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Political Theory

Code: 101117
Credits: 6
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
Political Science and Public Management OP 3
Political Science and Public Management OP 4
Contemporary History, Politics and Economics OP 3
Contemporary History, Politics and Economics OP 4

Contact lecturer

Name :
Ernesto M Pascual Bueno
Email :
ernestomanuel.pascual@uab.cat

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

Our contract

By enrolling in this course, you and I have entered into a mutual contract.

I commit myself to preparing classes with dedication, showing enthusiasm for the subject, treating every student with fairness and respect, and listening to opinions expressed in a reasoned manner. I will be accessible through the channels established for the course and will make every reasonable effort to return corrected materials within a maximum period of two weeks, except in duly justified exceptional circumstances.

For your part, by enrolling in this course, you accept the following commitments:

  1. To attend all classes regularly.
  2. To participate actively by asking questions, taking part in debates, and respecting the intellectual work of the group.
  3. To read the assigned material before the corresponding sessions.
  4. To submit written assignments on time and through the established channels.
  5. To respect the rules governing the classroom, the Virtual Campus, and the assessment system.
  6. To contribute to making the classroom a space of concentration, listening, critical reading, and shared work.

As you will probably have heard from other students in the Faculty, this is a demanding and rigorous course. However, the experience accumulated over the years also shows two important facts: among students who attend class regularly, keep up with the required work, and sit the assessment, the average pass rate is around 70% of the students who actually take the course assessment; and, in teaching surveys, both students who pass and students who do not pass the course give the highest score to the statement that they have learned something interesting for their lives. The level of demand is therefore not an arbitrary barrier, but an invitation to work with consistency, reading, and participation.

In order to guarantee this mutual commitment, it is essential that you read the course guide and submit it signed on the first day of class. The lecturer may acknowledge this prior reading within the attendance and participation component.


Formal prerequisites

It is recommended that students have previously taken the course Political Thought. It is also assumed that students have general knowledge of Political Science, the History of Political Ideas, democratic theory, political institutions, and the analysis of contemporary political problems.

The course requires the ability to read academic texts of a certain conceptual complexity, identify normative arguments, distinguish between empirical description and political justification, reconstruct theoretical debates, and apply abstract concepts to specific political problems.


Recommendations

Students are advised to follow political, social, and cultural current affairs regularly through a variety of media, both written and audiovisual, Spanish and international. The course works with contemporary political problems —authority, legitimacy, liberty, democracy, power, equality, social justice, feminism, gender, race, free speech, multiculturalism, global poverty, human rights, sovereignty, borders, war, intervention, and the environment— that require students to connect political theory with real public conflicts.

For optimal performance in the course, students are advised to have:

  1. A habit of critical reading and prior preparation for each session.
  2. The ability to work with academic texts in English.
  3. Basic computer skills: word processing, presentations, Internet browsing, and documentary research.
  4. Basic command of the UAB Virtual Campus.
  5. The ability to consult academic bibliography, specialised articles, institutional documents, public reports, and relevant audiovisual materials.
  6. A willingness to intervene orally with solid arguments, not with merely improvised opinions.
  7. Sufficient time to read, think, write, and prepare class discussions.

The course reference textbook will be Issues in Political Theory, in its fifth edition, edited by Robert Jubb and Patrick Tomlin. The course will be adapted to this textbook as the main axis for reading, discussion, and application of political theory concepts to contemporary problems.


Observations

During classes, the use of electronic devices is not permitted, either for communication or for taking notes. Computers, tablets, and mobile phones must be set to silent mode and deposited, before the beginning of the session, in the space provided for that purpose. They may be collected at the end of the class.

The class is conceived as a unit of intellectual work. Once the session has begun, students may not freely enter and leave the classroom. If a student leaves the classroom during the session, they may not re-enter until the session has ended, except in cases of justified force majeure, medical reasons, disability, duly accredited need, or express indication by the lecturer. This rule is intended to preserve collective concentration, the energy created in the classroom, and to avoid the disruption caused by continuous movement during class.

Students must arrive in class having attended to their physical needs before the beginning of the session. If they think they may need water during class, they should bring it with them from the start.

Individual questions will not be answered at the end of classes. Questions must be raised during the session, when they can contribute to collective learning, or in the questions forum created for this purpose on the Virtual Campus. General queries about content, readings, practical assignments, assessment, or the ordinary functioning of the course will not be answered by email either. The criterion is simple: if the answer may be useful to the group as a whole, the question must be asked in a shared space.

All oral and written activities must be carried out in Catalan or Spanish. No other languages will be accepted unless expressly authorised by the lecturer.

