Tutorial Programme.
4.  Lecture Outlines.
5.  Essays.
6.  Departmental Rules.
7.  Reading List (including GST Rebatable books)
8.  Useful Information.
9.  Useful Web Links

 

GO TO  David West's Home Page .
 
 

INTRODUCTION

Ideas in Politics explores some of the central ideas, values and debates in politics today. Some of the main discussions concern ideas of freedom, human rights, democracy, equality and justice – both nationally and internationally. There are also intense debates about gender, sexuality and the global environment. We shall consider to what extent Australia and similar societies are really free, democratic and just. An understanding of these issues and debates also helps us to make sense of key political ideologies like liberalism, conservatism and socialism, feminism and ecology. A major aim of this course is to develop intellectual skills of critical thinking, reading and discussion and strategies for the effective presentation of ideas.

Two lectures and one tutorial per week.
Lecturer: Dr. David West.

Required Texts
• The required texts for this course are Andrew Heywood, Political Theory: An Introduction, 3rd Ed. (Palgrave, 2004) and Andrew Heywood, Political Ideologies: An Introduction, 4th Ed. (Palgrave, 2007). You can buy both books as a pack for the special price of $86-45 for Co-op Bookshop members (RRP $95). It is essential that you buy both texts, as they contain the bulk of the readings for weekly tutorials.
• Some additional Tutorial Readings are contained in a very short Reading Brick, which you should also buy (price to be announced). The Reading Brick can be purchased in the Manning Clark Theatre Foyer (Weeks 1-2) and collected from the School of Social Sciences Office (COP2147).
• Web pages – Stop Press, weekly Lecture Outlines, relevant web-links and resources as well as this Course Guide will be posted here.

Return to Contents.
 

Proposed Assessment
• One 1,700-2,000 word Essay (45% of final mark) and an Examination (45% of final mark). In addition 10% of the final mark will be awarded for Tutorial work.
• N.B. only students who have submitted the first assignment and attended at least 8 out of 11 Tutorials will be permitted to take the examination.
• The mark for attendance is worth 5% of your overall mark (awarded on a pro-rata basis). Tutorial participation will be assessed by your Tutor (also worth 5%).
• Essay topics, rules and other advice are set out below.

The Examination will be held during the examination period. It will be 90 minutes in length with an additional 15 minutes study period. Students will answer two questions from at least 10 unseen questions. There will be at least one question for each of the topics from Weeks 2-13. Please see below some Guidelines on the Exam. You can access past exam papers via the Library.

LECTURE PROGRAMME
 
 

Lecture Times	Mon  2.00 p.m.	MCC T1
	Thursday 3.00 p.m.	MCC T2

• Lectures aim to provide a clear overview of the main topics of the course. Each topic (usually one week’s lectures and a tutorial) is explored further in the readings and tutorial discussion.
• A short outline (but not a full summary) of each topic will be available on the course website after the first lecture of each week.
• Lectures will be taped and available from the Library’s Reserve Collection (usually at least 2 days after lectures).

Part I. Introduction. Ideas in Politics

Week One (w/b 21st July)
1. Overview of the Course.
2. A Relaxed Introduction. Thinking about politics.

Week Two (w/b 28th July)
1-2. What is Politics? What is the Role of Ideas in Politics?

Part II. The Principles of Liberal Democracy

Week Three (w/b 4th August)
1-2. Do We Need a State? Hobbes vs. anarchism.

Week Four (w/b 11th August)
1-2. Against Tyranny. Human rights, ‘rule of law’ and the constitutional state.

Week Five (w/b 18th August)
1-2. The Moral Limits of the State. Locke and Mill on freedom of religion, thought and sexuality.

Week Six (w/b 25th August)
1-2. Classical Liberalism. Negative freedom, private property and capitalism.

Week Seven (w/b 1st September)
1-2. Democratising the State. The Principles of Liberal Democracy.

Week Eight (w/b 8th September)
Essay Submission Week: No Lectures or Tutorial
First Assignment due on Thursday 11th September 2008 at 4 pm

Part III. Challenging Liberal Democracy

Week Nine (w/b 15th September)
1-2. Politics and Power. Is liberal democracy really government of the people, by the people, for the people?

Week Ten (w/b 22nd September)
1-2. Politics and Money. Social justice – from welfare to equality.

Mid-Semester Break - September 27th – October 12th 2008

Week Eleven (w/b 13th October)
1-2. Oppression and Liberation. The politics of gender, sexuality and ethnicity.

Week Twelve (w/b 20th October)
1-2. Politics and Nature. Deep and shallow ecology.

Week Thirteen (w/b 27th October)
1-2. Socialists, Marxists and other Critics of Capitalism.

Marked essays will be returned no later than the last week of tutorials

Return to Contents.
 
 

LECTURE OUTLINES - 2008

1. Thinking about Ideas in Politics – A Relaxed Introduction

I. Introduction: The Domination of Politics by Economics

1. Elections in Australia (and other western societies) are dominated by economic issues and interests.
2. Dominant political parties reflect economic or ‘class’ interests. Liberals, Nationals, ALP.
3. Compare Democrats, Greens.

II. The Stranglehold of Economic Rationalism

1. Economic rationalism narrows the agenda of politics further.
2. Economics as a science – supposed to deliver reliable, objective, ‘value-neutral’ economic policies for ‘efficiency’, productivity, growth, etc.
3. Implies particular economic policies: privatisation, free markets, small government, low taxes, user-pays etc.
4. Also implies that economic efficiency is dominant value: leads to ‘managerialism’; economic ‘rationalisation’ of education, health, welfare etc.
5. But what about other values? – equality, community, happiness.
6. Whose interests does economic rationalism serve? Economic rationalism as an ideology.

III. Beyond Economic Rationalism – A Utopian Political Agenda

1. Idea of utopia; play on words – ‘a good place’ and ‘no place’ (Thomas More, Utopia, 1516).
2. Politics – the utopian or maximal agenda or ‘if only…’
3. World problems in the light of utopia or, Political Dreaming, Part I.
4. Australian problems in the light of utopia or, Political Dreaming, Part II.

IV. The Greatness and Misery of Politics

1. The role of economics, medicine, science and education in improving the world.
2. The (potential) ‘greatness’ of politics in improving the world: distribution of resources; pursuit of happiness, community etc.; ending war and conflict.
3. But politics is also difficult and may even dangerous. i.e. the ‘misery’ of politics.
4. The challenge for political thinking and ideas: being practical and feasible; being persuasive; avoiding dystopian outcomes.
5. Politics between utopia and apathy.

2. What is Politics? What is the Role of Ideas in Politics?

I. Introduction

1. We need to consider the nature of politics. And what is the role of ideas in politics?
2. The nature of politics is ‘essentially contested’.
• E.g. crime.
3. This means that even doing factual political science involves political ideas.
4. Basic distinction between
• politics as space or site and
• politics as a process.

II. The Narrow Definition of Politics

1. Institutionalised politics of Australian State:
• Constitution including head of state, government, parliament, law, judiciary, public service.
2. State enforces laws; determines distribution of resources and power.
3. Politics of those contending for institutional power or to influence political power: voters, political parties, pressure groups, interest groups, lobby groups.
4. Media, public opinion and public sphere: where political opinions are (in)formed in a democratic state; source of information and accountability.

III. Expanding the Scope of Politics

1. Social movements breaking the mould of institutionalised politics:
• 19th century working-class movements;
• 19th-20th century women’s movements.
2. Politics of economics and class movements:
• classical liberalism vs. social liberalism,
• social democracy and socialism on politics of money
3. ‘New’ social movement and politics of liberation and identity:
• issues of gender, sexuality, racism, religion;
• politics inside the family/ relationships/ churches/ ethnic communities
4. Politics of nature:
• human survival in the long-term;
• animal welfare/ rights of animals/ survival of species.
5. In other words, politics can be understood as all those agents and activities aiming to change (or maintain) the distribution of power and resources in society.
• Global context: relations between states/ across border
• National context: laws/ government affecting all of society
• Local contexts: local government; politics within the family and other institutions

IV. Two Kinds of Political Theory

1. Political science as empirical science of facts.
2. The role of political theory in the sense of concepts and theories - explaining political phenomena;
• Role of ‘great individuals’
• Role of economic developments (Marxism, materialism)
• Role of ideas and values.
• Role of war and conflict
3. Ideas as values or the normative evaluation of politics:
• what kind of political system should we have?
• the ‘good society’ and the ‘good life’
• freedom, equality, justice, democracy etc.

V. Introducing Normative Political Theory

1. Values, critique and political action.
2. Political values as ‘essentially contested concepts’:
• freedom, equality, justice.
3. Arguing about political values:
• arguments about value;
• arguments about meaning of values;
• arguments about compatibility and priority of values.
4. Importance of language and political ideas:
• Orwell’s 1984 and ‘Newspeak’
5. Contemporary examples of Newspeak: ‘collateral damage’, ‘ethnic cleansing’, ‘workplace flexibility’.
6. Justifying political values is not just about analysing concepts but arguing that they are valid:
• persuading other people;
• objectivism about values
• communitarianism about values
• subjectivism about values.

VI. Political Ideals and Nature

1. Politics and the distinction between society and nature:
• changeable society vs. unchangeable nature
• nature and nurture.
2. Plato, Aristotle and the origins of political philosophy;
• recognition of distinction between society and nature.
3. Exaggerating the scope of human nature:
• slavery
• sexual/ gender inequality
• selfishness
4. By contrast, utopian politics exaggerates the scope of human nurture:
• living together;
• communes and house-shares
• weakness of good intentions.
5. Once again, politics exists between utopian imagination and apathy (accepting features of society that can be changed).

3. Do We Need States? The State and Authority vs. Anarchism

I. Introduction

1. What is the state?
2. What is authority?
3. What justifies or legitimates the authority of the state?
4. Cf. legitimacy as a political fact about a society – do people actually support the regime?
• Australian
• Burma
5. Anarchism claims that no state is justified.

II. The State and Sovereignty

1. Max Weber’s (1864-1920) famous definition of the state:
…the state is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory.
2. State as ultimate authority:
• legislature, executive, judiciary, police, armed forces.
3. I.e. state is more than just the government, which is the decision-making branch of the state.
4. State as sovereign
• claiming supreme, undivided and unqualified authority.
5. Sovereignty – internal vs. external.
• internal – cf. civil war, stateless society, weak state
• external – cf. medieval Europe, colonial states, globalisation, humanitarian interventions

III. Power, Authority and Legitimacy

1. Sovereignty –
• legitimate or de jure
• de facto authority.
2. Power as the ability of one agent to influence or determine the actions of another agent.
• The state obviously has considerable power over its citizens.
3. But the state also claims authority or, in other words,
• the right to demand obedience from its citizens.
• Cf. having the ability to demand obedience.
• Cf. Criminal organisations, insurrectionary militia
4. Different kinds of authority and their different limits:
• parental;
• expert;
• legal.
5. Interaction between power and authority:
• Power is necessary for authority
• So state without power has no authority;
• Authority increases the power of the state.
• So state without authority has little power – Burma? Iraq?
6. What justifies the state or, in other words, why is the state legitimate?
• Origins of most states as illegitimate

IV. Hobbes’s Justification of the State

1. Thomas Hobbes’s (1588-1679) Leviathan (1651) presents a famous but also contentious justification of the state.
2. The state of nature as a hypothetical condition of society without any state.
3. Human nature as
• selfish, passionate and power-seeking.
4. Hence, the state of nature would be a ‘perpetual war’, so that the
• ‘life of man [is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short’ (Hobbes, Leviathan, ed. Oakeshott, p. 82).
• No ‘fruits of industry’ or culture
• Cf. Stateless societies
5. Hence, necessity of the ‘social contract’
• fundamental agreement of people in the state of nature to set up a state.
6. Hobbes’s argument as hypothetical not historical;
• i.e. that it is rational to found the state.
• Not that people actually got together to set up states
• which would obviously be false.
7. Hobbes as an important contributor to contract theories of the state
• cf. J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice, 1970.

