FI:VV015 Political Science - Course Information

VV015 Political Science

Extent and Intensity

2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus extra credits for completion). Type of Completion: z (credit).

Teacher(s)

prof. PhDr. Ing. Miloslav Dokulil, DrSc. (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

doc. RNDr. Aleš Horák, Ph.D.
Department of Machine Learning and Data Processing – Faculty of Informatics
Contact Person: prof. PhDr. Ing. Miloslav Dokulil, DrSc.
Supplier department: Department of Machine Learning and Data Processing – Faculty of Informatics

Timetable

Wed 12:00–13:50 B410

Prerequisites

Interest in temporarily conditioned changes of the phenomenon of politics is expected. There are various enjambments from other spheres of human activities in politics preventing the understanding of fundamental ideas in it and the risks connected with it.

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 34 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/34, only registered: 0/34, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/34

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

there are 34 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display

Course objectives

Science of politics is here taken as a historically conditioned and steadily topical issue of changing presuppositions structuring and reflecting political might. It traces the development from the antique Greek democracy till contemporaneity (with parallel enjambments in our time). Continuous commenting of weighty news characterising the common "roots" coupled with them, has been considered.

Syllabus

• The subject, basic concepts, and function of politology. The individual and his/her society.
• Presuppositions of the origin of the old Greek democracy. The Greek-Persian Wars and the problem of hegemony. The big "Pelopponessos" quest.
• Political ideals of Plato and Aristotle.
• The Pax Romana. St. Augustin.
• The fighting over investiture. The Constitution of Venice.
• The Hussite Revolution. Humanism and Reformation as programs of social reform. Machiavelli. Luther and Calvin. Social utopia (Morus, Bacon, Campanella, Comenius).
• The beginnings of modern legal thinking (Bodin, Althusius, Grotius). Peace of Westphalia.
• The background of the "Big Rebellion" in the 17-th-century England . The English Parliamentarism. Hobbes, Milton, Harrington.
• Continental Europe in the second half of the 17-th century. The outcome of the English "Glorious Revolution". Locke.
• The Enlightenment (i.e., the beginning of modern political times). The French Revolution. The Congress of Vienna.
• The predominant position of Great Britain. The formation of the Italian and German states in the second half of the 19-th century. The Austrian-Hungarian Settlement.
• The causes of WWI and WWII and their outcome. The so-called Cold War. The fall of the Iron Curtain and the doom of the Soviet Union.
• A dramatic economical rise of China. BRIC. Globalization.
• A clash of civilizations. Our contemporaneity.
• The aim of these lectures is a clarification of the basic concepts of politics as well as of the structure and teleology of power. A historical explanation seems to be the best method of how to follow the dramatic tension between the formulated goals and values to be reached, always in another way and in another preferential sequence.

Literature

• Literatura se zadává průběžně během jednotlivých lekcí.

Assessment methods

2 credits after both regularly attending the classes and submitting 1 essay

Language of instruction

Czech

Further comments (probably available only in Czech)

Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.

• Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2016, recent)
  
• Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fi/autumn2016/VV015