Objectives

The course introduces students to the study of contemporary political theory as a central field within Political Science. Political theory is not limited to the study of abstract ideas or classic authors: it analyses the concepts, values, arguments, and justifications that make it possible to understand and discuss the fundamental problems of contemporary democracies.

The course starts from a general question: how can we argue rationally about controversial political issues? On the basis of this question, the course examines problems such as political authority, legitimacy, liberty, democracy, power, equality, social justice, feminism, gender, race, free speech, multiculturalism, global poverty, human rights, sovereignty, borders, war, intervention, and the environment.

The approach of the course is normative, analytical, critical, and applied. It is normative because it studies what is just, legitimate, free, democratic, or morally required. It is analytical because it focuses on conceptual precision and the reconstruction of arguments. It is critical because it examines the assumptions underlying institutions, public policies, and political discourses. It is applied because it connects political theory with real problems in the contemporary world.

The objectives of the course are:

  1. To introduce students to the main concepts, arguments, and problems of contemporary political theory.
  2. To understand the difference between empirical analysis, normative argumentation, and political justification.
  3. To develop the ability to reconstruct, compare, and criticise political arguments.
  4. To analyse the concepts of authority, legitimacy, liberty, democracy, power, equality, and justice.
  5. To examine contemporary debates on feminism, gender, race, multiculturalism, and free speech.
  6. To study global problems such as poverty, human rights, sovereignty, borders, war, and the environment.
  7. To relate theoretical debates to current political conflicts.
  8. To improve critical reading, oral argumentation, written expression, and reasoned public discussion.
  9. To apply tools from political theory to empirical cases through readings, debates, essays, presentations, and practical exercises.

Learning outcomes

  1. Identifying sources of data and conducting bibliographic and documentary searches.
  2. Synthesizing and critically analysing information.
  3. Interpreting and applying English texts in an academic way.
  4. Arguing from different theoretical perspectives.
  5. Using the main information and documentation techniques (ICT) as an essential tool for the analysis.
  6. Showing a good capacity for transmitting information, distinguishing key messages for their different recipients.
  7. Realising effective oral presentations that are suited to the audience.
  8. Managing the available time in order to accomplish the established objectives and fulfil the intended task.
  9. Working autonomously.
  10. Exposing key elements of political thought in the Graeco-Roman past: the individual and the community from Socrates to Aristotle.
  11. Explaining the impact of the emergence of Christianity on the political thought.
  12. Describing the emergence of the State in the modern sense and explaining the theoretical contributions of Machiavelli, Bodino, Hobbes.
  13. Critically analysing and assessing the emergence of liberalism.
  14. Critically analysing and assessing the alternatives to liberalism.
  15. Explaining the several approaches of the socialist tradition, specially the 1917 breakup and the emergence of communism.
  16. Critically analysing and assessing the appearance of the inter-war fascisms and the reconstruction of the liberal democrat thought after WW II.
  17. Explaining the contribution of John Rawls and the distributive justice, and assessing its impact on the debate of contemporary politic theory.
  18. Assessing the contribution of movements like feminism, environmentalism or various identity movements.
  19. Describing and critically commenting the new approaches of demo-liberal thought, like its individualist foundation or the neutrality of institutional designs.
  20. Arguing about the contrast between communitarianism and libertarianism.
  21. Arguing about the rebirth of republicanism.
  22. Explaining the redefinition of the notion of citizenship in the context of globalization.
  23. Managing contemporary political theories and understanding its analytical value in internal or international concrete cases.
  24. Identifying and connecting main contemporary political theories, interpreting classical and current political texts, and arguing from different theoretical positions.
  25. Managing contemporary political theories and understanding its analytical value in internal or international concrete cases.

Contents

The contents of the course correspond to the fourteen main topics of the course reference textbook. The course approaches contemporary political theory through its central problems and combines conceptual study with reasoned discussion of current political cases and controversies.

Each topic will be addressed, whenever the calendar allows it, through one lecture-based session and one session devoted to debate, student presentation, or practical application. Since the actual semester calendar does not allow two full sessions to be devoted to each of the fourteen topics, some debates are reorganised by conceptual affinity. Thus, liberty and power, free speech and multiculturalism, and global poverty and human rights will be addressed jointly in specific debate sessions. This reorganisation does not alter the contents of the programme; rather, it makes it possible to structure them more coherently within the time available.

1. Authority and legitimacy

This topic introduces the problem of the right to rule and the reasons that may justify political obedience. The concepts of authority and legitimacy will be studied, together with procedure-based theories, membership-based theories, outcome-based theories, and anarchist critiques of political authority. The topic raises one of the fundamental questions of political theory: when, and why, may political power claim obedience?

