070280 UE Guided Reading Political History - History of Political Cultures and Thoughts (2021S)

The purpose of this guided-reading lecture is to propose an overview of the European political cultures and thoughts of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Throughout a selection of source materials, methodological texts and case studies (articles, book chapters), we will examine different fundamental phenomenon that characterised the shaping of political communities. The introduction (chap. I) will focus on critical theories such as the concepts ‘Civilisation’ (Elias), ‘Distinction’, ‘Habitus’ and ‘Field’ (Bourdieu) or (cultural) ‘Hegemony’ (Gramsci) and their potential application to the historical periods considered. Thereafter, the lecture will be structured around five main chapters. A substantial part of the course will be dedicated to the legitimate forms of socio-political organisation that represented the dominant cultural configurations of the time: Empire, Monarchy, and patrician Republic. Other parts will consider the various forms taken by the critics and oppositions of these dominant norms, from an institutionalised critic of monarchic power in the theories of conciliarism to more radical forms of oppositions such as the physical elimination of the ruler or some early theories of revolution. A constant return to the source material will be made during the lectures. Each unit of the course will have to be prepared by reading a selection of sources and secondary literature. Additional readings will be proposed at the end of each unit.