Admission requirements
Required course(s):
At least two of the following courses are mandatory requirements:
Introduction to International Relations and Diplomacy
Introduction to Globalization and Transnational Politics
Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies
Birth of the Modern World
Introduction to Gender Studies
Description
What is power? Who or what counts as ‘powerful’ in (world) politics, and why? What are the sources of power – military might, economic prowess, cultural attraction, or something else entirely?
As these questions illustrate, power is a key – many would argue, the key – concept in (world) politics. This certainly applies to the academic study of world politics, where power has always been a fundamental category. Underlying many – though, by no means all – debates is a rather simple view. Power is conceptualized as a possession, a resource that states can mobilize to advance their interests. Often it is measured purely in terms of military resources and, ultimately, as the ability to wield military might to coerce and control others. This view comes close to Mao’s famous slogan: ‘Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.’
Other schools of thought challenge this mono-dimensional view, highlighting its shortcomings. For example, why is it that the military Goliaths often fail to get their way? During the Cold War, both superpowers suffered defeat at the hands of supposedly ‘weak’ opponents: the United States lost in Vietnam, the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. More recently, Western powers have neither won the peace in Iraq or Libya nor the ‘war on terrorism’.
This course introduces, surveys and critically examines the most important philosophies, theories, and conceptions of power in world politics. All of these schools offer thought-provoking perspectives on power and its relationship to connected phenomena, such as authority, hegemony, coercion, consent, and violence. These perspectives can be turned into valuable intellectual tools with which we can analyse the various facets of power in world politics. To do so, we will cross disciplinary boundaries, linking political science, sociology, and political philosophy. We will use concrete case studies drawn from world politics past and present to illustrate the ways in which the complex phenomenon called ‘power’ operates, affecting us all.
Course Objectives
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
Analyze and critically assess competing conceptions of power in world politics.
Apply these conceptions to rigorously examine key aspects of world politics, including the sources, effects, and durability of power hierarchies past and present.
Connect conceptions of power across disciplinary boundaries, thereby linking political science, sociology and political philosophy.
Analyze various types of inequality and domination in world politics and identify actual or potential sources of resistance.
Timetable
Timetables for courses offered at Leiden University College in 2024-2025 will be published on this page of the e-Prospectus.
Mode of instruction
This is an interactive course. It consists of two seminars per week comprising a mix of a mix of short lectures, group discussions and student presentations. During the course of the seminar, students are expected to consistently participate in seminar discussion by presenting and defending their ideas. The aim is to engage in a collective discussion at a high level of intellectual sophistication and intellectual rigour.
Assessment Method
Participation (15%)
Presentation (15%)
Leading a discussion (15%)
Essay 1 (20%)
Essay 2 (35%)
Reading list
This is a reading-intensive course. It gives students the opportunity to engage directly with the works of leading analysts of power, including Hannah Arendt, Frantz Fanon, Michel Foucault, Antonio Gramsci, Joseph Nye, Thucydides, among others. For more information, please see ‘Remarks’ below.
Registration
Courses offered at Leiden University College (LUC) are usually only open to LUC students and LUC exchange students. Leiden University students who participate in one of the university’s Honours tracks or programmes may register for one LUC course, if availability permits. Registration is coordinated by the Education Coordinator, course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.
Contact
Dr Kai Hebel, k.r.hebel@luc.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
To be eligible for participation in the course, students are required to read the following text before the start of the block:
- Robert Dahl 1957: ‘The Concept of Power’, Behavioural Science, 2/3, pp. 201-215.
The instructor reserves the right to drop students from the course in case of unsatisfactory advance preparation.