V. But What Kind of State is Justified?

1. Hobbes’s authoritarian conclusions that
• any state, however bad, is better than no state
• Hobbes’s experience of the English Civil War (1642-51)
2. No state – civil war, stateless society
• e.g. Sudan, Somalia, Iraq.
3. So for Hobbes, the authority of the state must be unlimited.
• No limiting natural rights
• No limiting democratic rights

VI. Considering Anarchism

1. By contrast, classical anarchism is the view that no state is justified.
2. I.e. a society with no state is always better than one with some state
• ‘an-archy’ as ‘no rule’
• ‘mon-archy’ as ‘rule of one’
• ‘olig-archy’ as ‘rule of few’
3. Destructive states –
Pol Pot’s Cambodia, Nazi Germany, Stalinist Soviet Union
4. But could we live without a state?
• i.e. stateless society or a stateless world?
• states as domination by rich/ strong/ corrupt
• human beings naturally good, corrupted by states
5. Anarchism can also be understood as attempting to minimise the authority of the state.
• E.g. ‘minimal state’
• Cf. R. Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974)
6. So we need to ask
• what kind of state is legitimate and
• how much authority it should have over us.
7. How good, then, is Hobbes’s argument for the state?

4. Against Tyranny. Human rights, ‘Rule of Law’ and the Constitutional State.

I. Introduction: Aims of this Topic

1. Hobbes’s modern justification of the state as being in the interests of the people.
2. Compare view of state as justified by
(i) simply given/ part of nature.
(ii) ‘divine right’ or
(iii) ancient tradition or
3. Ensuring government for the people:
(i) Rule of law;
(ii) Constitutional government.
(iii) Government limited by natural rights (Locke).
4. Rule of law not a dry academic topic – the ‘war on terrorism’ and the ‘security state’.

II. The Rule of Law

1. Despotism of the pre-modern state:
• as ‘rule of master over slaves’;
• unlimited power;
• arbitrary power.
2. Rule of law as ‘government of laws not of men’ (Heywood, 154). Laws must be:
• consistent and general rules;
• impartial;
• public;
• not retrospective.
3. Norms of legal procedure:
• fair application of law;
• no arbitrary arrest (habeas corpus);
• legal representation;
• laws of evidence.
4. Advantages of rule of law:
• predictable decisions;
• absence of fear;
• impartiality or formal fairness.
5. Equality before/ under the law:
• from subjects to citizens;
• abolition of aristocratic privilege;
• monarch/ ruler/ government also subject to law.
6. Cf. Dicey’s criteria for rule of law (Heywood, pp. 154-5).

III. Constitutional Government

1. But the rule of law is not necessarily substantively fair or just:
(i) does not imply freedom;
(ii) does not imply democracy.
2. A further constraint on government involves subjecting the process of government itself to the rule of law or constitutional government.
3. Thus constitutional government implies laws governing
• how laws are made;
• who makes the laws;
• ‘the rules which establish and regulate or govern the government’
(Wheare, Modern Constitutions).
4. Constitutions:
• written vs. unwritten;
• entrenched (i.e. difficult to change the rules)
• e.g. Australian Constitution (1901)
5. But note that constitutional government is still not necessarily either liberal or democratic.

IV. Locke on Natural Rights and Rebellion

1. John Locke (1632-74)
• as advocate of government limited by natural or moral rights
• to justify England’s ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688 against James II.
2. Rule of law and constitutional government implies legal but not moral rights:
• Legal rights are rights embodies in laws.
• Moral rights are (argued to be) rights existing before/ without the law.
3. Natural rights as moral limits to the state and government:
• Limits to what a state can legitimately do
• Potential grounds for overthrow of the state.
4. Locke on natural rights in the state of nature:

The state of Nature has a law of Nature to govern it, which obliges every one, and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions… (Second Treatise, Dent, Ch. II, par. 6, p. 119).

5. Basic elements of Locke’s contractarian account of government:
• optimism about state of nature;
• contract does not give up natural rights to the state (cf. Hobbes);
• state’s role only to clarify and enforce natural rights.
6. Natural rights and the justification of rebellion (see Tutorial Reading)
when the state violates or fails to protect natural rights.
7. Problem of justifying natural rights:
• Locke’s religious assumptions;
• Locke’s secular/ rational justification of property rights.

V. Disputing Human Rights

1. Natural, moral or human rights provide a basis for criticising sovereign states:
• e.g. Nazi Germany;
• former Yugoslavia; Iraq; Sudan etc.
2. Conditions of genuine civil disobedience usually involve appeal to human or moral rights:
• conscientious (not accidental, not criminal);
• altruistic, moral or political motivation (not self-interested);
• public action;
• acceptance of punishment;
• (usually) non-violent.
3. Examples of successful civil disobedience:
• Gandhi and Indian independence;
• Apartheid South Africa ;
• Martin Luther King and the Black Civil Rights movement in USA
4. Justification of civil disobedience:
• unjust political institutions
• no political remedy available within those institutions;
• peaceful civil disobedience better than violent revolution or terrorism;
5. Some problems with civil disobedience:
• violates the laws/ rule of law?
• risks political instability;
• a step towards violence or chaos?
6. More generally, civil disobedience and human rights raise problems of justification:
• different religions and moralities/ conscience is subjective;
• cultural differences – which rights, whose rights;
• changing ideas of human rights over time;
• problems of chauvinism.

5. The Moral Limits of the State. Locke and Mill on Freedoms of Religion, Thought and Sexuality.

I. Introduction

1. Last week we looked at Locke’s arguments for a limited state on the basis of our natural rights.
2. This week on implications of these limits in relation to religion, morality and individual freedom.

II. Religion and Politics

1. Religious or confessional state typically…
• enforces religious worship and
• laws derived from one particular religion;
• no clear distinction between state and religion
• no clear distinction between civil and religious laws.
2. Compare theocracy which involves the ‘rule of God’ or, in practice, ‘rule of priests’.
• Iran after Khomeini.
• Early New England colonies in 17th century America
3. N.B. relation between Islam and politics/ state is in fact complex
• More like relationship between Christianity and politics/ state
• Cf. Salwa Ismail’s chapter in A. Leftwich, What is Politics?)
4. Background of Locke’s Letter concerning Toleration:
• medieval and early modern Europe:
• Catholicism of ‘Christendom’ under rule of Pope;
• Protestant Reformation;
• Emergence of Protestant sects;
• religious conflicts and wars.

III. Locke on Toleration

1. Locke’s ‘Letter concerning Toleration’ (1689-92):
• argument for religious toleration;
• for secular state.
• Cf. US Constitution and no established religion.
2. Locke’s religious arguments for toleration:
• Christian virtue of toleration;
• against intolerant Catholicism;
• individual salvation – does not depend on actions of others;
• faith and salvation as unenforceable by law.
3. Locke’s political arguments for toleration:
• pragmatic argument from need for peace;
• intolerance, not diversity of religions, leads to disorder and conflict.
4. Leads to fundamental distinction between political or civil and religious matters:

Civil interests I call life, liberty, health, and indolency of body; and the possession of outward things, such as money, lands, houses, furniture, and the like. (‘Letter’, p. 393)

5. Comments on Locke’s argument:
• individualism;
• tolerance as indifference to the fate of others?
6. limits to Locke’s toleration:
• not Catholics – loyalty to the Pope.
• not atheists or ‘heathens’ – cannot be bound by oaths.
• not ‘heathens’ or colonised American Indians.

IV. From Locke to Liberalism

1. After Locke, gradual extension of toleration:
• No toleration of immoral or licentious behaviour
• Locke is happy to rely on the force of ‘opinion’.
2. Liberal distinction between public law and private morality:
• Not everything that is immoral should be illegal.
• Not everything that is illegal is actually immoral.
3. J. S. Mill’s utilitarianism:
• greatest happiness principle;
• potentially illiberal implications?
• Hence Mill’s arguments for freedom.

V. Mill, On Liberty (1859)

1. Argues for the utilitarian benefits of liberty – or liberty leads to happiness.
2. Argument for intellectual freedom:
• free enquiry necessary for production of useful knowledge.
• Suppression of knowledge by Catholic Church - Galileo
3 Argument for moral freedom:
• ‘experiments of living’ necessary for happiness.
• threat of oppressive public ‘opinion’ – ‘Victorian morality’
• Cf. Locke on necessity of ‘law of opinion’.
4. Happiness depends on ‘individuality’:
• as fullest possible self-development;
• requires freedom.
• You cannot know what will make someone else happy (the present paradox)
5. Law necessary only to prevent one individual inflicting harm on another – or Mill’s ‘harm principle’:

That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. (‘On Liberty’, p. 72)

• Defines liberty vs. licence/ licentious behaviour.
6. In other words, law does not impose morality:
• self-regarding vs. other-regarding actions;
• private sphere of individuals
• against state paternalism.

VI. ‘Law and Morality’ Debates

1. Difficulties of applying Mill’s harm principle:
• liberty vs. licence;
• defining harm;
• acts of commission vs. acts of omission;
• direct and indirect harm.
2. Law and morality debate of 1950s-60s:
• Wolfenden Report (1957)
• on prostitution and homosexuality.
3. Liberal argument for sexual toleration:
• H. L. A. Hart, Law, Liberty and Morality (1963)
• privacy not morality of prostitution and homosexuality
• as ‘self-regarding’ actions.
4. Moral conservatism:
• P. Devlin, The Enforcement of Morals (1965)
• Moral cohesion necessary for social order
• Decadence and the ‘decline and fall’ of Roman Empire
5. Other law and morality debates – the uncertainty of ‘harm’:
• Pornography – direct and indirect harm?
• drugs and alcohol;
• paternalistic legislation – costs to the community;
6. Limits of liberal toleration, or what is intolerable:
• racism – cf. anti-vilification legislation;
• holocaust denial – illegal in Germany);
• incitements to violence or persecution of minorities.

