As an extremely inquisitive bloke I recently found myself wondering why I had the political opinion that I did on a range of issues. No sooner would I have a political opinion than an article, discussion or new thought would lead to a change of mind based on new facts/information. Needless to say this was frustrating for someone who tries to be a little more structured in their thinking.
Which got me thinking, what are the historical foundations of our current political system? I don't mean the last 40 years, back back through Locke, Aquinas, Aristotle and Socrates. If you don't know even basic political history or theory, how can you practically ensure your vote will count? How can you agree with Government (or opposition) policies if you don't have a political framework for agreeing with them?
So I went looking for short courses on political history/theory and I have good news to report. In the digital age there are a plethora of podcast series on political history. The website www.openculture.com has a great list of courses on all topics. Here's the complete list of political science courses with my favourite ones in bold.
Get free Political Science courses from the world’s leading universities. You can download these audio & video courses straight to your computer or mp3 player. For more online courses, visit our complete collection ofFree Courses.
- American Politics: Campaign Strategy – iTunes – Feed – MP3s – Dan Schnur, UC Berkeley
- Climate Change: Law and Policy – iTunes – Feed – Stream – Cymie Payne
- Environmental Law and Policy – iTunes – Holly Doremus, UC Berkeley
- Geography of US Presidential Elections – YouTube – iTunes – Martin Lewis, Stanford
- International Politics – Feed – Johns Hopkins
- Introduction to German Politics – iTunes – Feed – Andreas Busch, Oxford University
- Introduction to Political Philosophy – YouTube – iTunes –Download Course, Steven B. Smith, Yale
- Introduction to Political Theory – Feed – UCLA
- Issues in Foreign Policy after 911 – iTunes – Feed – MP3s – Harry Kriesler, UC Berkeley
- Justice: A Journey in Moral Reasoning (Video) – Video – Michael Sandel, Harvard
- Perspectives on China (Video) – Video – Roderick MacFarquhar, Harvard
- Politics and Strategy – Feed – MP3s – Kathleen Bawn, UCLA
- Republicanism – Feed - Johns Hopkins
- Theories of Law and Society – iTunes – Feed - David Lieberman, UC Berkeley
- Undergrad Colloquium on Political Science – iTunes – Feed – Alan Ross, UC Berkeley
One other excellent (although longer course) is this one from Professor Charles Anderson.
Dr. Charles Anderson situates classical thinkers in their times and shows how they foreshadow major changes in Western thought. He also applies their theories to contemporary political, social, and economic concerns in an engaging manner. You will find these thinkers also brought to life as persons, often real characters with some contradictions and even irritating qualities. In the lectures on Socrates, pay attention to his likening of Socrates to an irritating guy who sidles up to you in a Northwoods bar and peppers you with puzzling questions until you want to brush him off.
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