The course “Political Thought” aims at providing first year students with a roadmap of the major traditions of European political thinking of the two last centuries and how they shape today’s debates on important topics such as political representation, the nation, ecology and gender issues.
The first part of the course (Prof. Jacob Schmutz) will present six classical traditions that have shaped contemporary politics in Europe: (1) Liberalism; (2) Conservatism; (3) Socialism; (4) Anarchism; (5) Fascism; (6) Islamism. An emphasis will be put on the way these traditions were expressed in Belgian political history.
The second part of the course (Dr. Nicolas Arens) will present six important topics of contemporary political debate: (1) Representation, vote and alternatives; (2) Equality and redistribution, the basic income; (3) Nationalism vs. cosmopolitanism; (4) European integration vs. populism and democratic backsliding; (5) Ecology : climate justice; (6) Gender: feminism and intersectionality.
- Teacher: Arens Nicolas
- Teacher: Byrne Timothy
- Teacher: Schmutz Jacob
- Teacher: Van Parijs Philippe