Advanced Placement
Comparative Government

mr. crawford

Unit One, Part I

It is no coincidence that the major revolutions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries followed a flurry of philosophical radicalism. It is also apparent that much of the world today continues to be divided and governed according to rival political philosophies. The fundamental basis of all political philosophy remains centered around the concepts of justice and freedom. The ideas that people are equal and should be treated equally, that people should equally share the material production of society, that people have natural rights that no one and no government should take away from them--these ideas have all been the subject of constant debate . . . and sometimes violent conflict. This unit will serve as an introduction to the philosophers who emphasized the study of people in society. It will pay particular attention to their observations on the nature of humanity, their descriptions of the basis for human society, and their abstract visions of the ideal state

Questions and Concepts:

• What is human nature?
• What is a community? A nation?
• What are the goals of a community?
• Do human beings have abstract claims on each other in the form of "rights," or "privileges"?
• How are "rights" distinguished from "justice," "equality," and "freedom" ?
• What is the nature of the state? What is its purpose?
• What constitutes a good state?
• How much should the state serve the people, and how much should the people serve the state?
• When, if ever, do the people have the right to overthrow a law, the government, or the state?

Vocabulary: