GV302 Contemporary Political Theory 11th May
Hobbes segments Past Exam Questions
WK 1: Introduction:
sovereignty, constituent
power and government
WK 2: Hobbes, Leviathan I,
Man and the state of nature
WK 3: Hobbes, Leviathan II,
Social contract
WK 4: Hobbes, Leviathan III
Sovereignty and
government
WK 5: Hobbes, Liberty and
Resistance
Rousseau segments
WK 7: Rousseau and the
state of nature
WK 8: Rousseau and the
social contract
WK 9: Rousseau and the
lawgiver
WK 10: Rousseau and
sovereignty
WK 11: Rousseau and the
constitution
FR segments
WK 12: Sovereignty during
the French Revolution
WK 13: Sieyes and
sovereignty
WK 14: Sieyes and the
constitution
WK 15: The outcome of the
revolution
WK 16: The heritage of the
revolution in France
Schmitt segments
PRACTICE QUESTIONS
Is Hobbes a democrat and/or a theorist of democracy?
Is equality the founding principle of Hobbes theory of the state?
Who is the sovereign in Hobbes theory?
Why is the represented an artificial Person and is the
representative an artificial Person too?
When and how do the people exercise the sovereign authority?
2015Q5: The Laws of Nature oblige in foro interno; that is to say,
they bind to a desire they should take place: but in foro externo;
that is, to the putting them in act, not always. What is Hobbes
saying here, and what is his argument for it?
2015Q6: As Rousseau rightly pointed out, Hobbess state of
nature is a state of war only because of his pessimistic view of
human nature. Discuss.
2014Q13: Hobbes says that in the war of all against all, there is
no place for notions of right and wrong, justice and injustice. Do
you agree?
2014Q15: Does Hobbess political theory have a place for
democracy?
Past Exam Questions
PRACTICE QUESTIONS
Rousseau was not a democrat. Discuss
What is the role of the people in Rousseaus theory?
How is the general will seized?
What is the relationship between sovereign, government and
population?
What is the function of the legislator in Rousseaus system?
2015Q13: For Rousseau, material inequality is bad not in itself
(e.g. as being unjust or contrary to natural law), but because of its
effects. Discuss.
2015Q14: What do you think Rousseau meant by the general
will? How does it preserve freedom?
2015Q15: What are Rousseaus view on political representation?
Do you think they are correct?
Past Exam Questions
PRACTICE QUESTIONS
Did the political theorists of the French Revolution re-define the
concept of a republic?
Was representation the central issue in the political debates of
the French Revolution?
How did different understandings of freedom inform conceptions
of popular power?
The distinction between constituent power and constituted order
lies at the basis of modern constitutional states. Discuss with
reference to representation.
Past Exam Questions
 WK 18: The context of
Weimar
WK 19: Schmitt and the
concept of the political
WK 20: Schmitt and
Sovereignty
WK 21: Schmitts critique of
Liberal Parliamentarianism
WK 22: Sovereignty,
government and constituent
power in the twentieth
century
PRACTICE QUESTIONS
Is Carl Schmitts analysis of the Weimar Constitution a logical
extension of his understanding of the political?
Democracy can exist without what one today calls
parlamentarism and parlamentarism without democracy.
Discuss
Democracy is the opposite of liberalism. Discuss
Dictatorship is just as little the definitive antithesis of democracy
as democracy is of dictatorship. Discuss.
How does Schmitt attempt to reconcile Hobbes & Sieyes theories
of representation?
On what grounds does Schmitt reject parlamentarism and what is
Schmitts preferred regime form?
What is Schmitts critique of liberal constitutionalism? How
convincing do you find this critique?