One way to understand the study of politics is the study of power. State power--or government--is, of course, one form of power. The study of politics, then, certainly includes the study of government. Yet there obviously are other kinds of power--economic power, social power, technological power, popular power, and perhaps even divine power, to name a few forms of power that those who study politics have examined.
This course is an introduction to the ways that some key figures across time and space--from Ancient Greece to post-colonial Algeria, from Renaissance Florence to contemporary feminist movements--have understood and exercised power. In it, we examine competing definitions of power. We discuss attempts to "legitimize" or justify power. We look at efforts to consolidate, contest, disperse, seize, or create it. We do so not merely due to academic interest or preparation for future study, but to think about what kind of power we have--or what kind of power we desire--and how we might consolidate, contest, disperse, seize, or create it. Put otherwise, along with honing our abilities to grapple with unfamiliar ideas, we are principally concerned with answering the following political question: what can or should I do in my shared social world?