Universität Wien
Warning! The directory is not yet complete and will be amended until the beginning of the term.

210063 SE BAK9: Political Theories and Research on Theories (2022S)

All power comes from the people? - Political theories of the Demos: Liberal and Radical Democracy

6.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 21 - Politikwissenschaft
Continuous assessment of course work

Eine Anmeldung über u:space innerhalb der Anmeldephase ist erforderlich! Eine nachträgliche Anmeldung ist NICHT möglich.
Studierende, die der ersten Einheit unentschuldigt fern bleiben, verlieren ihren Platz in der Lehrveranstaltung.

Achten Sie auf die Einhaltung der Standards guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis und die korrekte Anwendung der Techniken wissenschaftlichen Arbeitens und Schreibens.
Plagiierte und erschlichene Teilleistungen führen zur Nichtbewertung der Lehrveranstaltung (Eintragung eines 'X' im Sammelzeugnis).
Die Lehrveranstaltungsleitung kann Studierende zu einem notenrelevanten Gespräch über erbrachte Teilleistungen einladen.
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 50 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 07.03. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 14.03. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 21.03. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 28.03. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 04.04. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 25.04. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 02.05. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 09.05. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 16.05. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Tuesday 17.05. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal 1 Hauptgebäude Tiefparterre Stiege 1 Hof 1
  • Monday 23.05. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 30.05. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 13.06. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 20.06. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 27.06. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Democracy refers to a form of government in which power emanates from the people. In this seminar we want to ask the question: What is a people? (1.) In the first part of the seminar, with a view to the history of theory, we will ask where the roots of the modern idea of a democratic-constituted people lie. In the three great bourgeois-democratic revolutions of the 17th and 18th centuries, constitution(s) of a democratic people emerge, which are brought into position against patriarchal power structures. In the course of this investigation, a critical perspective on the liberal-democratic narrative of progress will be taken. How are the constitution(s) of the democratic people related to labor and property and forms of primitive accumulation? What patriarchal relations of subordination as well as emancipatory possibilities emerge? (2.) In a next step we will turn to contemporary theoretical debates and examine current approaches from liberal and radical democratic traditions around the constitution(s) of the demos. The following questions will be central to the inquiry: Is the people an (im)possible object? Is the people a (legal) fiction? How are demotic demarcations problematized and broken? How are demotic demarcations (re)produced and legitimated? What role do labor and property play in the constitution(s) of the demos?

Assessment and permitted materials

a) Regular attendance (max. two absences) and active participation (15%)
b) Presentation and written assignments (35%)
c) Seminar paper (approx. 15-20 pages) (50%)
All partial tasks are obligatory!

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The minimum requirement for a positive assessment is the completion of all given tasks.

Examination topics

Moodle

Reading list

Abizadeh, Arash: “Democratic Theory and Border Coercion: No Right to Unilaterally Control your Own Borders” In: Political Theory, Vol.36(1): 2008, 37-65.
Agamben, Giorgio: Homo Sacer. Die souveräne Macht und das nackte Leben. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 2002.
Badiou, Alain, Bourdieu, Pierre, Butler, Judith u.a.: Was ist ein Volk? Hamburg: Laika Verlag 2017.
Balibar, Étienne: We, the people of Europe? Reflections on transnational citizenship. Princeton University Press 2004.
Butler, Judith: Anmerkungen zu einer performativen Theorie der Versammlung. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 2018.
Brown, Wendy: Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism's Stealth Revolution. Princeton University Press 2017.
Federici, Silvia: Caliban und die Hexe. Frauen, der Körper und die ursprüngliche Akkumulation. Mandelbaum: Wien 2012.
Honig, Bonnie: Democracy and the foreigner: Princeton, New Jersey Oxford. Princeton University Press 2001.
Goodin, Robert E.: Enfranchising All Affected Interests, and Its Alternatives. Philosophy & Public Affairs. Vol. 35, No. 1, Wiley 2007, pp. 40-68.
Ochoa Espejo, Paulina: The Time of Popular Sovereignty. Process and the Democratic State. Pennsylvania State University 2011.
Laclau, Ernesto: Why Constructing a People Is the Main Task of Radical Politics. Critical Inquiry, Vol. 32, No. 4 (Summer 2006), The University of Chicago, 646-680. Locke, John: Zwei Abhandlungen über die Regierung. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 1977.
Marx, Karl: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie. Erster Band. Buch I: Der Produktionsprozeß des Kapitals. Marx/Engels-Werke. Band 23. Berlin: Dietz Verlag 1968.
Mouffe, Chantal: For a Left Populism. London. Verso 2018.
Rancière, Jaques: Das Unvernehmen. Politik und Philosophie. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 2002.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques: Der Gesellschaftsvertrag oder die Grundsätze des Staatsrechtes. Fischer: Frankfurt am Main 2005.
Song, Sarah: The boundary problem in democratic theory: Why the demos should be bounded by the state. Berkeley: Cambridge University Press 2012, 39-68.
Whelan, Frederick G.: ‘‘Prologue: Democratic Theory and the Boundary Problem.’’ In: Nomos, Liberal Democracy, Vol. 25.: 1983, 13-47.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Th 03.03.2022 16:08