6A. Jeremy Shearmur - In Defence of Liberal Capitalism

6B. Classical Liberalism. Negative Freedom, Private Property and Capitalism - A Critical Perspective

I. Introduction: Capitalism, For and Against

1. Jeremy Shearmur’s defence of classical liberalism and capitalism.
2. Today emphasis on some problems of capitalism.
3. Problems of capitalism to be explored in coming weeks of the course.

II. Capitalism Ignores Social Justice

1. Classical liberalism defends only negative freedom and rights.
2. Negative freedom is not the only conception of freedom:
• compatible with lack of power and resources;
• as freedom of the beggar on the park bench.
3. Effective freedom and positive rights imply social justice.
4. Social liberalism of 20th century:
• welfare provision (security, health, education)
• as necessary for freedom;
• equal opportunities;
• fair competition;
• redistribution of wealth and social justice.
5. Problems with charity:
• insufficient and unreliable;
• selective, arbitrary, prejudiced;
• sometimes conditional;
• demeaning.

III. Capitalism Distorts Culture

1. Capitalism and the distortion of culture:
• advertising or the ‘hidden persuaders’ (V. Packard).
2. Promotion of profitable but harmful or useless products and activities.
3. Promotion of way of life:
• materialism, consumerism and
• competitive individualism.
• need not lead to happiness.
4. Autonomy and positive freedom as
• doing what you really want to do
• what’s in your real interests.

IV. Capitalism Ignores and Distorts Democracy

1. Classical liberalism argues for freedom not democracy:
• negative freedom does not imply democracy
• or political freedom.
2. Early liberalism (e.g. Locke) for freedom and rights
• but not democracy;
• liberal democracy as later development.
3. Slow emergence of democratic thought:
• Thomas Paine, Jeremy Bentham,
• James Mill,
• John Stuart Mill.;
4. Neo-classical liberalism sometimes even hostile to democracy:
• Hayek on liberty (c.f. Tutorial Reading);
• Nozick on ‘demoktesis’ (Anarchy, State, and Utopia).
5. Democratic state seen by neo-liberals as threat to freedom.
• ‘Tyranny of the majority’
• Demands of the poor for welfare, economic redistribution etc.
• But what kind of freedom?
6. But capitalism also a threat to freedom and democracy:
• money (illegally) corrupts;
• money (legally) buys influence.

V. Economic Rationalism Re-visited

1. Non-provision of public goods:
• infrastructure;
• welfare;
• penal system etc.
2. Capitalism promotes single public good of efficiency:
• And then only with government regulation;
• Produces exchange value, not use value.
3. Public value of community:
• equality, social harmony, peace.
4. Public value of nature and environment.
5. Neoliberalism and political action:
• minimal state;
• undermines public commitment and responsibility

7. Democratising the State. The Principles of Liberal Democracy.

I. Introduction

1. Up to now we’ve explored idea of freedom or liberty and liberal thinkers.
2. This topic concerns democracy or ‘rule of the people’.
3. It is the other major component of liberal democracy.
4. Raises the question of how democracy relates to freedom:
• In harmony?
• In conflict?

II. Distinguishing Liberty and Democracy

1. Negative freedom of classical liberalism as being left alone:
• limits the scope of government activities;
• liberalism emphasises liberty – limited state
• compare communitarianism, socialism, totalitarianism etc.
2. Democracy means ‘rule of the people’:
• concerns source of government decisions or who decides
• democracy implies people make decisions
• compare monarchy, aristocracy, dictatorship.
3. Varieties of democracy:
• direct democracy
• face-to-face direct democracy vs. plebiscitary democracy;
• indirect or representative democracy:
• representation vs. delegation.
• varieties of representation
• geographical, characteristic, ideological
• different systems of voting
• winner-takes-all vs. proportional representation (PR),
• party lists vs. single transferable vote
4. Possibility of liberty without democracy:
• i.e. limited but undemocratic government;
• Hobbes on republican Lucca vs. despotic Constantinople:

Whether a Commonwealth be Monarchical, or Popular, the Freedome is still the same.

• Locke and early liberals not democrats;
5. Possibility of democracy without liberty:
• democratic but intrusive state.
• democratic totalitarianism
6. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) and collectivist democracy:
• Social Contract (1762);
• idea of the ‘general will’;
• being ‘forced to be free’.
7. Contemporary liberal democracy:
• combines negative liberty and representative democracy;
• historical origins of combination in Western societies.

III. From Liberalism to Liberal Democracy – A. Protective Democracy

1. Different models and justifications of democracy: C. B. Macpherson, The Life and Times of Liberal Democracy; D. Held, Models of Democracy.
2. Protective democracy of utilitarians and radicals:
• J. Bentham (1748-1832), Plan of Parliamentary Reform (1822)
• James Mill (1773-1836), Essay on Government (1819-23).
3. Based on liberal individualism:
• liberal rights;
• market economy;
• goal of maximising utility.
4. Democracy as essential for the protection of liberal society:
• for efficient, honest, impartial government;
• democracy for the sake of accountability
• ‘keeping the b*sta*ds honest’
5. Class theory:
• protecting free market/ commercial society from interference
• containing power of aristocracy;
• containing power of working class.

IV. From Liberalism to Liberal Democracy – B. Developmental Democracy

1. J. S. Mill (1806-73):
• On Liberty. (1860).
• Considerations on Representative Government (1861)
2. J. S. Mill’s more positive view of freedom:
• self-development;
• individuality.

the end of man… is the highest and most harmonious development of his powers to a complete and consistent whole.

3. Democracy as developmental:
• essential for the development of citizens – it…
… would make people more active, more energetic; it would advance them “in intellect, in virtue, and in practical activity and efficiency”.
• encourages responsibility for public good;
• education for uneducated working classes.
4. J. S. Mill’s view of the dangers of democracy:
• destructive interference in commercial society
• ‘tyranny of the majority’
• ignorant working masses
• dull and intolerant middle classes
5. Representative democracy as compromise:
• indirect democracy to ensure elite representation of masses
• plural voting for more educated and affluent
• proportional representation to ensure representation of (educated) minority
6. Combining best of aristocracy and democracy:
• rule of elites;
• development of people;
• democratic accountability.

V. Debating Liberal Democracy

1. Liberal democracy as limited government combined with representative democracy.
• Liberty requires democracy (previous arguments)
• Also that democracy requires liberty.
2. Democracy requires liberty for genuine government by the people:
• freedom of information
• freedom of opinion and discussion
• freedom of organisation, multi-party democracy
3. But libertarians argue that democracy threatens liberty:
• Democracy leads to welfare and high taxation - as theft;
• F. Hayek (1899-1992), The Road to Serfdom (1944);
• arguments for limiting democracy (again):
• votes for over-40s only!
• independent reserve bank for monetary policy/ ‘sound currency’
4. Authoritarian democrats act as if liberty unduly limits democracy:
• Tampa and refugees (Howard government)
• responses to terrorism in the name of security of the people
• urgent responses to poverty/ land redistribution
5. Problems of democracy:
• tensions between liberty and democracy
• short-term thinking – BUT climate change, ‘peak oil’ etc.
• ignorance, apathy, self-interest of voters
• as ‘dictatorship on the basis of mass emotionality’ (Weber)?
6. Globalisation undermining the democratic nation-state:
Habermas, The Post-National Constellation

9. Politics and Power. Is Liberal Democracy really Government of the People, by the People, for the People?

I. Introduction: Power vs. Democracy

1. Last week value of democracy, its intrinsic problems:
• tyranny of the majority;
• possibility of uninformed or apathetic electorate.
2. Liberal democracy as partial response to these problems.
3. This week how liberal democracy is distorted by various forms of social power.
4. These are examples of external or extrinsic problems of democracy.
• Not problems with the idea of liberal democracy
• But how democracy works in contemporary societies.

II. Authority and Power

1. Power vs. authority:
• authority as the right to get people to act in certain ways;
• power as the ability to get people to act in certain ways.
2. Sources of power:
• power exerted by political authorities
• other sources of social power.
3. Degrees of power:
• violence and coercion,
• threats and bribes,
• influence
• rational persuasion.

III. Lukes’s Radical View of Power

1. S. Lukes, Power: A Radical View (1974/2005) on different kinds of power:
• visible vs. invisible;
• intentional vs. systemic;
• conservative vs. radical views of power;
• three dimensions of power.
2. First dimension or power of power:
• ability to win political conflicts:
• overt and intentional;
• concerns decision-making.
3. Second dimension of power (Bachrach & Baratz, Schattschneider):
• ability to control agenda of politics
• to prevent open conflicts;
• as non-decision-making or manipulation.
• ‘a decision that results in suppression or thwarting of a latent or manifest challenge to the values or interests of the decision-maker.’ (Bachrach and Baratz at Lukes, p. 18)
4. Third dimension of power:
• collective or systemic;
• non-intentional;
• shaping people’s wants and preferences.
• ‘What one may have here is a latent conflict, which consists in a contradiction between the interests of those exercising power and the real interests of those they exclude.’ (Lukes, pp. 24-5)

IV. How Power Affects Democracy

1. Influences on formation of government policy (other than democratically):
• power influencing inputs of democracy;
• politics of support (A. Gamble).
2. Influences on what governments can do:
• power influencing outputs of democracy;
• ‘politics of agency’ (Gamble)
3. External influences on government:
• Power of major world powers(G8/G9)
• world ‘hegemon’ USA?
• Emerging power of China
4. Power exerted via institutions of international governance
• Economic institutions – IMF, World Bank, WTO etc.
• United Nations

V. Systemic Power in Western Societies

1. Power and influence of dominant or ‘ruling’ class (Marxism):
• politics and social elites;
• benefits of wealth;
• contacts and networks;
• revolving doors.
2. Power of capital, business, corporations:
• influencing inputs and outputs of democracy:
• inputs – campaigning and lobbying, advertising campaigns
• outputs – investment decision
3. Influence of class on political participation of citizens:
• information and education;
• media
• political motivation;
• empowerment vs. apathy.
4. Influence of power on judicial process:
• formal vs. actual rights and procedures;
• influence of wealth in access to legal expertise;
• influence of social prejudices (racism, homophobia etc.)
5. Other systemic inequalities of power:
• gender;
• ‘race’ or ethnicity;
• religion;
• sexuality.
6. Power of ideas or ideology,
• Lukes’s third dimension of power revisited;
• Class, patriarchy, racism, homophobia.
7. Politics of liberation (see Week 11):
• politicisation of issues;
• consciousness raising;
• politics of identity.

VI. Anti-Power?

1. Democratisation of the state or deepening of democracy:
• local democracy and decentralisation;
• political education;
• diverse media ownership;
• participatory democracy
2. Democratisation of civil society or extension of democracy:
• workplace democracy;
• welfare state institutions;
• social movements, civil society and the ‘public sphere’
3. Limiting social power (see next two weeks):
• limiting economic inequalities
• social democracy, Marxism
• politics of gender, anti-racism, sexual liberation
4. Elimination of social power only possible through
empowering the powerless.

