ESPS7104 - Ideologies and Political Hegemony
Course value: 0.5 units
Convenor: Professor Philippe Marlière
Duration: One term (Term 1)
Teaching structure: One two-hour seminar
Assessment: 1 unseen two-hour written exam (70%), 1 assessed essay of 2,500 words (30%)
Available to: Final Years and Affiliates
This is a final year option for students who are interested in political ideas and who wish to understand how those ideas are born and shape political conducts, or influence paradigmatic shifts in the domain of policy making.
The course starts from two basic propositions: firstly, the notion of a post-ideological society is a false one, and ideologies remain important to political action. Secondly, the traditional model of political ideologies, which saw them arranged on a map running from Left to Right, is no longer adequate as a framework for understanding politics today. Traditional ideologies such as liberalism, conservatism and socialism need to be re-examined in a new light.
The discussion builds upon two concepts for understanding the paradigmatic changes in today’s world: ideological hegemony, and resistances to those dominant ideas which can take very different forms. Has the hegemony of neoliberalism been undermined by the recent financial crisis in capitalist economies?
New ideologies are in turn presented and studied: Green politics, feminism and gender politics as well as populism. Some directly challenge traditional ideologies; others overlap or simply complement them.