2. Liberty

This topic analyses the main conceptions of liberty. Rival interpretations of the concept will be examined, as well as the distinction between negative and positive liberty, republican liberty, the relationship between liberty and equality, and the political value of negative liberty. The aim is for students to understand that liberty is not a univocal concept, but rather a field of normative and institutional dispute.

3. Democracy

This topic examines contemporary justifications of democracy and their critiques. Epistocracy as an alternative to democracy will be studied, together with proceduralist, epistemic, deliberative, and realist approaches. The topic allows us to discuss whether democracy is valuable because it expresses political equality, produces better decisions, enables public deliberation, or channels unavoidable conflicts.

4. Power

This topic addresses the concept of power and its different modes. The visible and non-visible dimensions of power will be studied, as well as alternative ways of understanding it and the relationship between power, freedom, and responsibility. The topic makes it possible to analyse how power operates not only through explicit decisions, but also through agendas, institutions, social norms, discourses, and structures of domination.

5. Equality and social justice

This topic introduces debates on equality, inequality, and social justice. The history of the concept of social justice, political critiques of this idea, its contemporary revival, equality of opportunity, social relations of inequality, and the capability approach will be examined. The aim is to understand which inequalities are politically relevant and what obligations of justice may follow from them.

6. Feminism and gender

This topic studies feminism as political theory and as a critique of structures of gender domination. The entrenchment of gender, the existence of patriarchy, the need for social change, theories of gender, the sex/gender distinction, debates on trans and non-binary people, the relationship between feminism, liberalism, and law, the family, sexual violence, race, carceral feminism, and culture will be analysed. The topic helps us understand why the personal is also political.

7. Race

This topic addresses race as a social construction, an ideology, and a problem of political justice. Racial constructivism, race as ideology, the relationship between race and liberalism, liberal integrationism, egalitarian pluralism, and the debate on reparations will be studied. The aim is to analyse how racial categories structure inequalities, identities, institutions, and claims of justice.

8. Free speech

This topic studies the justifications and limits of free speech. The liberal tradition of free speech will be analysed, together with arguments based on autonomy, democracy, and truth, conflicts between free speech and other values, revisionist positions that defend restricting certain forms of speech in order to protect free speech itself, and recent debates on why speech has a specific political relevance.

9. Multiculturalism

This topic examines debates on cultural pluralism, recognition, and cultural rights. The distinction between “thin” and “thick” multiculturalism will be studied, as well as the relationship between liberalism and cultural rights, critiques according to which cultural rights may oppress the most vulnerable members of groups, the politics of recognition, intercultural dialogue, and the possibility of a common culture. The topic allows us to discuss how civic equality and cultural diversity may coexist.

10. Global poverty

This topic addresses moral and political obligations in the face of global poverty. The problem of poverty, global political theory, the duty to aid, uncertainty about individual obligations, arguments against the existence of a duty of global justice, the duty not to harm, and the responsibilities of affluent individuals and societies will be studied. The aim is to discuss whether extreme poverty is only a humanitarian tragedy or also a political injustice.

11. Human rights

This topic studies human rights as a philosophical concept and as an institutional practice of global politics. The characteristics of human rights in contemporary international politics, philosophical conceptions of human rights, sceptical critiques, feasibility problems concerning socioeconomic rights, objections regarding universalism and cultural imperialism, and the relationship between human rights and economic inequalities will be analysed.

12. Sovereignty and borders

This topic examines the concepts of sovereignty and borders. Sovereignty will be studied in its conceptual, descriptive, and normative senses, together with its historical evolution, debates on more or less sovereignty, popular and parliamentary sovereignty, borders in political practice, and the distinction between members and non-members of a political community. The topic allows us to discuss who decides, over which territory, and according to what criteria of inclusion or exclusion.

13. War and intervention

This topic introduces normative debates on war, intervention, and the legitimate use of force. The just war tradition, alternatives to that tradition, collectivist and individualist approaches, jus ad bellum, jus in bello, the moral equality of combatants, non-combatant immunity, and jus post bellum will be studied. The aim is to analyse when, if ever, political violence may be morally justified.

14. The environment

This topic addresses the relationship between political theory, the environment, and responsibilities towards the future. The relationship between humanity and nature, the environmental impact of human societies, the environmental preconditions of political life, the value of nature, environmental justice, responsibilities towards future generations, environmental protection policies, and problems of democracy and governance in environmental decision-making will be studied. The topic connects political theory, sustainability, and intergenerational justice.


