POLS421
Special Topic: Justice in the nation-state: rights, equality and substate national claims
Description
The cosmopolitan liberal-egalitarian state, dreamt of by philosophers in the late twentieth century has been profoundly influential, creating an explosion of interest in the philosophy of concepts like rights, individual choice, duty, trust, legitimacy, and fairness. With the 'return of the state' in political science, and the emerging substate national and ethnic conflict across the world, it has become clear the liberal egalitarian theory helps us theorise too few of the political problems of the day, from the Rwandan tragedy, to the Yugoslav collapse, to indigenous claims. This course charts the aspirations of contemporary political philosophy both to grapple with both the larger demands of ideal justice and the very real problems inside the state. It charts then, the seminal texts in the field of justice, the state, & substate national claims (as a rubric encompassing nationalism, ethnicity, indigeneity), and so includes discussions of recent work on normative theories of liberalism, self-determination, freedom, territory, group rights, historic injustice & nationalism.
Subject to approval of the Head of School.
