CG1 - Students will acquire a deeper and more specific knowledge of the disciplines inherent to American Studies.
GC2 - Students will be able to use the acquired preparation as a resource and reference model through which to adequately solve theoretical and practical issues related to the different areas of specialization that are achieved through the itineraries suggested in the training program of this degree.
CG3 - Students will be able to learn in a continuous, autonomous and self-directed way, developing new approaches and analytical methods within American Studies.
CG4 - Students will be familiar with the most recent innovations in the field of American Studies.
CG5 - Students will acquire the skills necessary to conduct a research paper.
CG6 - Students will apply theoretical and analytical contributions from different fields of knowledge in pursuit of the same scientific objective during their participation in the sessions, through group work, in written papers and in their dissertations.
CB6 - Possess and understand knowledge that provides a basis or opportunity to be original in the development and/or application of ideas, often in a research context.
CB7 - That students know how to apply their acquired knowledge and problem-solving skills in new or unfamiliar environments within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to their area of study.
CB8 - That students are able to integrate knowledge and deal with the complexity of making judgments based on incomplete or limited information, including reflections on the social and ethical responsibilities associated with the application of their knowledge and judgments.

CE1 - Students will be able to question the validity of relativistic assertions about American idiosyncrasies.
CE2 - Students will be able to discern the various milestones of American political and cultural history in both their dyschrony and synchrony.
CE3 - Students will be able to carry out a research work with an adequate structure, clear writing, solid argumentation and respecting all the rules of citation and relation of sources typical of this type of work and assimilating the theories or opinions exposed in other studies on the subject.
CE5 - Students will have the ability to interpret and evaluate all types of current American texts (press, advertising, reports, communiqués, scientific or economic texts, ideological, historical, literary texts, etc.) revealing their ideology, objectives, and function.
CE6 - Students will have a global vision of transatlantic cultural, political and historical relations from the creation of New England to the present day.
CE7 - Students will be able to take inter- and multidisciplinary approaches to American cultural constructs, regardless of their nature.

40%

40%

20%

100%

1,5

3,5

1

General admission requirements for the master's degree

This course addresses the history of North American political thought following two main research lines. On one side, we will focus the relation between theory and praxis in the origins and development of North American political thought; on the other side, we will point out the relation between American political thought and European intellectual legacy. To this end, we will analyze selected works of some of the most relevant modern and contemporary thinkers in order to acknowledge the elaboration of political ideas in the United States. Particularly, we will focus on the notions of revolution, public happiness, and democracy. In the first part of the course, we will analyze the principles of the North American political tradition, focusing on the key moment of the Revolution. In the second part of the course, we will analyze the work of the German-Jewish émigrés Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss and their influence on contemporary North American political theory. Finally, we will approach the current crisis of democracy and the development of neoliberalism, through the work of the philosophers Judith Butler and Wendy Brown. 

 

The 20% of the final grade is based on one practical exercise to be realized during the course (oral presentations). The remaining 80% is based on the final paper on one of the topics of the course. Attendance and active participation in class are highly recommended and will be positively evaluated.

Arendt, Hannah. On Revolution. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1975.
Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge and London, 1992.
Bailyn, Bernard (editor). The Debate on the Constitution. Library of America. New York, 2005
Becker, Carl. The Declaration of Independence. Knopf, New York, 1966.
Bellah, R. The Broken Covenant. American Civil Religion in Time of Trial. University of Chicago Press, 1992.
Brown, Wendy. States of Injury. Power and Freedom in Late Modernity. Princeton University Press. Princeton 1995.
Brown Wendy. Undoing the Demos. Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution. Zone Books. New York 2015.
Butler, Judith. Precarious life. The Power of Mourning and Violence. Verso. New York 2004.
Fox, Richard Weightman. A Companion to American Thought. Oxford 1998.
Franklin, Benjamin. Writings. Library of America. New York, 2005.
Hamilton, A con J. Madison y J. Jay. The Federalist Papers. Edited and with an introduction by Clinton Rossiter. Penguin Books. New York 1961.
Jefferson, Thomas. Writings. Library of America. New York 1984.
Jefferson, Thomas. The life and selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson. Edited and with an Introduction by Adrienne Koch and William Peden. The Modern Library, New York 1993.
Johnson, Paul. A History of the American People. Weidenfeld and Nicholson. London 1997.
Strauss, Leo. Thoughts on Machiavelli. University of Chicago Press. Chicago 1987.
Strauss, Leo. Persecution and the Art of Writing. University of Chicago Press. Chicago 1987.

You will find complete and updated information about this course in the syllabus that would be available in the Campus Virtual before the beginning of the semester.