Indicative sequencing by sessions

The following sequencing preserves the fourteen topics of the textbook, while adapting the pace to the twenty-five actual sessions of the semester. The first session combines the presentation of the course with the beginning of the first topic. The debate sessions on liberty and power, free speech and multiculturalism, and global poverty and human rights are organised jointly because the conceptual problems involved are especially close.


SessionIndicative dateTopicContentType of activity
1 Tue. 15 September 1. Authority and legitimacy Presentation of the course. Teaching contract. What political theory is. The problem of obedience to the state Introductory and lecture-based class
2 Thu. 17 September 1. Authority and legitimacy Authority, legitimacy, the right to rule, political obligation, and anarchist critique of authority Debate or student presentation
3 Tue. 22 September 2. Liberty Rival conceptions of liberty. Negative liberty, positive liberty, and republican liberty Lecture
4 Thu. 24 September 4. Power The concept of power, modes of power, and visible and non-visible dimensions of power Lecture
5 Tue. 29 September 2-4. Liberty and power Liberty, domination, responsibility, equality, and structural power Debate or student presentation. Session subject to La Comunitària if it coincides with the timetable
6 Thu. 1 October 3. Democracy Justifications of democracy. Epistocracy, procedure, political equality, and knowledge Lecture
7 Tue. 6 October 3. Democracy Epistemic, deliberative, and realist approaches to democracy Debate or student presentation
8 Thu. 8 October 5. Equality and social justice History of social justice, equality, inequality, and equality of opportunity Lecture
9 Tue. 13 October 5. Equality and social justice Social relations, structural inequality, and the capability approach Debate or student presentation
10 Thu. 15 October 6. Feminism and gender Feminism, patriarchy, sex, gender, and the need for political and social change Lecture. Proposal of coursework topic
11 Tue. 20 October 6. Feminism and gender Family, law, violence, race, culture, and contemporary feminisms Debate or student presentation
12 Thu. 22 October 7. Race Race as social construction, race as ideology, and the relationship between race and liberalism Lecture
13 Tue. 27 October 7. Race Liberal integrationism, egalitarian pluralism, racial inequality, and reparations Debate or student presentation
14 Thu. 29 October 8. Free speech The liberal tradition, autonomy, democracy, and truth as justifications of free speech Lecture
15 Tue. 3 November 9. Multiculturalism Thin and thick multiculturalism. Liberalism, cultural rights, and the politics of recognition Lecture
16 Thu. 5 November 8-9. Free speech and multiculturalism Speech, recognition, offence, harm, cultural pluralism, and the limits of tolerance Debate or student presentation. Session subject to the campus activity slot if it coincides with the timetable
17 Tue. 10 November 10. Global poverty Global poverty, global political theory, the duty to aid, and responsibility towards extreme poverty Lecture
18 Thu. 12 November 11. Human rights Human rights in global politics, philosophical conceptions, universalism, and critiques Lecture. Submission of coursework outline
19 Tue. 17 November 10-11. Global poverty and human rights The duty not to harm, socioeconomic rights, economic inequalities, and responsibilities of affluent countries Debate or student presentation
20 Thu. 19 November 12. Sovereignty and borders Conceptual, descriptive, and normative sovereignty. Popular sovereignty, parliamentary sovereignty, and borders Lecture
21 Tue. 24 November 12. Sovereignty and borders Inclusion, exclusion, members, non-members, citizenship, and political belonging Debate or student presentation
22 Thu. 26 November 13. War and intervention The just war tradition, jus ad bellum, jus in bello, combatants, and non-combatants Lecture
23 Tue. 1 December 13. War and intervention Intervention, moral responsibility, jus post bellum, and justification of the use of force Debate or student presentation
24 Thu. 3 December 14. The environment Humanity and nature, environmental impacts, the value of nature, and environmental justice Lecture
25 Thu. 10 December 14. The environment Responsibilities towards future generations, environmental policies, democracy, governance, and course closure Final debate, student presentation, and closure


This sequencing is indicative. The lecturer may adjust the pace of the course according to the actual academic calendar, public holidays, institutional activities of the University or the Faculty, the development of debates, and the teaching needs of the group. If any session cannot be held in the planned format, the corresponding content may be recovered through a guided activity on the Virtual Campus, a guided reading, or a reorganisation of subsequent sessions.

Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Study of the subject matter 40 1.6
Master Classes 24 0.96
Works 28 1.12
Seminars 47 1.88

The course methodology will combine several instruments aimed at achieving an analytical and critical understanding of the main problems of contemporary political theory.

Teaching will be organised around the fourteen main topics of the reference textbook. Each topic will combine, whenever the calendar allows it, one lecture-based session and one session devoted to debate, student presentation, or practical application. The first session of each block will aim to present the fundamental concepts, reconstruct the main arguments, and contextualise the theoretical debate. The second session will be devoted to discussing the readings, analysing cases, formulating objections, comparing positions, and applying the concepts to current political controversies.

