The main themes of this course are power, leadership, and
political reason and they will provide the lenses through which
we’ll read key texts in modern political thought. What do we mean
when we say that someone is a good or bad politician? What are the
requirements of effective leadership in politics and public life?
What is political power and how must it be exercised? How can one
combine ethical behavior with worldly success? Is compromise
desirable in politics? Can we locate the line dividing mere cynicism
and opportunism from integrity and responsibility? How can liberty
and order be reconciled in practice? What role do words and rhetoric
play in politics and what does a successful political speech look
like? What should be the defining virtues of the legislator and the
politician? And, last but not least, is there a “science of
politics” or only “an art of politics”?
	These are among the central questions that will be addressed
by our class which covers a select number of key authors and texts
in modern political thought from the Renaissance until the present
day. The required readings include Machiavelli’s The Prince,
Francesco Guicciardini’s Maxims and Reflections, Baltasar Gracián’s
The Art of Wordly Wisdom, The Federalist Papers, selected speeches
and essays of Edmund Burke, T. B. Macaulay, Abraham Lincoln, and
Winston Churchill.! They will be no conventional papers in this
class. The requirements include a number of written assignments in
which students will be required to act like advisers to the “prince”
and legislators. They will also write their own (parliamentary)
speeches addressing specific contemporary topics in light of the
readings studied in class.