10. Politics and Money. Social Justice – From Welfare to Equality.

I. Introduction

1. So far we looked at the values of the liberal democratic state:
(i) negative freedom;
(ii) representative democracy.
2. We’ve also considered how these values are undermined by social power.
3. This week on politics and money/ economic relations:
(i) effective freedom and social liberalism;
(ii) value of equality;
(iii) social justice.
4. Effective freedom and equality as:
(i) moral requirements for a just society;
(ii) ways of limiting effects of social power.
5. Not talking yet about positive freedom in the sense of:
• Doing what you really want
• Doing what is in your real interests
• Compare Lukes’s ‘third dimension’ of power.

II. Effective Freedom

1. Classical liberal tradition asserts:
• value of negative freedom;
• negative rights, i.e. that certain things do not happen;
• freedom as being allowed to do what you want.
2. Social liberal tradition asserts:
• value of effective freedom;
• positive rights, i.e. that certain things do happen
• freedom as being able to do what you want.
3. Positive rights involve:
• resources needed to do what you want
• such as money, knowledge, health.
4. Negative rights only involve cost of enforcement (R. Plant).
5. Positive rights imply
• transfer of resources
• from more to less well-off
• i.e. taxation/ more extensive state
• (according to classical liberals) violation of negative rights?

III. The Emergence of Social Rights and the Welfare State

1. T. H. Marshall,‘Citizenship and social class’ (1949):
• on historical evolution of rights:
• civil rights – rule of law and constitutional state
• property rights – classical and neo-liberalism
• political rights – democracy
• social or welfare rights – social liberalism and social democracy
2. Emergence of social rights and welfare state:
• social security – alleviating poverty;
• social insurance – old-age pensions, unemployment, sickness;
• free universal education –
• primary, then secondary, then tertiary (for a short time!)
3. Ideological source of welfare state and social rights:
• ‘new’ or ‘social liberals;
• social democracy or reformist socialism.

IV. ‘New’ and Social Liberalism

1. T. H. Green (1836-82):
• positive freedom as self-realisation – compare J. S. Mill on liberty:
‘freedom in the positive sense: the liberation of the powers of all men equally for contributions to a common good’.
• individual’s responsibility to community
• community’s responsibility to individual – security etc.
• no unregulated freedom of contract – e.g. subprime mortgages
• for public provision of healthcare and education;
2. L. T. Hobhouse (1864-1929) and ‘new liberalism’:
• For a co-operative society;
• social evolution beyond individualism to cooperation
• mutual responsibility;
• active liberal state to enhance freedom – cf. J. S. Mill again
3. J. M. Keynes (1883-1946):
• Keynesian economics;
• Great Depression of 1930s;
• state intervention both possible and necessary;
• demand management,
• social right to work or ‘full employment’
4. Neo-liberalism as reaction to ‘new’ or social liberalism:
• fears of fascism and communism;
• expanding state and gradual drift to ‘serfdom’ (Hayek)
• end of long post-War economic boom;
• critique of welfare state – paternalism, welfare dependency
5. Cf. neo-conservatism as similar reaction to ‘new conservatism’ of post-war consensus.

V. Socialism and Equality

1. Second source of welfare state as socialist tradition:
• Socialism as ‘socialisation of the means of production’
• Marxism or revolutionary socialism
• Socialism as goal + Revolution as means
• reformist and gradualist social democracy.
• Socialism as goal + Parliamentary reforms as means
2. Values associated with socialism:
• collectivism and cooperative society
• economy as cooperative activity – cf. John Rawls
• value of equality
3. Three kinds of equality:
• formal equality – classical liberalism
• equality of opportunity – social liberalism
• equality of outcome – socialism, social democracy
4. Formal equality – classical liberalism:
• against monarchy and aristocracy;
• French Revolution’s ‘liberty, equality and fraternity’.
• equality of citizens;
• equality before the law;
• ‘careers open to talents’;
5. Equality of opportunity – social liberalism;
• equal opportunity
• equal chances to become unequal – or meritocracy
• moderate vs. radical interpretation of equal opportunity
6. Equality of outcome:
• equality of wealth or resources.
• relative not absolute
• absolute equality difficult and potentially tyrannical;
• relative equality necessary for democracy (Rousseau).

VI. Comparing Effective Freedom and Social Equality

1. Difference between values of effective freedom and equality:
• sometimes similar practical implications,
• i.e. welfare state.
2. Different ideologies of social liberalism vs. social democracy:
• different reasons for welfare;
• social liberalism for effective freedom
• social democracy for social justice or fairness
3. Equality and Social Justice:
• justice not just about rule of law;
• social justice involves redistribution of resources.
4. Cf. classical and neo-liberal denial of social justice (F. Hayek, K. Minogue):
• Only human actions can be unjust
• Social outcomes not the responsibility of the state
• Social outcomes not the result of intentional actions of individuals

11. Oppression and Liberation. The Politics of Gender, Sexuality and Ethnicity.

I. Introduction

1. So far we have considered two conceptions of freedom:
2. Negative freedom:
• being allowed to do what you want/ being left alone;
• negative rights;
• classical liberalism & neo-liberalism.
3. Effective freedom:
• being able to do what you want;
• positive or social rights;
• social liberalism and social democracy;
• welfare.
4. Today’s topic:
• Autonomy or positive freedom
• Freedom vs. oppression
• Can you be genuinely free in an oppressive society?

II. Positive Freedom as Autonomy: A Third Conception of Freedom

1. Positive freedom means that you are free only if
• you are able to do
• what you really or genuinely want
• what is in your real interests;
• what you authentically want.
2. Basic idea is that you can be wrong about what you want:
• When what you want is against your real interests
• So doing what you want is not same as being free
3. Some extreme examples:
• The willing slave;
• hypnotism and ‘brain-washing’;
• Brave New World and ‘soma’.
4. Irrationality and lack of self-control (cf. Isaiah Berlin)
• Addiction to alcohol or drugs
• lower or irrational self controlling higher or rational self
• first- and second-order wants or preferences
• Immediate impulse vs. long-term interests

III. Theories of Ideology

1. Theory of ideology implies
that people’s wants can be manipulated in the interests of a ‘dominant’ class or group in society.
2. Marx on capitalism:
• working class supports capitalism against its own interests
• consumerism and materialism, being ‘rich(er) but unhappy’
• reification – capitalism as ‘false nature’
3. Marx on ideology:
‘the ideas of the ruling class are the ruling ideas’
• censorship
• cultural and intellectual institutions – church, school, university
4. Similar notion of ‘false consciousness’:
• ideas influenced by power or material conditions of society
• ideas influenced by one’s society and history – slavery (and/to) music and fashion
5. Compare Lukes’s third dimension of power:
• manipulating wants and beliefs
• systemic rather than deliberate or intentional

IV. The Politics of Liberation

1. Politics of ‘liberation’ from the ‘oppression’:
• esp. new social movements from 1960s – gender, sexuality, ethnicity
• beyond liberal politics
• beyond social liberalism and social democracy or politics of economics
2. Three dimensions of political practice:
(i) liberalism, negative freedom and legal/ political sphere;
(ii) socialism, equality and economic sphere;
(iii) liberation and sphere of culture or consciousness.
3. Liberation as the goal of politics of liberation:
• i.e. removal of oppression
• oppression as a problem in its own right
4. Liberation as means to broader politics of emancipation:
• empowering the oppressed
• removing the obstacles to political emancipation

V. Some Examples of the Politics of Liberation

1. Feminism:
(i) liberal feminism of equal rights;
(ii) socialist feminism of equal pay, paid domestic labour, welfare rights;
(iii) radical feminism of liberation from patriarchal identity.
2. US Black Civil Rights of 1950s/60s:
(i) civil and legal Rights;
(ii) economic welfare, anti-discrimination;
(iii) ‘Black power’ as radical identity, consciousness and pride.
3. Aboriginal politics:
(i) legal and political rights – voting, citizenship etc.
(ii) economic welfare and social rights;
(iii) identity, history and reconciliation as cultural politics of liberation.
4. Sexual politics:
(i) legal rights for legalisation of homosexuality
(ii) economic and employment issues – anti-discrimination
(iii) gay/ lesbian/ queer liberation – GLQ pride, ‘coming out’

VI. Some Dilemmas of Liberation Politics

1. Dangers of positive freedom according to Isaiah Berlin, ‘Two Concepts of Liberty’:
• rational self vs. deluded self;
• ‘forcing people to be free’;
• Compare drug addict vs. politically misguided
2. Experience of 20th century totalitarianisms
• Seen as degeneration of positive freedom
• National Socialism – Führer as the ‘will of the Volk’
• Stalinism’s working class state.
3. Longer tradition of positive freedom in political thought:
(i) Aristotle on man as a ‘political animal’ (zoon politikon)
(ii) Plato’s Republic on the rational self and rational state
(iii) Rousseau’s ‘general will’
(iv) Hegel – the individual as possible only in fully developed society
(v) Mill on ‘individuality’ as self-development
4. Dangers of ignoring positive freedom:
• Blindness to oppression
• Tolerating oppression
5. Ted Benton on the ‘paradox of enlightenment’
• for critics of society whose values are predominantly libertarian and democratic.
… if they are to remain true to their political values they may implement no changes without the consent of those who are affected by them, and if they seek to implement no such changes, then they acquiesce in the persistence of a social system radically at odds with their political values.

12. Politics and Nature. Deep and shallow ecology.

I. Introduction
1. Central philosophy of the green movement is called ecologism
• this emerged in the 1960s
• explains why the world faces ecological crisis
• explains how this crisis can be overcome
2. The term ‘Greens’ does not necessarily refer to the political party. Can also refer more broadly to people who subscribe to ecologism.

II. Key Green Beliefs
1. Current ecological crisis is rooted in dominant beliefs & ideologies
2. Greens call for a shift in mindset
• From anthropocentrism (human-centred thinking) to ecologism
• From humankind as master of nature to humankind as part of nature
3. We must learn from ecology
• everything is interconnected
• humans dependent on the health of ecosystems

III. Origins of Green Political Thought
1. Ecologism draws upon 19th century backlash against industrialization
2. New environmental concern emerging in 1960s
• Rachel Carson’s The Silent Spring, published 1962, raised concerns about harms to people and wildlife from agricultural chemicals
• Formation of new activist groups eg Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace
3. Limits to Growth published 1972
• Earth’s resources (eg fossil fuels) are limited
• Therefore production and consumption are limited
• Exponential growth of demand for resources will lead to catastrophe

IV. What Do Greens Want?
1. A sustainable society
2. Reduced consumption in wealthy countries
3. No more economic growth

V. The Tragedy of the Commons
1. By Garret Hardin
2. Explains why overexploitation of resources occurs
• Uses example of overgrazing on common land
3. Conservation of public goods poses a collective action problem
4. Each individual has no incentive to stop overexploiting the resource
• Each individual is tempted to be a free rider
5. Conclusion: mutual coercion is necessary
• Can’t rely on individual consciences to solve environmental problems such as over-grazing, over-fishing, pollution of air and water etc.

