POL3123   Liberalism and its Critics   (20 credits)

Description

The aim of this module us to assess the state of contemporary liberal politics and political theory, and to address the question of whether liberalism is in retreat in the West. The course will provide students with an in-depth examination of key themes within liberal political theory (e.g. distributive justice, freedom, multiculturalism, neutrality, public reason) as a way of exposing them to the numerous variations within the liberal tradition. It will also examine and assess critics of liberalism (e.g. communitarian, republican, realist) as well as discuss several of the key contemporary challenges to liberal politics (e.g. the rise of populism, post-truth politics, identity politics, post-humanism, nationalism).

Reading List