ECTS credits ECTS credits: 6
ECTS Hours Rules/Memories Student's work ECTS: 99 Hours of tutorials: 3 Expository Class: 24 Interactive Classroom: 24 Total: 150
Use languages Spanish, Galician
Type: Ordinary Degree Subject RD 1393/2007 - 822/2021
Departments: Political Science and Sociology
Areas: Political Science and Administration
Center Faculty of Political and Social Sciences
Call: First Semester
Teaching: With teaching
Enrolment: Enrollable | 1st year (Yes)
The purpose of the subject is:
1) To present and to make the students understand the main problems tackled by the great political European thinkers until the Nineteenth Century..
2) We will pay special attention to the study of the State and its relationship with the Political Science. Therefore, we willl analyze the evolution of the different political organizations and and the different political institutions between 1450 and 1900.
1.Political Science, Political Theory and the History of Political Thought.
2. The Machiavellian Revolution: the Modern State and the Political Science.
In this lesson we are going to demonstrate the non-existence of the State during the Renaissance and the contribution to the Political Thought of the man who is considered its author, Niccolò Machiavelli.
2.1 Introduction: Machiavelli and his Time.
2.2 The tutor of tyrants.
2.3 The republican Machiavelli.
2.4 The Legacy of Machiavelli.
3. The Absolute Monarchy: Myth and Reality. Absolutism and Constitutionalism.
In this lesson we will study the characteristics and the evolution of the main continental European Monarchies from the Renaissance to the 18th Century, as well as their principal political theorists.
3.1 The new Monarchies and the Model of Christian Prince.
3.2 Absolutism and Absolute Power.
3.3 Erasmus of Rotterdam and Thomas More.
3.4 The Catholic or the Spanish Monarchy and the failure of Absolutism.
3.5 French Monarchy and its transit to Absolutism. Seyssel, the Monarchomacs, Bodin and Loyseau.
4. The English Revolution and the Constitutional Monarchy. The English Political Thought and the State.
The singularity of the English case needs special attention because it has influenced the history of representative democracy.
4.1 Renaissance Monarchy in England: the Tudor Dynasty
and the Absolute Power.
4.2 The Stuart Dynasty and Absolutism: the conflict between the King and the Kingdom.
4.3 The Rule of Law: Edward Coke, the rebel judge.
4.4 The Civil War (1642-1648). Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth: Republic and Puritan Dictatorship (1649-1660).
4.5 Thomas Hobbes and the State. The end of the Absolutist Attempts: the Glorious Revolution (1688), and John Locke.
4.6 Constitutional Monarchy and Parliamentary Sovereignty.
5. The Enlightenment and the crisis of Absolute Monarchy.
Now we are going to study the complexity of the Enlightened thought and the heyday of Absolutism, because, in Continental Europe, Absolutism prepared the way to the Liberal State.
5.1 What is The Enlightenment?
5.2 The State of Police, the last phase of the Absolutist State.
5.3 The Thinking of the Enlightenment and the State: Montesquieu, Rousseau and Kant.
6. The Atlantic Revolutions and the State. The American War of Independence opened a revolutionary cycle that modified the Structures of the Western World. In this lesson we are going to study the American and French Revolutions and their Consequences.
6.1 The Seven Years´ War and the British Imperial Crisis.
6.2 The Revolution of the Thirteen Colonies.
6.3 The United States of America: Federalists- Anti federalists and the Constitution of 1787.
6.4 The French Revolution: a Political and Social Revolution.
6.5 From Constitutional Monarchy to the French Empire.
6.6 The Napoleonic State.
7. The Period of Liberalism.
After studying the Liberal Revolutions in England, United States and France, we have to study how the Thinking and the Liberal State were strengthned
7.1 The Liberal State and the Nation-State.
7.2 Constant, Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill.
8. Marx and the Overcoming of the State.
The answer to the Liberal State and to Capitalism had in Karl Marx its main figure along the 19th Century. In this topic, we are goin to study Marx's theoretical approach and his achievements.
8.1 The Utopian Socialism.
8.2 Marx and Engels and Marxism.
Basic bibliography. Handbooks and works of reference
- Arteta, Aurelio, García Guitián Elena and Máiz, Ramón (eds.), Teoría Política: poder, moral, democracia, Madrid, Alianza Editorial, 2003.
- Flora, Peter (comp.), State Formation, Nation-Building, and Mass Politics in Europe. The Theory of Stein Rokkan. New York, 1999.
- Gerhard, Dietrich, La Vieja Europa.Factores de continuidad en la historia europea (1000-1800), Madrid, 1991.
- Hampsher-Monk, Iain, Historia del Pensamiento Político Moderno. Barcelona, 1996.
- Kriele, Martin, Introducción a la Teoría del Estado. Buenos Aires, 1980.
- Mann, Michael, Las Fuentes del poder social, Madrid, 1991-1997, t. I-II.