VI. Deep Ecology
1. The nonhuman world has intrinsic value
2. Against speciesism
• Humans no more important than any other species
3. Holism
• We should study the system as a whole, not just its component parts
4. Gaia hypothesis – James Lovelock
• The Earth is one massive, self-regulating super-organism
5. Influenced by spiritual traditions eg Native American, Buddhism
6. Utopian

VII. Eco-feminism
1. Synthesis of ecological thought and radical feminism
2. Male domination the cause of both women’s oppression and ecological crisis
3. Women more empathetic to nature than men due to their nurturing roles
4. ‘Being Prey’ by Val Plumwood, former ANU ecophilosopher
5. We need to revalue both women and nature

VIII. Liberal environmentalism
1. Supports sustainable growth
2. We need technological innovation and better educated consumers
3. The market can help us resolve resource problems
• By providing incentives to companies to be less wasteful
• e.g. water will be used more efficiently if appropriately priced

IX. Shallow vs Deep Ecology
1. This distinction made by Arne Naess, founder of Deep Ecology
2. Shallow ecology anthropocentric, deep ecology ecocentric
3. Shallow ecology supports sustainable growth, but deep ecology is anti-growth
4. Shallow ecology seeks reform, but deep ecology seeks revolution
5. Shallow ecology called ‘light green’, deep ecology called ‘dark green’

X. Political Strategies of the Green movement
1. Electoral Politics
• Greens parties formed in many countries
• Greens parties have formed coalition governments in a number of countries
• Criticism of electoral politics: encourages short term thinking (3 year cycle)
2. Nonviolent Direct Action
• Inspired by Gandhi, Martin Luther King
• Uses civil disobedience. May involve being arrested, gaol terms
• E.g. Forest blockades to prevent old-growth logging
• Also Stunts by Plane Stupid, British anti-aviation activist group
• Whether damage to property counts as nonviolent action is controversial

13. Socialists, Marxists and other Critics of Capitalism.

I. Introduction

1. Values of socialism - equality
• equality of outcome
• cf. formal equality before the law
• cf. equality of opportunity
2. Values of socialism - community
• community or the ‘collective’
• not against individual
• individual-in-community
3. Socialism as theory of economic organisation of society:
• abolition of private property
• socialisation of the means of production
• socialisation of profits, not just the losses!

II. Utopian and Scientific Socialism

1. Early nineteenth-century utopian socialism of Owen, Fourier, Saint-Simon (according to Marx and Engels):
(i) rejection of capitalist society;
(ii) model of socialist society;
(iii) BUT no theory of transition to socialism.
2. Elements of a scientific theory of socialism:
(i) time or when is the revolution?
(ii) agency or who are the revolutionaries?
(iii) method or how does revolution occur?
(iv) transition or how is socialism constructed?
3. Marxism as scientific socialism,
• i.e. complete theory of society, not just values
(i) what’s wrong with capitalism – exploitation, alienation, reification
(ii) theory of history – modes of production, class struggle, revolution
(iii) impending crisis of capitalism – falling rate of profit, cyclical recession
(iv) theory of the transition to socialism… then communism.

III. The Problematic Tradition of Revolutionary Marxism

1. Problems of Marxism:
• does not imply there are no solutions to these problems.
2. Fate of revolutionary socialism or the problem of the Soviet Union:
(i) degeneration of Russian Revolution;
(ii) socialism not the same as Soviet communism;
(iii) ideal vs. ‘actually existing socialism’ (R. Bahro).
3. Weakness of revolutionary Marxism in the West:
(i) failed revolutions after 1918 (Germany, Austria);
(ii) political attitudes of the working class;
(iii) after 1989 collapse of Soviet communism.
4. Problems of planned economy:
(i) role of markets (Hayek);
(ii) inefficiency of planned economy
(iii) authoritarianism – domination by government and party

IV. Basic Ideas of Social Democracy

1. Social democracy as off-shoot of revolutionary socialism.
2. Gradual transition to socialism:
(i) Fabians (from 1884) named after Roman general Fabius (Sydney and Beatrice Webb)
(ii) Eduard Bernstein, Evolutionary Socialism (1909).
3. Combining socialism with liberal democracy:
(i) against revolutionary transition to socialism;
(ii) for gradual and democratic transition;
(iii) retention of liberal democratic institutions.
4. Social democracy implies social rights and social justice.
5. Mixed economy:
• public economic sector through nationalisation
• alongside private economic sector
• cf. response to current economic crisis – partial nationalisation of banks
6. Social democracy as stage towards socialism, then as ultimate goal.

V. The Fate of Social Democracy

1. Obvious achievements of social democracy in twentieth century:
• Europe and Australia
• USA
2. Problems of social democracy:
• working class seems to prefer capitalism to socialism
• welfare state as secure but unattractive vs. ‘freedom of choice’
• economic problems of welfare state capitalism – 1970s ‘oil shock’
3. Response was neo-liberalism, economic rationalism and globalisation
• Thatcherism, Reaganomics, Hawke-Keating, Howard etc.
• BUT compare today’s crisis of neoliberal capitalism
4. Decline of social democracy:
(i) retreat from the mixed economy/ privatisation;
(ii) loss of faith in politics of redistribution;
(iii) dismantling or downgrading universal welfare provision.
5. Alternative responses to the fate of social democracy:
(i) abandonment of socialism;
(ii) return to revolutionary socialism;
(iii) renewal of social democracy;
(iv) global social democracy?

TUTORIAL PROGRAMME

• You will be able to sign up for Tutorials using the Faculty of Arts Tutorial Signup system from Week One of Second Semester. Go to http://arts.anu.edu.au/tutorials/ Please note that you can only access the system via an ANU computer.
• • Tutorials are an essential part of the course. They are a great opportunity to discuss ideas and raise questions related to each week’s topic and readings. Tutorial questions (listed below) are intended to stimulate further discussion on the topic. But it is even better if you can come up with your own questions.
• 10% of the final assessment is based on Tutorial attendance and participation. Please note that the mark for participation is not based on your level of knowledge or ability but on your preparation and willingness to participate in tutorial discussion. Asking questions is as important as expressing opinions.
• It is also essential, of course, that you do the reading! Essential readings for tutorials are contained in the required texts for this course (see above) or in the Reading Brick (marked ‘*’ below).

WEEKLY TUTORIAL TOPICS

Part I. Introduction. Ideas in Politics.

Week One (w/b 21st July)
No Tutorial
Tutorial Reading
Begin tutorial readings for Week Two (below).

Week Two (w/b 28th July)
Introduction to the Course. Questions about the course? Questions about assessment?
1-2. What is Politics? What is the Role of Ideas in Politics? How far does politics extend into our lives? Is it true that ‘the personal is political’? What are political ideas, values and ideologies? Do ideas make a difference in politics? Does language make a difference in politics?
Tutorial Readings
Heywood, A. Political Theory: An Introduction, Ch. 1 and Ch. 3, esp. ‘Politics’, pp. 52-64.
*Orwell, 1984, (Penguin, 1954) ‘The Principles of Newspeak’, pp. 246-51.
Further Reading
Heywood, A. Political Ideologies: An Introduction, Ch. 1.
Leftwich, A. What is Politics? The Activity and its Study (Polity, 2004).

Part II. The Principles of Liberal Democracy

Week Three (w/b 4th August
1-2. Do We Need a State? Hobbes vs. anarchism. What is the state? Is having any state, however bad, always better than no state? What would life be like without a state, i.e. anarchy? What is Hobbes’s argument for the state? Can you think of any objections to Hobbes’s argument?
Tutorial Readings
Heywood, A. Political Theory: An Introduction, Ch. 3, esp. ‘The state’, pp. 75-88; Ch. 4, esp. ‘Sovereignty’, pp. 90-97 & Ch. 5, esp. ‘Authority’ and ‘Legitimacy’, pp. 129-151.
*Hobbes, T. Leviathan (Blackwell, 1955), Ch. 13, pp. 82-3 & Ch. 17, pp. 109-13.
Further Reading
Heywood, A. Political Ideologies: An Introduction, Ch. 6, ‘Anarchism’.

Week Four (w/b 11th August)
1-2. Against Tyranny. Human rights, ‘rule of law’ and the constitutional state. What is the ‘rule of law’? What is the difference between tyranny and a constitutional state? Is a constitutional state necessarily liberal and democratic? What is civil disobedience? Is it ever justified to break the law for political or moral reasons?
Tutorial Readings
Heywood, A. Political Theory: An Introduction, Ch. 6, esp. ‘Law’, pp. 152-62 and ‘Justifying law-breaking?’, pp. 178-83 & Ch. 7, esp. ‘Rights’ and ‘Obligations’, pp. 184-204.
*Locke, J. (1689) Second Treatise of Government, Ch. 16, §§175-7 & Ch. 19, §§222-6.
*Thoreau, H. D. (1849) ‘On the Duty of Civil Disobedience’(Harper Row), pp. 254-5.
Further reading
Rawls, J. A Theory of Justice (1971), §§55-9.

Week Five (w/b 18th August)
1-2. The Moral Limits of the State. Locke and Mill on freedom of religion, thought and sexuality. Should the state tolerate different religions? Should the state tolerate what the majority think is immoral behaviour, e.g. certain kinds of sexual behaviour? Should the state be paternalistic, i.e. protect people from themselves, for example by banning ‘recreational’ drugs or forcing people to wear seatbelts?
Tutorial Readings
Heywood, A. Political Theory: An Introduction, Ch. 6, ‘Law and liberty’, pp. 159-62 & Ch. 9, esp. ‘Freedom’ & ‘Toleration’, pp. 252-72.
*Locke, J. (1689) ‘A Letter Concerning Toleration’ (Penguin), pp. 392-96.
*Mill, J. S. (1859) ‘On Liberty’ (Dent), Ch. 1, pp. 72-5.
Further Reading
Heywood, A. Political Ideologies: An Introduction, Ch. 2, ‘Liberalism’.
Devlin, P. A. (1959) The Enforcement of Morals, esp. Chs VI-VII.
Hart, H. L. A. (1963) Law, Liberty and Morality, esp. Ch. I.

Week Six (w/b 25th August)
1-2. Classical Liberalism. Negative freedom, private property and capitalism. What is ‘negative freedom’? Does freedom imply a right to private property? Are there any limits to this right? Is private property essential for a productive society or could property be owned collectively?
Tutorial Readings
Heywood, A. Political Theory: An Introduction, Ch. 11, pp. 316-44.
*Smith, A. (1776) The Wealth of Nations ‘The system of natural liberty’ in Arblaster, A. & Lukes, S. The Good Society, pp. 31-33.
*Hayek, F. (1960) The Constitution of Liberty, Ch. 1, pp. 11-21.
Further Reading
Heywood, A. Political Ideologies: An Introduction, Ch. 3, ‘Conservatism’.

Week Seven (w/b 1st September)
1-2. Democratising the State. The Principles of Liberal Democracy. What is democracy? What is the difference between direct and indirect or representative democracy? Are there any problems with democratic systems of government? Is it possible to have democracy without freedom? Could there be a liberal state that was not also democratic? Are there any tensions between freedom and democracy in a liberal democracy?
Tutorial Readings
Heywood, A. Political Theory: An Introduction, Ch. 8, pp. 220-51.
*Plato (427-347 BC) The Republic (Cornford), Ch. 31, pp. 282-3.
*Mill, J. S. (1859) ‘On Liberty’ (Dent), Ch. 1, pp. 67-9.
Further reading
Macpherson, C. B. The Life and Times of Liberal Democracy (1979), Parts I-IV.
Held, D. Models of Democracy (1987).

