Module SGIA40615: THE STATE IN GERMAN POLITICAL THOUGHT

Department: Government and International Affairs

SGIA40615: THE STATE IN GERMAN POLITICAL THOUGHT

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To provide students with an advanced understanding of the complex and contentious nature of the concept of the state in German political thought.
• To provide students with an advanced understanding of the contested nature of political concepts.
• To enable students to critically evaluate competing interpretations of a tradition of political thought.
• To provide students with a distinctive point of reference in the comparative evaluation of nationally and culturally diverse steams of political thought.

Content

• Indicative content:
• 1. German political thought: a disputed tradition
• 2. Civil juriprudence and its enemies in early modern German political thought.
• 3. The republic of reason and the crisis of the state.
• 4. Sovereignty and personality in the concept of the state
• 5. Raison d' etat
• 6. The state of emergency
• 7. The sovereignty of the people
• 8. Statelessness and the nature of political community
• 9. The state, international law and federation
• 10. The republic of reason.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module students should be:
• 1. A mastery of selected disputes in German theories of the state.
• 2. An advanced understanding of the complexity of conceptualisations of the state.
• 3. Specialised knowledge of the historical and cultural context of political ideas in German political thought and their influences on its development.
• 4. An advanced understanding of historiographical and methodological issues in German political thought.

• By the end of the module students should have:
• 1. The ability to use, criticise, and evaluate relevant advanced political concepts in the specialised context of German political thought.
• 2. An ability to critically evaluate the contribution made to the development of German political thought by specific theorists through analysis of primary sources and advanced secondary texts, and to assess their historical and/or current significance.
• 3. Advanced skills in utilizing specialised academic sources in the research, preparation and/or support of student's own work.

• By the end of the module students should be able to demonstrate:
• 1. Independent learning within a defined framework of study at an advanced level.
• 2. Independent thought in analysing and critiquing existing specialist scholarship on the subject area and in evaluating its contribution.
• 3. The ability to work to a deadline and complete written work within word limits.
• 4. Advanced essay-writing skills.
• 5. The ability to seek out and use relevant data sources, including electronic and bibliographic sources.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Students are taught in two-hour slots. The first session will be led by the module leader and provide a rationale for the selection of disputes and an overview of the contested nature of German political thought. (The selection of disputes will be revised periodically in the light of the extent and availability of translations and the state of the historiography of German political thought). It will also introduce arguments about the distinctive nature of German political thought. Therafter the first hour of each session will be based on a student presentation based on selected primary texts. The second hour will consider the extent to which the issues raised by those texts reflect unresolved tensions extending beyond the period from which the texts are drawn and whether German approaches to these tensions are distinctive.
• Students are required to submit a formative essay at the end of the fourth week. The essay will be focused on the historiography of German political thought. This will consolidate understanding of the issues raised at the beginning of the module and provide a methodological basis for the more tightly focused summative assessment. it also enables them to practice their essay-writing skills at postgraduate level, to assess their own progress, and to receive feedback on whether they are achieving at the appropriate level, whether they are sufficiently informed, and they are expressing themselves appropriately. It also supports their development of subject knowledge 3 and 4 and subject skills 1, 2 and 3.
• Students are required to submit a summative essay of 3,000 words at the end of the module. This essay will require an evaluation of the contested nature of the concept of the state in German political thought. This enables them to demonstrate that they have sufficient subject knowledge to meet the assessment criteria, including subject knowledge 1, 2, 3 and 4 that they have achieved subject skills 1, 2, 3 and that they have acquired the key skills 2, 4, 5 and 6. Acquisition of key skills 1 and 3 will be demonstrated through seminar presentations and students will receive oral feedback on these at the end of the relevant seminars.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Students will be required to submit a formative essay of 1500 words.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University