MCCCD Program Description

Political Ideologies

Course: POS210

First Term: 2018 Spring

Lecture 3 Credit(s) 3 Period(s) 3 Load
Subject Type: Academic
Load Formula: S - Standard Load

Description: An exploration of the diversity of textual, historical, and cultural traditions of the political thought that has shaped the human experience.

MCCCD Official Course Competencies
1. Define political ideology. (I) 2. Identify the varying interpretations of thought concerning human nature, political order, freedom, and authority. (I) 3. Indicate the concerns about human existence held by modern liberalism and modern conservatism, and differentiate them from their classical precedents. (II) 4. Examine the historical roots of Capitalism and its philosophical foundations. (III) 5. Examine the critique of capitalism held by Karl Marx, and assess communism`s economic, political, and moral collapse. (IV) 6. Trace the development of fascism, and analyze its claims about culture and race as defining human meaning. (V) 7. Explain the emergence of religious fundamentalism and Islamism, and evaluate their cultural, ethical, and political claims. (VI) 8. Relate the political, cultural, and aesthetic concerns of feminism, anti-globalism, environmentalism, and libertarianism, and appraise their impact on contemporary political thought. (VII)

MCCCD Official Course Outline
I. Political Ideology A. Definition and analysis 1. The ideological spectrum: Left, Right and Center 2. The ideological extremes: totalitarianism and anarchism B. Essential concepts: freedom, politics, the state, and the democratic ideal II. Liberalism and Conservatism A. Classical vs. modern liberalism 1. Classical liberalism, Locke, and natural rights 2. The New Deal and modern liberalism B. Classical vs. modern conservatism 1. Classical conservatism, Burke, and traditional society 2. Paleo- and economic conservatism 3. Social and religious conservatism 4. Neo-conservatism III. Capitalism A. Adam Smith and the Theory of Moral Sentiment B. Free Markets and the Invisible Hand C. Capitalism and the State, a Regulatory Framework IV. Socialism and Communism A. Karl Marx and the critique of capitalism B. Leninism, Stalinism and Maoism C. Democratic socialism and unionism D. Modern progressivism and cultural Marxism E. The Fall of the Berlin Wall and east bloc communism V. Fascism and Nazism A. Racial political theory: Nazism B. Language, history and identity: nationalism VI. Religious Fundamentalism and Islamism A. The religious critique of modernity B. Islamism and the Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda C. Theocracy and Iran VII. Contemporary political thought A. Feminism B. Anti-globalism C. Environmentalism D. Libertarianism

MCCCD Governing Board Approval Date: April 25, 2017

All information published is subject to change without notice. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information presented, but based on the dynamic nature of the curricular process, course and program information is subject to change in order to reflect the most current information available.