Handbook

This subject is designed as an introduction to the big political ideas and ideologies that inform our contemporary political landscape. After considering the varied historical meanings of the term ideology, students will review a number of the major traditional ideologies (including liberalism, neo-liberalism, conservatism, socialism, and fascism), focusing their investigation on the continued influence of these ideologies on political discourse today. Students will then scrutinise the once popular claim that the end of the Cold War heralded the triumph of liberalism and the end of ideology. The merits of this claim will be explored by studying the political effects of new forms of environmentalism, nationalism and religious fundamentalism. By the end of the subject, students should be familiar with the historical problems and contexts that produced the major ideologies, and should have an understanding of some of the ways in which ideology is mobilised in contemporary political discourse. The discussion of environmentalism also means that the subject addresses the Sustainability Thinking Essential.