Professor Richard Dagger                                                                Teaching Assistants:

Coor Building 6758                                                                       John Parsi (Coor 6775 FA)

Hours: 1:30-3:00 Mon; 10:30-12:00 TuesThurs                                        

Telephone: 480/965-1312; e-mail: rdagger@asu.edu Joshua Rothman (Coor 6779 CD)

POS 101: Political Ideologies

Required Texts

             Terence Ball and Richard Dagger, Political Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal, 5th ed.

             Terence Ball and Richard Dagger, eds., Ideals and Ideologies: A Reader, 5th ed.

Grades and Examinations

             Grades for this course will be determined by your performance on four examinations and a question-preparation assignment. The examinations -- three during the term and a final -- will consist of some combination of multiple-choice, essay, and possibly matching questions. The first test will count for 30 points, the second and third tests will count for 40 points apiece, and the final will count for 75. The final examination will be comprehensive, which means that it will cover the entire course. The tentative dates of these examinations are listed below under Topics and Assignments. The question-preparation assignment, which is described on a separate sheet of paper, will count for 15 points.

             Altogether there will be 200 points possible for the semester, and your grade will depend on the number of points you accumulate. In assigning grades for the course, the instructor will follow a scale that is similar to, but less stringent than, the traditional scale of 90% and above = A, 80-89% = B, 70-79% = C, and 60-69% = D. There will be no “curving” of grades in the strict sense of the term.

             At the end of the semester, course grades will be based on the following scale: 

                          A+: 194-200                  A: 182-193                     A-: 176-181

                          B+: 169-175                   B: 157-168                     B-: 151-156

                          C+: 144-150                   C: 125-143

                          D: 100-124                   E: 0-99

Paper Option

             Any student may write a short paper (6-10 pages) rather than take the second or the third examination during the semester. If you wish to take advantage of this option, you must do the following: (1) meet with the instructor during his office hours (or by appointment at some other time) to discuss your ideas for a paper; (2) submit a one-page proposal for a paper by February 21, which the instructor will approve or disapprove and return; (3) turn in a complete draft of the paper by April 6, which the instructor will read and return with comments; and (4) turn in the final draft of the paper by May 2. Like the examination it replaces, this paper will count for a maximum of 40 points.

Honors Credit

             Students taking this course for honors credit must write a paper as described above. That is, the “paper option” is a requirement, not an option, for anyone who hopes to receive honors credit for this course.

Other Policies

             Please note that February 11 is the deadline for unrestricted course withdrawals. After that, anyone who wants to withdraw will have to have the instructor’s permission, and ASU rules require him to assign an “E” to anyone who is not passing the course at the time of withdrawal. The deadline for these restricted course withdrawals is April 1.

             Note also that: (1) ASU rules allow instructors to give a grade of Incomplete (“I”) only in cases of dire emergency. (2) There will be no opportunity for extra credit work. (3) Make-up examinations will only be given to those who either receive the instructor’s permission before a scheduled examination or provide a written medical excuse, including a physician’s diagnosis, or give evidence of some other emergency. (4) Anyone guilty of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will receive a grade of zero for the examination or assignment. If you are not sure of what counts as plagiarism or have other questions about these matters, please see the instructor. Finally, (5) anyone who participates in ASU-sponsored activities that require out-of-town travel, such as debate and intercollegiate athletics, must provide the instructor with his or her travel schedule for the semester by February 4.

Topics and Assignments

Week 1 (January 19-21) -- Ideology and Modern Politics

             assignment: Political Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal (PIDI for short), chap. 1, pp. 1-8.

Week 2 (January 24-28) -- Ideology, Freedom, and Democracy

             assignment: PIDI, chap. 1, pp. 8-16, and chap. 2, pp. 19-24; Ideals and Ideologies (I&I for short),

                          Part II: selections by Aristotle.

Week 3 (January 31-February 4) – Democracy and Republicanism

             assignment: PIDI, chap. 2, pp. 24-40; I&I, Part II: selections by Machiavelli, Tocqueville,

                          Walzer, and Allen.

Week 4 (February 7-11) – The Origins of Liberalism

             assignment: PIDI, chap. 3, pp. 45-54; I&I, Part III: selections by Locke.

First Examination – Friday, February 11

Paper Proposal Due – Monday, February 14

Week 5 (February 14-18) -- Classical Liberalism

assignment: PIDI, chap. 3, pp. 54-68; I&I, Part III: selections by Paine, Smith, and Mill; also, Declaration of Independence and Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens.

Week 6 (February 21-25) – Liberalism Divided

             assignment: PIDI, chap. 3, pp. 68-76; I&I, Part III: selections by Sumner, Green, and Rothbard.

Week 7 (February 28-March 4) – From Liberalism to Conservatism

             assignment: PIDI, chap. 3, pp. 76-82; I&I, Part III: selections by Allen and Spragens.

                                 PIDI, chap. 4, pp. 87-96; I&I, Part IV: selections by Burke.

Second Examination – Wednesday, March 2

Week 8 (March 7-11) -- Conservatism Since Burke

assignment: PIDI, chap. 4, pp. 96-112; I&I, Part IV: selections by De Maistre, Wordsworth,

                          Ortega y Gasset, Oakeshott, Hawkes, Bork, and Reed.

Spring Break (March 14-18)

Week 9 (March 21-25) – The Origins of Modern Socialism

             assignment: PIDI, chap. 5; I&I, Part V: selections by More, Owen, Marx and Engels, and Marx.

Week 10 (March 28-April 1) – Marxism: Revisionists and Revolutionaries

assignment: PIDI, chap. 6, pp. 139-159; I&I, Part VI: selections by Bernstein, Lenin, Mao Zedong, and Bakunin.

Week 11 (April 4-8) – Socialism Minus Marx

assignment: PIDI, chap. 6, pp. 159-169; I&I, Part VI: selections by Goldman, Shaw, Bellamy, and Gould.

Paper Draft Due – Wednesday, April 6

Third Examination – Friday, April 8

Week 12 (April 11-15) – Fascism and Nazism

             assignment: PIDI, chap. 7; I&I, Part VII: selections by Mussolini and Hitler.

Week 13 (April18-22) – Identity, Oppression, and Liberation Ideologies

assignment: PIDI, chap. 8; I&I, Part VIII: selections by King, Biko, Wollstonecraft, Grimké, Seneca Falls Declaration, Frye, Corvino, Lyons, Gutierrez, and Singer.

Week 14 (April 25-29) – Ecology and Radical Islam

             assignment: PIDI, chap. 9; I&I, Part IX: selections by Leopold, Berry, Foreman, and Kelly.

                                 PIDI, chap. 10; I&I, Part X: selections by Lewis and Adb Al-Salam Faraj.

Week 15 (May 2): Review and Conclusion

Final draft of paper due – Monday, May 2

Final Examination -- Tuesday, May 10 – 7:40-9:30 a.m.