Lectures will provide the conceptual and theoretical framework needed to understand each problem. Seminars and debates will be used to test arguments, identify their limits, and connect them to real situations. Student presentations will aim to expand, interpret, or discuss some of the course problems, always on the basis of previously prepared readings and a clear argumentative structure.

Students’ autonomous work will be essential. The course cannot be followed properly only by attending class. Students will need to read the assigned texts before the sessions, prepare questions, reconstruct arguments, search for complementary information, formulate objections, write essays, and progressively build their own position on the problems studied.

Practical activities may include text commentaries, reconstruction of arguments, comparison of theoretical positions, application of concepts to current cases, analysis of institutional documents, discussion of audiovisual materials, preparation of oral presentations, and writing of short essays. The aim of these activities is to train students in moving from reading to argumentation and from argumentation to political analysis.

The Virtual Campus will be the ordinary space for academic communication, submission of activities, publication of materials, announcements, and the questions forum. Questions of general interest must be raised in class or in the questions forum. Email is reserved for administrative, institutional, or personal matters that cannot be addressed in a shared space.

When a session coincides fully or partially with institutional activities of the University or the Faculty, the lecturer may replace it with a guided activity on the Virtual Campus, a guided reading, or a reorganisation of subsequent sessions.

Fifteen minutes of one class will be reserved, within the calendar established by the centre or degree programme, for students to complete the surveys evaluating the lecturer’s performance and the course.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Final Exam 30% 2 0.08 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 22
Attendance and participation 25% 3 0.12 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 17, 20, 22, 23
Weekly essays 25% 3 0.12 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24
Oral presentation 10% 1 0.04 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Final paper 10% 2 0.08 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

The assessment of this course consists of the following components:

  1. Attendance and participation. Regular attendance and active participation represent 25% of the final grade. Particular value will be placed on the attitude of students who are able to relate the concepts and approaches of the course to current political, social, and cultural problems. Participation must be relevant, respectful, and aimed at building shared knowledge.
  2. Weekly essays. Each week, students may write a short essay on one of the topics proposed by the lecturer. These essays will replace the previous reading tests and partial submissions, and will jointly represent 25% of the final grade. The essays must demonstrate effective reading of the materials, reconstruction of arguments, critical ability, conceptual precision, and correct written expression.
  3. Oral presentation or presentations. Each week, as an alternative to the essay, students may choose to prepare an oral presentation on one of the topics proposed by the lecturer. Presentations will represent 15% of the final grade. By the end of the course, each student must have delivered at least one oral presentation. In the weeks in which they do not present, they must submit the corresponding essay.
  4. Final paper. Students must write a final paper on an author of their choice, provided that the proposal is approved by the lecturer and is related to the topics covered in the syllabus. The paper may not be limited to a biographical account or a general summary of the author’s work. It must be relational in character: that is, it must connect the works, arguments, or concepts of the chosen author with one or more of the problems studied during the course, such as authority, legitimacy, liberty, democracy, power, equality, social justice, feminism, race, free speech, multiculturalism, global poverty, human rights, sovereignty, borders, war, intervention, or the environment.
  5. Final examination. The final examination will represent 25% of the final grade. It will consist of four short questions, worth 1.5 points each, and one essay question, worth 4 points.

The logic of the system is that each week students actively work on the topic proposed by the lecturer, either through a written essay or through an oral presentation. Therefore, by the end of the course, each student must have delivered at least one presentation and must have submitted all the weekly essays corresponding to the weeks in which they did not present. Failure both to present and to submit the essay in the same week will be considered a non-completed activity.


Specific assessment conditions:

  1. The date of the examination will be the one set by the Faculty. Under no circumstances will individual examinations be held. Erasmus students who purchase return tickets for a date before the final examination and therefore do not sit it will be considered as not having appeared.
  2. In order to pass the course, students must obtain a passing grade in the final examination.
  3. All submissions must be made through the Virtual Campus, in the specific space provided for this purpose. Any submission made after the deadline or through a channel other than the one indicated will be considered not submitted.
  4. Once the assessment activities completed by the student exceed 30% of the total course grade, the student may no longer request to be considered as not having appeared.
  5. All oral and written activities must be carried out in Catalan or Spanish. No other language will be accepted unless expressly authorised by the lecturer.
  6. During tests or assessable activities, teaching staff may require students to identify themselves. Students must prove their identity by means of their student card, national identity document, foreigner identification number, or passport.
  7. Grade reviews will be carried out according to the procedure and deadline indicated on the Virtual Campus after each assessable activity. Requests for review must be reasoned and refer to the assessment criteria of the activity.
  8. Attendance requires effective presence in the classroom. Entering and leaving the classroom during the session without justified cause is not compatible with attendance. If a student leaves the classroom, they may not re-enter until the session has ended, except in cases of justified force majeure, medical reasons, disability, duly accredited need, or express indication by the lecturer.
  9. Questions about assessment, readings, practical exercises, or course content must be raised in class or in the questions forum. Queries whose answer may be useful to the whole group will not be answered by email.