Week Eight (w/b 8h September)
Essay Submission Week: No Lectures or Tutorial
First Assignment due on Thursday 11th September 2008 at 4 pm

Part III. Challenging Liberal Democracy

Week Nine (w/b 15th September)
1-2. Politics and Power. Is liberal democracy really government of the people, by the people, for the people? What is the difference between political authority and power? What, according to Lukes, are the three dimensions of power? Who has most power in Australia? Do the people really govern in Australia? Could Australia be more democratic than it is now?
Tutorial Readings
Heywood, A. Political Theory: An Introduction, Ch. 5, esp. ‘Power’ & ‘Authority’, pp. 121-41.
*Lukes, S. Power: A Radical View (Macmillan, 1974), pp. 11-25.
Further Reading
Macpherson, C. B. (1979) The Life and Times of Liberal Democracy, Part V, ‘Participatory Democracy’.
Held, Models of Democracy, ‘Participation, liberty and democracy’, pp. 254-64.

Week Ten (w/b 22nd September)
1-2. Politics and Money. Social justice – from welfare to equality. What is the difference between effective and negative freedom? What is the difference between ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ rights? What is social justice? Do citizens have a right to social welfare? Is Australia a genuinely just society?
Tutorial Readings
Heywood, A. Political Theory: An Introduction, Ch. 7, esp. ‘Citizenship’, pp. 204-19 & Ch. 10, pp. 284-315.
*Tawney, R. H. (1931) Equality (4th ed. 1952), ‘Liberty and equality’, pp. 181-92.
*Green, T. H. (1881) ‘Positive Freedom’ in Arblaster & Lukes, The Good Society, pp. 224-6.
Further Reading
Heywood, A. Political Ideologies: An Introduction, Ch. 4, ‘Socialism’.
Marshall, T. H. ‘Citizenship and social class’ in Sociology at the Crossroads (Heinemann, 1963), Ch. 4.
Norman, R. Free and Equal, esp. Chs 3-4.

Mid-Semester Break - September 27th – October 12th 2008

Week Eleven (w/b 13th October)
1-2. Oppression and Liberation. The politics of gender, sexuality and ethnicity. What is positive freedom? How is it different from negative and effective freedom? Can you be poor and still free? Can you be free and still ‘oppressed’ because of your gender, sexuality or ethnicity? What is cultural oppression and who, if anyone, is oppressed today? How can social groups liberate themselves from oppression?
Tutorial Readings
Heywood, A. Political Theory: An Introduction, Ch. 9, esp. ‘Liberation’, pp. 273-84.
*Ball, T. & Dagger, R. Political Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal, Ch. 8, pp. 201-225.
*Wollstonecraft, M. (1792) A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Dent, 1970), ‘Author’s Introduction’, pp. 3-7.
Further Reading
Heywood, A. Political Ideologies: An Introduction, Ch. 8, ‘Feminism’.
Wittman, C. (1969-70) ‘A Gay Manifesto’ in Blasius, M. et al. We Are Everywhere, pp. 380-8.

Week Twelve (w/b 20th October)
1-2. Politics and Nature. Deep and shallow ecology. Why is nature a political issue? What is the difference between ‘deep’ and ‘shallow’ ecology? Do we have responsibilities to animals? Do we have responsibilities to nature? Do we have responsibilities to future generations? What are the political implications of deep and shallow ecology?
Tutorial Readings
Heywood, A. Political Theory: An Introduction, Ch. 7, ‘Animal Rights’ and ‘Ecologism’, pp. 191-96.
Heywood, A. Political Ideologies: An Introduction, Ch. 9, ‘Ecologism’, pp. 266-91.
*Blake, W. (1794) ‘London’ in Poems and Prophecies, (Dent), p. 31.
*Schumacher, E.F.: Small is Beautiful (1974), pp. [-]
Further Reading
Dobson, A. Green Political Thought (Routledge, 1995), Ch. 1.

Week Thirteen (w/b 27th October)
1-2. Socialists, Marxists and other Critics of Capitalism. Is global capitalism a fair economic system or is it based on exploitation? Is global capitalism destroying the earth? Is socialism a better alternative? Are there any other alternatives to the current world order?
Tutorial Readings
Heywood, A. Political Ideologies: An Introduction, Ch. 4, ‘Socialism’.
*Marx. K. (1857) ‘A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy’ in Sargent, L. T. Contemporary Political Ideologies: A Reader, pp. 158-9.
*Hume, D. (1777) An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, (Oxford, 1902) §§154-6, pp. 192-5.
Further Reading
McLellan, D. Marx (Fontana, 1975).
Heywood, A. Political Theory: An Introduction, Ch. 11, esp. ‘Planning’, pp. 324-32 & Ch. 12, esp. ‘Progress’ and ‘Utopia’, pp. 353-75.

Marked essays will be returned no later than the last week of tutorials

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WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT

SOME GUIDELINES ON ESSAY WRITING

You can access the New Political Science Essay Writing Guide via this page!

SOME GUIDELINES ON ESSAY WRITING – PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!!

• Please consult the Political Science and International Relations ESSAY WRITING GUIDE via http://arts.anu.edu.au/polsci/firstyear/ (link on left-hand side) and please note also the School’s Rules on Extensions and Plagiarism (below).
• • Essays should have clearly and consistently set out footnotes or end-notes and a bibliography. You must include full bibliographical details including author, title, date, journal or publisher, location and, above all, page numbers in a clear and consistent way. N.B. If you do not provide adequate references including page numbers, you will be asked to resubmit your essay with proper referencing.
• Essays should be produced on a word processor and should be double-spaced. To save paper, you are encouraged to print on both sides of each page.
• Keep to the word limit. Being able to express your ideas clearly and concisely is an important skill. Essays that are either shorter or longer than the word-limit will be penalised. You must provide an accurate word-count on the cover sheet of your essay.
• Think carefully about the question. Make sure you answer all parts of the question. Remember that, whatever the question, you need to argue for your position rather than just assert it. Avoid using ‘I think’ or ‘I believe’ etc. It’s your argument not your opinion that counts!
• Make a draft plan or outline of your essay before you start writing, in order to work out how best to answer the question. But you will probably improve your plan as your research and writing proceed!
• Define your terms and the main ideas or concepts you discuss in your essay. It might help to consult a dictionary, but it is not acceptable to quote from or reference dictionaries, encyclopaedias and other reference books. Your essay should draw on more detailed academic discussions found in published books and articles.
• Essays should be concise, clearly expressed and logically structured. Essays that contain good ideas but are badly expressed, badly structured and badly presented will not do as well as well expressed, logically structured and well presented essays.
• Originality and creativity are valuable, but you must show that you are familiar with and understand existing research on your topic. If you ignore the work of people who have thought about the topic before you, you are unlikely to produce a good essay.
• For your research, you can start with relevant Tutorial Readings, but it is obviously important to read more than that. It is usually a good idea to start with more introductory material (such as text books and basic introductions) in order to get an overview of your chosen topic. You will then be in a better position to understand more specialist books and articles.
• It is important to draw on a good range of sources (perhaps 5-10 chapters or articles) in your research. But it is even more important that you read carefully and understand the ideas discussed in these sources. Do not list items you don’t use just for the sake of it! You should also try to be critical of and argue with your sources – don’t just accept what they say.
• Wherever possible use published sources (i.e. books and journal articles) from the library. Use online versions of books and articles only if there is no alternative – and then make sure you include page numbers. For this course it is not a good idea to rely on other internet resources (such as online publications, free-lance web-sites, blogs etc.).
• Presentation is also important. Good presentation, including reasonable font size and print quality, good layout and use of paragraphs, improves the impression your essay makes on markers. Careful editing is essential to eliminate unnecessary and distracting errors! Use a spelling-checker! But remember, spelling checkers don’t find every miss take (you might even find a mistakes in this document).

MARKING SCALE

HD High Distinction 80% or more Outstanding
D Distinction 70-79% Good/Excellent
CR Credit 60-69% Promising
P Pass 50-59% Satisfactory
N Fail 49% or less Unsatisfactory

WHAT MARKERS ARE LOOKING FOR

• Evidence of critical thinking. Do you develop a clear point of view or position? Is your position developed consistently and logically throughout the essay? Do you argue for (rather than merely assert) this position?
• Clear, consistent and logically developed argument - Have you thought about the topic? Do you understand the main arguments and ideas and how they relate to each other? Are your paragraphs in the right order? Are your sentences in the right order?
• Adequate reading and research - Are you aware of the main contributions other people have made to this topic? Have you referred to these contributions, where relevant, throughout your essay? Are you aware of the main arguments for and against your point of view?
• Clear expression of ideas and use of language - Is it easy for someone else to understand what you have written? Have you used language in a grammatical way? Do you use the right words in the right context? Is your style appropriate for this kind of essay – clear and direct, avoiding both slang and pretentious or obscure expressions?
• Good presentation - Is your essay clearly laid out with reasonably sized and recognisable paragraphs? Is the essay printed visibly and clearly in a reasonable font size? Have you carefully edited and proof-read your essay and run a spelling-checker to eliminate as many errors and typos as possible?

FIRST ASSIGNMENT – ESSAY TOPICS
45% of Final Mark

• Choose one of the topics below.
• Write between 1,700-2,000 words. You must provide an exact word count for your essay. Longer and shorter essays will be penalised.
• NOTE: You may be asked to submit an electronic version of your essay, so that it can be checked for word count and/or plagiarism.

Week Two. What is politics? Consider some alternative definitions of politics. What are the advantages and disadvantages of various definitions of politics?

Week Three. Discuss Hobbes’s justification of the state. What are the main stages of his argument? Are there any problems with his argument?

Week Four.
Either A: What are the main differences between tyranny and the constitutional state? Explain the different elements of the ‘rule of law’ and alternative forms of constitution.
Or B. What is civil disobedience? Discuss arguments for civil disobedience and any problems with these arguments.

Week Five.
Either A: Discuss Locke’s different arguments for religious toleration. Are these arguments convincing?
Or B. What are the moral limits of the law? Should the law be used to (a) protect us from ourselves and/or (b) regulate morality?

Week Six. What is ‘negative’ liberty? Discuss the implications of this conception of freedom. Is this conception of freedom convincing?

Week Seven. What the main arguments for democracy?

Week Nine. What, according to Steven Lukes, are the ‘three dimensions’ of power. What are the implications of his ‘radical view’ of power and is it convincing?

Week Ten. What is ‘effective’ freedom? What are the implications of this view of freedom and is it convincing?

Week Eleven.
Either A: What is ‘positive’ freedom? What are the possible advantages and disadvantages of a positive conception of freedom?
Or B. Discuss the main features of the so-called ‘politics of liberation’ including the concepts of oppression, liberation and identity. What difficulties must the politics of liberation overcome?

