Course content
The course presents central thinkers in the history of Western political theory and economics and discusses how those thinkers helped shape the political institutions and economic policies of the Western world.
It covers normative, analytical, and theoretical ideas from antiquity to the contemporary world, such as the origins and functioning of the state, individual freedom, the purpose of society, the ideal government, liberal democracy and other systems of governance, and macroeconomic problems such as the origins of wealth and growth, problems of production, distribution and regulation, economic crises, unemployment and inflation.
Focus is on the origins of contemporary political and economic ideas and on the trajectories of the specialized modern social sciences with a special emphasis on the evolution of, and the disciplinary division between, economics and political science.
In relation to Nordic Nine
Political and Economic Thought (PET) connects deep knowledge of political and economic ideas and theories with broad social and historical context (NN1). PET teaches students to be curious and analytical about theoretical ambiguities that emerge from changing historical circumstance (NN2), enabling critical thinking and constructive action when faced with current and future political and economic doctrines (NN6). The course addresses issues such as economic crises, limits to growth, authoritarian threats to democracy, heterodox and transformative economics as well as gender and economic inequality, so as to ensure PET students are both trained in recognizing humanity’s challenges and provided with knowledge and analytical skills to help resolve them (NN3).
See course description in course catalogue