Indicative calendar for continuous assessment

Activity Indicative time
Weekly essays or presentations Throughout the semester, according to the topics proposed by the lecturer
First oral presentation According to the calendar agreed in class
Proposal of author for the final paper 15 October
Submission of the final paper outline 12 November
Closing of weekly essays and presentations Last teaching week
Submission of the final paper 10 December
Final examination Official assessment period: January 2027


Plagiarism, originality, and use of artificial intelligence

In accordance with academic regulations, any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade of an assessment activity will be graded as 0. If several irregularities occur in assessment activities within the same course, the final grade for the course will be 0.

Academic irregularities include, among others:

  1. Total or partial plagiarism.
  2. Reuse of one’s own or others’ work submitted in previous years without express authorisation.
  3. Copying from websites, books, articles, reports, notes, or materials without proper citation.
  4. Manipulation of data, sources, or references.
  5. Submission of work produced by third parties.
  6. Use of unauthorised tools or materials in tests or assessable activities.
  7. Undeclared, misleading, or substantive use of generative artificial intelligence technologies.

In this course, restricted, instrumental, and transparent use of generative artificial intelligence is permitted. AI may be used as an auxiliary tool, but it may not replace the student’s intellectual work or generate the substantive content of assessable activities.


Uses permitted without specific declaration

The use of AI tools is permitted for instrumental and non-substantive functions, such as:

  1. Spelling and grammar correction.
  2. Minor improvement of the linguistic clarity of a text previously written by the student.
  3. Auxiliary translation of short excerpts to facilitate the understanding of texts.
  4. Initial organisation of tasks, calendars, or checklists.
  5. Preliminary search for general concepts, provided that the final information is checked against reliable academic or documentary sources.


Uses permitted with mandatory declaration

Any use of AI that has influenced the work process must be declared in a final note to the activity when it affects aspects such as:

  1. Initial development of ideas.
  2. Assistance in structuring an outline.
  3. Reformulation of a paragraph previously written by the student.
  4. Suggestions of possible sources, concepts, or lines of research.
  5. General review of formal coherence.

In these cases, the student must include a brief declaration of AI use at the end of the paper or exercise, indicating the tool used, the purpose of its use, and which parts of the process were affected.

Declaration model:

“I used [name of the tool] for [specific purpose: linguistic revision, initial organisation of ideas, structural suggestions, etc.]. The final content, argumentation, sources, and conclusions are my own responsibility.”


Prohibited uses

The following uses are prohibited:

  1. Presenting as one’s own a text generated wholly or partially by AI.
  2. Using AI to write complete answers to exercises, papers, or tests.
  3. Generating the central argument of the paper through AI.
  4. Creating citations, bibliography, data, examples, or references that have not been verified.
  5. Replacing the reading of compulsory texts with automatically generated summaries.
  6. Using AI during examinations or in-person tests, unless expressly authorised.
  7. Concealing relevant use of AI when it has intervened in the preparation of an activity.
  8. Using AI to avoid the personal work of reading, analysis, comparison, and argumentation required by the course.

The lecturer may ask the student for oral or documentary explanations about the process of preparing a paper or exercise when there are reasonable indications of improper use of AI. The inability to justify the content submitted, explain its argumentation, identify the sources used, or defend the decisions made may be considered an indication of academic irregularity.

Originality does not consist solely in not copying. It consists in reading, understanding, selecting sources, arguing with one’s own judgement, citing correctly, and assuming intellectual responsibility for the work submitted.


Reassessment

In order to take part in reassessment, students must have previously been assessed in a set of activities whose weight is equivalent to at least two thirds of the total course grade.

In order to take part in the reassessment process, students must have obtained a minimum average grade of 3.5 in the course.

Reassessment will consist of a reassessment examination with the same characteristics as the final examination of the course and, where appropriate, the submission or revision of those recoverable activities indicated by the lecturer. Reassessment does not replace the ordinary work carried out during the semester, nor does it allow students to obtain through this route the assessment of in-person participation developed throughout the course.