Week Twelve. What is the difference between ‘deep’ and ‘shallow’ ecology?

Week Thirteen. What, if anything, is wrong with capitalist liberal democracy? Discuss in relation to one ideological or theoretical alternative to liberal democracy.

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES ESSAY RULES

ESSAY DEADLINE
Your essay must be delivered to the Essay Box outside the main School of Social Sciences Office by the due deadline (see Lecture Programme). It is School policy that once essays on a particular topic have been returned to students, no further essays on that topic will be accepted. You will need to see your Tutor about an alternative topic. All essays submitted by the due date will be assessed and returned before the examination (see Lecture Programme). No essay will be accepted after the commencement of the examination, unless permission is secured on medical or other reasonable grounds.

PENALTIES
In fairness to students who meet the essay deadline, there will be a penalty of 2% per day on all essays submitted after the due date or approved extension. The penalty is 2% subtracted from the assessed mark for the essay for each calendar day or part thereof (excluding weekends) by which the essay is overdue.

PLAGIARISM
Your attention is drawn to the School’s policy on plagiarism. Plagiarism is almost always obvious to the marker. It is unfair to other students. Plagiarised essays will be seriously penalised and may be given a mark of zero.

RESUBMISSION OF FAILED ESSAYS
You may re-submit a failed essay marked at 45-49% for a maximum mark of 50% unless failure has been caused by a penalty for lateness. This essay must be submitted no later than two weeks after the return of essays. Any late marks incurred on your essay will still apply to that essay should it be resubmitted. The second-chance procedure is designed to help if you had problems writing and researching your essay. It does not allow you to evade any penalty for the late submission of your essay.

GUIDELINES ON EXTENSIONS
If you are seeking an extension of the essay deadline you must discuss your request with your TUTOR and you must do so BEFORE the due date. Please let your tutor know as soon as possible if you are experiencing any problems or difficulties that may affect your studies. Extensions may be granted on medical or other reasonable grounds, but only provided appropriate documentation is provided. Please note the following points:
1. Medical reasons – requests for extensions must be supported by a medical certificate.
2. Personal problems – requests for extensions should be supported by some documentation such as a letter from your doctor, college tutor, parent or other appropriate individual. If you have been seeing a counsellor from the University Counselling Service, s/he may be able to write a letter in support of your request – but please note that you should not see a counsellor just to obtain such a letter.
3. Clash of essay deadlines – extensions will not normally be granted for clash of essay deadlines, as these should be known in advance.
4. Outside employment – extensions will be granted only in exceptional circumstances such as unavoidable and additional work commitments. Requests for extensions must be supported by a letter from your employer.
5. Participation in sporting events – requests for extensions must be supported by a letter from the appropriate sporting body and will be granted only in exceptional circumstances.

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INTRODUCTORY READING LIST

To find reading material for your essay, you should start with the essential and further readings for the relevant tutorial topic. You will also find suggestions for further reading on particular topics in the relevant sections and bibliographies of A. Heywood, Political Theory: An Introduction and A. Heywood, Political Ideologies: An Introduction. Further suggestions can be found with the help of the University Library’s extensive resources, including librarians and advisors, catalogue and databases. Remember that wherever possible you should use published academic sources rather than online resources or websites.

REFERENCE BOOKS
(Can be helpful, but they are not a substitute for academic sources. Normally it is not a good idea to cite reference works in your essay!)
Goodin, R. E. & Pettit, P. A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy (Blackwell, 1993).
Miller, D. et al., eds The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought (1995).
Concise Oxford English Dictionary.
Macquarie Dictionary.
Outhwaite, W. & Bottomore, T. The Blackwell Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Social Thought (1994).

POLITICAL IDEAS
(e.g. What is equality, liberty, justice, authority, power, democracy?)
Barry, N. P. Modern Political Theory (Macmillan, 2000), 4th Ed.
Berry, C. J. Human Nature (Macmillan, 1986)
Brown, A. Modern Political Philosophy (Penguin, 1986).
Campbell, T. Justice (Macmillan, 1988)
Gray, T. Freedom (Macmillan, 1990).
Haworth, A. Understanding the Political Philosophers: From ancient to modern times (Routledge, London and New York, 2004).
Heywood, A. Political Theory: An Introduction (Macmillan1999) 2nd Ed.
Horton, J. Political Obligation (Macmillan, 1992).
Knowles, D. Political Philosophy (Routledge, 2001).
Kymlicka, W. Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction (Oxford University Press, 1990).
Leftwich, A. What is Politics? The Activity and its Study (Polity, 2004).
Lindley, R. Autonomy (Macmillan, 1986).
Macfarlane, L. J. Modern Political Theory (Nelson, 1970).
MacCallum, G. C. Political Philosophy (Prentice-Hall, 1987).
Mendus, S. Toleration and the Limits of Liberalism (Macmillan, 1989).
Pettit, P. Judging Justice: An Introduction to Contemporary Political Philosophy (RKP, 1980).
Raphael, D. D. Problems of Political Philosophy (Macmillan, 1990), 2nd Ed.
Rees, J. Equality (Macmillan, 1972).
Reeve, A. Property (Macmillan, 1986).

POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES
(e.g. What is liberalism, socialism, conservatism, Marxism, ecologism, feminism, liberationism, fascism, nationalism?)
Ball, T. & Dagger, R. Political Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal, 5th Ed. (Pearson Longman, New York and London, 2004).
Ball, T. & Dagger, R. Ideals and Ideologies: A Reader, 5th Ed. (Pearson Longman, New York and London, 2004).
Baradat, L. P. Political Ideologies: Their Origins and Impact (Prentice Hall, 1988), 3rd Ed.
Eccleshall, R. et al. Political Ideologies: An Introduction (Routledge, 2003), 3rd Ed.
Festenstein, M. & Kenny, M. Political Ideologies (Oxford UP, 2005).
Macridis, R. C. Contemporary Political Ideologies (Harper/Collins, 1992), 5th Ed.
Sargent, L. T. Contemporary Political Ideologies: A Comparative Analysis (Thomson Wadsworth, Belmont CA, 2006), 13th Ed.
Vincent, A. Modern Political Ideologies (Blackwell, 1995), 2nd Ed.

HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Edwards, A. & Townshend, J. Interpreting Modern Political Philosophy: From Machiavelli to Marx (Palgrave, 2002).
Hampsher-Monk, I. A History of Modern Political Thought: Major Political Thinkers from Hobbes to Marx (Blackwell, 1992).
Haworth, A. Understanding the Political Philosophers: From ancient to modern times (Routledge, London and New York, 2004).
McClelland, J. S. A History of Western Political Thought (Routledge, London and New York, 1996).
Sabine, G. H. & Thorson, T. L. A History of Political Theory (Holt Saunders, 1973). 4th Ed.
Tannenbaum, D & Schultz, D. Inventors of Ideas: An Introduction to Western Political Philosophy (Thomson Wadsworth, Belmont CA, 2004), 2ND Ed.

CLASSIC READINGS
Andreski, S. Reflections on Inequality (Barnes & Noble, 1975).
Arblaster, A. & Lukes, S. The Good Society: A Book of Readings (1971).
Ball, T. & Dagger, R. Ideals and Ideologies: A Reader, 5th Ed. (Pearson Longman, New York and London, 2004).
Bellamy, R. & Ross, A. A Textual Introduction to Social and Political Theory (Manchester University Press, 1996).
Bottomore, T. B. & Rubel, M. Karl Marx: Selected Writings in Sociology and Social Philosophy (Penguin1967).
Carter, I. et al. Freedom: A Philosophical Anthology (Blackwell, Malden, MA & Oxford, 2007).
Sargent, L. T. Contemporary Political Ideologies: A Reader (Brooks/Cole, 1990).

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OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION
 
Administrative support for this course is provided by the School of Social Sciences Office, Copland Building (COP2147), tel. 02-61254521. The staff in this Office are your first point of contact for any query about the general administration of the Course. They will pass messages to your Lecturer or Tutor when necessary. Essays are delivered to the essay box outside this office. You can obtain essay cover sheets and reading bricks there as well.

TUTORS
Your Tutor is the first point of contact for any problems you might have either with the content of the course or any personal difficulties that are interfering with your studies. All extension requests should be discussed with your Tutor in the first instance.

LECTURER/ CONVENOR
David West
David.West@anu.edu.au
T. 02-61254256. F. 02-61252222
Room 1167, Copland Building #24
http://arts.anu.edu.au/sss/west/

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OFFICE
Administrative support for this course is provided by the School of Social Sciences Office, Copland Building (COP2147), T. 02-61254521. The staff in this Office will pass messages to your Lecturer and/or Tutor when necessary. Essays should be delivered to the Essay Box outside of this office. Essay Cover Sheets and Reading Bricks are also available here.
Room 2147, Copland Building #24
T. 02-61254420. F. 02-61252222

FACULTY OF ARTS OFFICE
Ground Floor, Haydon Allen Building #22
T. 02-61252629.

School of Social Sciences Office  Second Floor, Copland Building (Bldg. 24).  Tel. 02-61254420.  Fax. 02-61252222.

Faculty of Arts Office Ground Floor, Haydon Allen Building (Bldg 22).  Tel. 02-61252629.  Fax. 02-612507434.
 

ACADEMIC SKILLS AND LEARNING CENTRE

For help with study skills and essay writing - how to organise your ideas, how to write clearly, problems with English etc. - contact:
Lower ground floor, Chancelry Annex, Ellery Crescent.
Tel. 02-61252972.  Fax. 02-61253399.

ANU STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION

The ANU Students' Association (ANUSA) has two Student Representatives in the College of Arts and Social Sciences who can help you with problems or concerns that you may have with your course or degree. You can contact them by emailing them at arts.facrep@anu.edu.au or visit the ANUSA website for more information http://sa.anu.edu.au
 

INFORMATION LITERACY PROGRAM

Social Sciences and Humanities, Contact Jenny Edwards, Jenny.Edwards@anu.edu.au, ext. 54086.
IT Training, Contact Karen Visser,
Karen.Visser@anu.edu.au, ext. 58279
http://ilp.anu.edu.au

InFlite - ONLINE INFORMATION LITERACY TUTORIAL
http://inflite.anu.edu.au

Otto - ONLINE IT TRAINING
http://otto.anu.edu.au

UNIVERSITY COUNSELLING CENTRE

Counselling is free and confidential.
Health and Counselling Centre Building, North Road (next to Sports Union) (Bldg 18).  Tel. 61252442.

JABAL CENTRE

Centre for Indigenous students at the ANU
Lower Melville Hall.  Tel. 61253520.  Online at: http://www.anu.edu.au/jabal/
 

ANU LIBRARY URL - http://anulib.anu.edu.au/
 
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Go to  David West's Home Page  
 

SOME USEFUL WEB LINKS

Please send any suggestions for new links to <David.West@anu.edu.au> . Although the links below may help you to explore some of the topics in this course, you should not rely on web sites as research for your essay or written assignments. You should cite published books and articles and include page numbers or other more precise indications of the sources of quotations and ideas in your essay.