- Negro, Dalmacio, La Tradición Liberal y el Estado. Madrid, 1995.
- Runciman, David, Enfrentarse al Leviatán, Barcelona, Shackleton Books, 2023
- Truyol y Serra, Antonio, Historia de la Filosofía del Derecho y del Estado, 3 vols., Madrid, Alianza, 1995.
- Vallespín, Fernando (ed.), Historia de la Teoría Política, 6 vols. Madrid, 1990-1995.
Compulsory Readings of Political Thought:
-Cicerón, Marco Tulio, Sobre los deberes, Madrid, Alianza Editorial.
-Maquiavelo, Nicolás, El Príncipe, Ed. Istmo; o la edición en gallego, O Príncipe, Fundación BBVA-Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.
-Constant, Benjamin, "De la libertad de los antiguos comparada con la libertad de los modernos", en Ángel Rivero Rodríguez, La libertad de los modernos, Madrid, Alianza editorial, pp.71-108.
-Marx, K. y Engels, O Manifesto Comunista, Eds. Xerais. O edición en castellano de Editorial Crítica.
1- Development of the ability of critical Analysis of the Student through the contextual Interpretation.
2- Ability to elaborate an organised, clear and precise Speech (oral and written) through different practices proposed by the teacher.
3- Development of the ability of Analysis and Synthesis through the elaboration of summaries of lessons, books, reports of newspapers, texts, documentaries and films connected with the subject.
4- Development of the Capacity of Argumentation and Tolerance Habits through the debate of issues relation with the Programme.
5- Learning of the Management of bibliographic sources, newspapers and Internet resources.
6- Development of the oral and reading comprehension in other European languages (especially English, Italian and Portuguese).
In summary, according to the Principles of Bologna, the student must be an active protagonist of his Learning, and not a mere receptor of Information of his Teacher.
General Didactic Objectives:
Our main objective is favouring active participation right from the beginning so that students develop their oral and written skills.
Stimulating curiosity and critical spirit is also key to learning. In order to achieve these objectives, our classes will avoid a theoretical model based on note dictation or lecturing as we aim to make students learn how to handle the information provided and the texts proposed.
Besides, the tutors will work with a group of 30 students who will analyse text, summarise the contents of some lessons and comment on certain chapters of the books or great political thinkers. Likewise, the professors will play and comment various films or video clips that will help students to grasp the concepts or ideas presented in the theoretical lessons.
The final exam will not be the unique criterion of assessment. Thus, the exam will account for 60% as long as it reaches the passmark ( 3 out of 6 points).
The exam will assess the knowledge of the syllabus.
The final marks will be based on:
1- Seminar works or tests about compulsory readings and discussion: 4 points (40 %. One point each seminar test)
2- Written Exam: 6 points (60%)
Presence Work in Class: 60 Hours (blackboard classes, seminars and tutorials)
Individual Study 90 Hours (including preparation of readings, seminars, individual works and in group)
Es imprescindible el seguimiento regular de la materia impartida en el aula y la realización de los trabajos recomendados al alumno en tiempo y forma.
Class attendance is compulsory
This subject requires a high level of Spanish
Elba Maneiro Crespo
- Department
- Political Science and Sociology
- Area
- Political Science and Administration
- elba.maneiro.crespo [at] usc.es
- Category
- Professor: Temporary supply professor for IT and others
Alvaro Gonzalez Gomez
- Department
- Political Science and Sociology
- Area
- Political Science and Administration
- a.gonzalez.gomez [at] usc.es
- Category
- Professor: Temporary supply professor for IT and others
| Thursday | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 10:00-11:00 | Grupo A - horario de mañana (A-M) | Galician | 0.1 |
| 11:00-12:30 | Grupo /CLIS_02 | Galician | 1.4 |
| 13:30-15:00 | Grupo /CLIS_01 | Galician | 1.4 |
| 16:00-17:00 | Grupo B - horario de tarde (N-Z) | Galician | 0.1 |
| 17:00-18:30 | Grupo /CLIS_05 | Galician | Graduation Hall |
| Friday | |||
| 10:00-11:00 | Grupo A - horario de mañana (A-M) | Galician | 0.1 |
| 11:00-12:30 | Grupo /CLIS_03 | Galician | 0.1 |
| 16:00-17:00 | Grupo B - horario de tarde (N-Z) | Galician | 0.1 |
| 17:00-18:30 | Grupo /CLIS_04 | Galician | 1.1 |
| 01.09.2025 10:00-12:00 | Grupo B - horario de tarde (N-Z) | 2.1 |
| 01.09.2025 10:00-12:00 | Grupo A - horario de mañana (A-M) | 2.1 |
| 06.16.2025 10:00-12:00 | Grupo B - horario de tarde (N-Z) | 2.1 |
| 06.16.2025 10:00-12:00 | Grupo A - horario de mañana (A-M) | 2.1 |