Ordinary attendance and participation during the semester are not recoverable, since they form part of the in-person and continuous dynamics of the course.

Reassessment will take place within the official period established by the Faculty for first-semester assessment and reassessment activities.


Single assessment

In my experience, this course cannot be properly followed on a non-attendance basis. The methodology used —which combines lectures, practical exercises, case discussion, analysis of materials, and continuous monitoring of the student’s work— means that the contents of the course cannot be sufficiently covered by a single textbook or properly prepared outside the ordinary dynamics of the course.

Before opting for this type of assessment, students should take into account a relevant fact: in the three academic years in which this modality has been offered, no student has managed to pass the course through single assessment, and only one was able to sit the reassessment examination.

Nevertheless, if the student decides to proceed with this option, the single assessment will consist of a final test including the same examination taken by students under continuous assessment, together with additional questions on the practical exercises, seminars, readings, and applied contents worked on throughout the course. This test will represent 100% of the final grade.

In order to be eligible for reassessment, the student must obtain a minimum grade of 4.0 in the single assessment test. The reassessment examination will be of the same type as the final examination.

Bibliography

Core manuals and field-wide overviews

Swift, A. (2019). Political philosophy: A beginner’s guide for students and politicians (4th ed.). Polity. Publisher page

McKinnon, C., Jubb, R., & Tomlin, P. (2019). Issues in political theory (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. Publisher page

Klosko, G. (2013). History of political theory: An introduction (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. Publisher page

Kymlicka, W. (2002). Contemporary political philosophy: An introduction (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Dryzek, J. S., Honig, B., & Phillips, A. (Eds.). (2008). The Oxford handbook of political theory. Oxford University Press. Publisher page

Goodin, R. E., Pettit, P., & Pogge, T. (Eds.). (2007). A companion to contemporary political philosophy (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. Publisher page

Classical and early modern political theory

Plato. (2008). Republic (R. Waterfield, Trans.). Oxford University Press. Publisher page

Aristotle. (2013). Aristotle’s politics (2nd ed., C. Lord, Trans.). University of Chicago Press. Publisher page

Hobbes, T. (2024). Leviathan (2nd ed., N. Malcolm, Ed.). Oxford University Press. Publisher page

Locke, J. (2016). Second treatise of government and a letter concerning toleration (M. Goldie, Ed.). Oxford University Press. Publisher page

Rousseau, J.-J. (2009). Discourse on the origin of inequality. Oxford University Press. Publisher page

Mill, J. S. (2015). On liberty, utilitarianism and other essays (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. Publisher page

Modern and contemporary political theory

Arendt, H. (2018). The human condition (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press. Publisher page

Berlin, I. (2002). Liberty. Oxford University Press. Publisher page

Rawls, J. (1999). A theory of justice (Rev. ed.). Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Publisher page

Rawls, J. (2005). Political liberalism (Expanded ed.). Columbia University Press. Publisher page

Nozick, R. (2013). Anarchy, state, and utopia. Basic Books. Publisher page

Pettit, P. (1999). Republicanism: A theory of freedom and government. Oxford University Press. Publisher page

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/0198296428.001.0001

Sen, A. (2009). The idea of justice. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Publisher page

Democratic theory, representation, and participation

Habermas, J. (1996). Between facts and norms: Contributions to a discourse theory of law and democracy (W. Rehg, Trans.). MIT Press. Publisher page

Urbinati, N. (2014). Democracy disfigured. Harvard University Press. Publisher page

Landemore, H. (2020). Open democracy: Reinventing popular rule for the twenty-first century. Princeton University Press. DOI / publisher page

Mouffe, C. (2000). The democratic paradox. Verso. Publisher page

Justice, feminism, race, and postcolonial theory

Pateman, C. (1988). The sexual contract. Polity. Publisher page

Okin, S. M. (1989). Justice, gender, and the family. Basic Books.

Khader, S. J. (2019). Decolonizing universalism: A transnational feminist ethic. Oxford University Press. Publisher page

Mills, C. W. (2022). The racial contract (25th anniversary ed.). Cornell University Press. Publisher page

Mills, C. W. (2017). Black rights/white wrongs: The critique of racial liberalism. Oxford University Press. Publisher page

Said, E. W. (2014). Orientalism. Vintage. Publisher page

Fanon, F. (2021). The wretched of the earth (60th anniversary ed.). Grove Press. Publisher page

Mbembe, A. (2019). Necropolitics. Duke University Press. Publisher page

Environmental political theory and political economy

Dryzek, J. S. (2022). The politics of the earth: Environmental discourses (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. Publisher page

Eckersley, R. (2004). The green state: Rethinking democracy and sovereignty. MIT Press. Publisher page

Schlosberg, D. (2007). Defining environmental justice: Theories, movements, and nature. Oxford University Press. Publisher page

Piketty, T. (2020). Capital and ideology (A. Goldhammer, Trans.). Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Publisher page

Fraser, N. (2022). Cannibal capitalism: How our system is devouring democracy, care, and the planet—and what we can do about it. Verso. Publisher page

Fraser, N., & Jaeggi, R. (2018). Capitalism: A conversation in critical theory. Polity.