ABC Online

Encyclopedia Britannica online.

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Normative Political Theory at the American Political Science Association.

Oxford English Dictionary online.

Philosophy in Cyberspace.

Political Studies Association of the UK.

Political Thought at Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources.

Slow TV/ The Monthly Magazine with interviews about Australian Politics, Society and Culture.

Spoon Collective links on radical and/or critical political philosophy/theory.

Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy.

Wikipedia

LECTURE OUTLINES - 2006

Lecture Outlines (one week's topic) will be posted here no later than 2 pm on the Monday of each teaching week.

6A. Jeremy Shearmur - Classical liberalism

• 1. Introduction
• Discussion in two parts
• First, historical picture of ideas that emerged in late 17c & were influential in 19c; in part a re-visit, but need for presentation
• Second, picture of ideas in this tradition as held today, called, variously, ‘classical liberalism’, neoliberalism and libertarianism
• N.B. Notes for this lecture on webCT

2. Key themes from 17-19c
• Will draw selectively on ideas from
• John Locke (1632-1704)
• David Hume (1711-1776)
• Adam Smith (1723-90)
• and early 19c French liberals

Locke. Ideas about individual rights:
• legitimate powers of government seen as drawn by agreement from rights individuals had prior to government (not necessarily a historical claim)
• Rights include:
• right that others should not aggress against you;
• right to acquire (un-owned) property

Property rights
• Key ideas about property rights:
• Not from government;
• Rather, moral right to acquisition of land, prior to government
• Based on individual and social benefits to acquisition and improvement of land (grounded in religious ideas – but that is another story!)
• Others judge you to have a right to it, if you have mixed your labour with unused land
• Others also gain from improvement, even if don’t own land themselves

Role of government
• Government should secure rights, provide impartial judges etc
• Scope of its powers to be understood as based on rights individuals have prior to government
• Government seen as product of contract between such people to set up constitution
• Can be legitimately overthrown if government breaks constitutional arrangements

Basis of rights in Locke
• Much in his work seems quite modern
• Not least because of resonances in U.S. constitution
• But in Locke, basis of everything looks to me ultimately theological
• In Adam Smith, get start of secular account of basis of rights.

Adam Smith: Theory of commercial society
• Smith better known for other ideas than rights:
• Division of labour: relates to size of market
• Specialization generates wealth
• Self-interest and prices provide coordinative mechanism for ‘cooperation’ between strangers: don’t need anyone to allocate social roles
• Compare on this – but also contrast – pin factory described in Wealth of Nations
• Note also Smith on disadvantages of division of labour

Legal framework
• Needs setting of law – note role of general rules (cf. David Hume, Treatise of Human Nature)
• But bear in mind that are also disadvantages to such a legal system
• which on this view we should palliate, not try to remove
• Note also Smith on situationally-generated morality: Theory of Moral Sentiments
• Compare also Smith on Dutch, English and Scots

3. The Classical Liberal vision
• Resulting vision: soars on two wings!!
• Negative rights and property rights: respect for autonomy of the individual and a zone of protected action
• While social theory explains how a society can operate – and indeed flourish – on such a basis

Several distinctive features:
• Proper role of government limited: secure (limited) rights
• Also do some other things
• but only in ways that don’t stuff up the system:
• May have a role in regulation, supply of public goods etc
• but classical liberals wished to limit this:
• so did not stuff social system up
• and to avoid grabbing of this function (i.e. ability to coerce, including taxation) by special interests

Welfare state?
• Limited welfare safety net may be favoured (cf. Hayek’s Road to Serfdom)
• But responses to price signals play a key role, and legal system will have hard cases: i.e. have to be careful don't undermine factors that play a key role in generation of social order
• If have generous welfare system, may face motivation problems
• Which may be able to overcome, only if have strong social controls
• I.e. classical liberal worries about consequences for freedom of social consequences of a welfare system that is as generous as may wish to have!

Classical liberal class theory
• Often think of class in context of socialism
• But was earlier (early 19c) theory advanced by classical liberals
• Distinguish those who live by exchange and those who live from taxation
• Underlying economic situation means interests of former rest on satisfaction of customers, of latter, in increasing scope of government
• Regardless of ideological preferences (contrast David and me!)
• Cf.: http://homepage.mac.com/dmhart/ComteDunoyer/index.html

4. Classical Liberalism today
• Some struck by this vision as offering an attractive picture of how combine individual freedom and viable social
• Property: key to security of person and opinions
• Because of its importance, favour as wide an extent of property ownership as possible
• But all seen as gaining from regime in which is wide property ownership – e.g. by way of seeing diversity of property holdings as providing shelter from government, opportunities for sponsorship of a variety of causes etc
• also allows for creation of communities to exemplify distinctive life-choices if government (= other people acting coercively) don’t stop it

View of freedom
• in general, if you are not aggressing against others, should not be restrictions on what you do and is no-one’s legitimate business what you are doing (though clearly are wider responsibilities for kids)
• Unless choose to live in a community that imposes such restrictions on you
• Central image = individual as consumer not citizen participating in majoritarian electoral choice
• But where have to have government and collective provision, favour self-limited constitutional democracy

Economy
• Profit & wage rates: indicate how, broadly speaking, we can be most responsive to what others want
• (at least as expressed in purchases; this generates case for cash assistance to poor)
• Image: JS as lecturer/go-go dancer

Property & rights
• Serve also as a framework for deeper relationships:
• Ownership of stuff creates space for virtue – e.g. generosity, responses to particular needs, supererogation
• Also offer a useful framework to handle problems if relationships break up

Government
• Legitimate role of government limited
• Powers of government a real danger (concentration of power and coercive modes of operation)
• Real risk that can be kidnapped for other purposes: accordingly, don’t allow it any function that can be discharged by other means
• Accordingly, while might argue for welfare safety-net, welcome provision to meet other social needs by non-governmental means: charities, voluntary organizations (not government-funded: government take-over of charities seen as terrible)

Too tough?
• Problems our responsibility, and if concerned must act ourselves, persuade others etc
• Clearly will be those who need help
• If had classical liberal regime, would have more resources than now in private hands – and thus in hands of people with a diversity of views and concerns (e.g. vs government’s current welfare crack-downs)
• If government were as limited as classical liberalism suggests, would not be legitimate instrument for moralized laws – though private communities could impose such regulations upon their own members
• Contrast self-chosen moral regulations, and those imposed on you by a majority, parents etc

Contemporary politics
• ‘economic rationalism’ takes up economic side of picture, but even here typically imposes solutions and retain residual governmental control
• The current Coalition are in other respects the antithesis of classical liberal views – complacent, illiberal, war-mongering wowsers
• N.B. classical liberals historically strongly anti war, anti foreign adventuring
• & to them the idea that we can tell others how to live their lives is hubris
• War is seen as a waste of resources, damaging to soldiers & civilians and enemy of liberty in countries at war even where fighting does not take place
• Seen as major source of expansion of the size & power of the state
• Cf. Randolph Bourne, ‘War is the Health of the State’
• http://struggle.ws/hist_texts/warhealthstate1918.html

Feminism
• Strong strand of classical liberal feminism – e.g. in J. S. Mill:
• The Subjection of Women. Individual negative and property rights for all
• Character of personal (private) relationships stuffed up if women are not accorded them
• I.e. concern for private and public relationships, with theory of how private are stuffed up by bad public ones
• For further material, see Wendy McElroy (ed.) Freedom, Feminism and the State, and also her XXX: A Woman’s Right to Pornography

Further information?
• Contact me if you wish for more: Jeremy.Shearmur@anu.edu.au
• N.B. CIS’s ‘Liberty & Society’ program: free weekend in Sydney with discussion of these ideas http://www.cis.org.au/l&s/HTML/home.htm

10. What's Wrong With Liberal Capitalist Democracy I. Dave Eden

Introduction
• This is an open-ended critique of liberalism, drawing on Marx (note distinction between Marx and Marxism)

• This critique is different from two kinds of shallow critique:
I. liberalism can not be easily implemented in the world
II. liberalism in distorted by concentrations of power (eg. Chomsky)

Body
• Defining liberalism: individual + freedom + private property + civil society

• Elements of a critique:
I. commodity fetishism
II. alienation and exploitation
III. society of the spectacle
IV. ideological version of capitalism’s origins vs. enclosure of the commons, ie. capitalism had to destroy previous social relations
V. capitalism needs a strong state, contra liberal ideal (esp. discipline, terror, state of exception)
VI. capitalism invests in the body, ie. biopolitics

• Resistance is not only possible but is omnipresent and dispersed

13. Politics and Nature. Deep and Shallow Ecology

I. Introduction

1. Political thought so far has been concerned with relations amongst human beings.
2. Ecological political thought concerns relations between human society and nature.
3. History of morality and the slow expansion of moral concern: foreigners; slaves; peasants and workers; women; animals and nature.

II. Challenging the Dominant Paradigm

1. Concern for animals and natural environment as in some ways an old concern: W. Blake, ‘London’.
2. Dominant paradigm (DP): Christian cosmology and ‘human stewardship’; influence of science and technology; capitalism; industrial civilization.
3. Components of DP: anthropocentrism; nature has instrumental rather than intrinsic value; nature including animals as resource; animals as just complex machines (Descartes).
4. Consequences of DP: unlimited exploitation of nature; no consideration of ‘externalities’ of production; animals treated as commodities.
5. Crisis of DP: environmental degradation; costs outweigh benefits; ecological crisis of global warming.

III. The Rise of Ecological Politics

1. Ecological political thought challenges the dominant paradigm.
2. Scientific ecology: Charles Elton, Animal Ecology (1927); holistic study of animals in their habitats; human beings as part of nature.
3. Ecological political thought as holistic approach to relation of society and nature.
4. Central issues: pollution; limits to growth; sustainable production and development; moral limits to production; environmental crisis.

IV. Deep Ecology or Ecocentrism

1. Ecocentrism as radical challenge to dominant paradigm: against anthropocentrism; for intrinsic moral value of nature.
2. Intrinsic value of nature: animals; species; bio-diversity; habitats and wilderness.
3. Issues of ecocentrism: ‘drawing the line’; conflicting moral claims; individuals vs. species.
4. Problem of justification: providing rational foundations for ecocentrism?
5. Spiritual and mystical sources of deep ecology: dangers of mystical approach.
6. Problem of agency, i.e. motivating support of (self-interested) human beings.

V. Shallow or Humanist Ecology

1. Humanist ecology as ‘enlightened instrumentalism’: instrumental value of nature; holistic view of humanity in nature; long-term perspective.
2. Human beings as part of nature: pollution; long-term and unintended consequences; unpredictable benefits and disadvantages; ‘precautionary principle’.
3. Aesthetic qualities of the environment; quality vs. quantity.
4. Considering future generations or ‘intergenerational justice’: leaving as much or more to future generations.
5. Humanist ecology and ecocentrism compared: similar consequences on different grounds; some differences? justifications; motivation and agency.

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