Streeck, W. (2016). How will capitalism end? Essays on a failing system. Verso. Publisher page

Methodology and ways of doing political theory

Leopold, D., & Stears, M. (Eds.). (2008). Political theory: Methods and approaches. Oxford University Press. Publisher page

Freeden, M. (1998). Ideologies and political theory: A conceptual approach. Oxford University Press. Publisher page

Ackerly, B. A., Cabrera, L., Forman, F., Tenove, C., & Weinstock, D. (Eds.). (2024). The Oxford handbook of grounded and engaged normative theory. Oxford University Press. Publisher page

Recommended novels by theme

Authority, liberty, and surveillance

Orwell, G. (1949). Nineteen eighty-four [Novel].

Democracy, participation, and electoral legitimacy

Saramago, J. (2004). Seeing [Novel].

Inequality, justice, and alternative political economy

Le Guin, U. K. (1974/2024). The dispossessed (50th anniversary ed.) [Novel].

Gender, patriarchy, and reproductive politics

Atwood, M. (1985). The handmaid’s tale [Novel].

Race, empire, and postcolonial critique

Achebe, C. (1958). Things fall apart [Novel].

Migration, borders, and citizenship

Hamid, M. (2017). Exit west [Novel].

Social breakdown, ethics, and solidarity

Saramago, J. (1995). Blindness [Novel].

Recommended films by theme

Authority, legitimacy, and surveillance

Henckel von Donnersmarck, F. (Director). (2006). The lives of others [Film].

Freedom, resistance, and revolutionary symbolism

McTeigue, J. (Director). (2005). V for vendetta [Film].

Democracy, representation, and democratic erosion

Costa, P. (Director). (2019). The edge of democracy [Documentary film].

Power, sovereignty, and anti-colonial violence

Pontecorvo, G. (Director). (1966). The battle of Algiers [Film].

Inequality, class, and justice

Bong, J.-H. (Director). (2019). Parasite [Film].

Gender, feminism, and political mobilisation

Gavron, S. (Director). (2015). Suffragette [Film].

Race, liberalism, and appropriation

Peele, J. (Director). (2017). Get out [Film].

Environment, denial, and eco-politics

McKay, A. (Director). (2021). Don’t look up [Film].

War, intervention, drones, and civilian risk

Hood, G. (Director). (2015). Eye in the sky [Film].

Migration, borders, and biopolitics

Cuarón, A. (Director). (2006). Children of men [Film].

Parties, elections, and campaign ethics

Clooney, G. (Director). (2011). The ides of March [Film].

Recommended TV series by theme

Democracy, parties, and coalition politics

Price, A. (Creator). (2010–2013, 2022). Borgen [TV series].

Freedom, technology, and surveillance capitalism

Brooker, C. (Creator). (2011– ). Black mirror [TV series].

Gender, reproductive control, and theocratic domination

Miller, B. (Creator). (2017–2025). The handmaid’s tale [TV series].

Environment, temporality, and climate futures

Burns, S. Z. (Creator). (2023). Extrapolations [TV series].

Migration, detention, and borders

Blanchett, C., McCredie, E., & Ayres, T. (Creators). (2020). Stateless [TV series].

Race, postcolonial Britain, and movement politics

McQueen, S. (Creator). (2020). Small axe [TV series].

Democratic erosion, populism, and authority

Davies, R. T. (Creator). (2019). Years and years [TV series].

Sovereignty, energy, and geopolitical coercion

Skjoldbjærg, E., Lund, K., & Nesbø, J. (Creators). (2015–2019). Occupied [TV series].


Software

No specific software is required for this course. Students must have access to a standard office suite or equivalent —Microsoft Office, LibreOffice, Google Docs, or similar— in order to write essays, prepare presentations, and complete the final paper.

Students will also need regular access to the UAB Virtual Campus, the ability to read PDF documents, an updated web browser, and, where appropriate, basic bibliographic management tools. The use of this software is understood as part of the student’s autonomous and supervised work, and does not alter the specific classroom rules regarding the use of electronic devices.

Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching Group Language Semester Shift
(TE) Theory 1 Spanish first semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Spanish first semester morning-mixed