Module Convenor: Professor Humeira Iqtidar

Module Aims 

Students in the course will:

1. Develop a nuanced understanding of the implications of Eurocentricity and limitations of existing approaches to Political Theory and Political Thought.
2. Develop an understanding of twentieth century political thought from the Global South and Asia in particular.
3. Develop an understanding of trends across select religious traditions with a special focus on Islamic political thought.
4. Develop an understanding of new methodological options in political theory.

Assessment: The word count includes in-text references and footnotes but not the bibliography.

• Focusing on any one of the primary texts, critically evaluate the author’s conception of sovereignty: 2000-word essay (50% of overall module mark).
• Focusing on any of the primary texts, critically evaluate the author’s conception of justice: 2000-word essay (50% of overall module mark).

Programme and readings 

Session 1: Global Political Thought or Comparative Political Theory?

Required Readings

Chakrabarty, Dipesh. 2000. Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference.

Princeton University Press

Euben, Roxanne. 1997. ‘Premodern, Antimodern or Postmodern? Islamic and Western critiques of Modernity’, Review of Politics 49:3, 429-59

Seth, Sanjay. 2009. ‘Historical Sociology and Postcolonial Theory: Two Strategies for Challenging Eurocentrism’, International Political Sociology 3:3, 334-8.

Moyn, Samuel, & Sartori, Andrew. 2013. “Approaches to Global Intellectual History” in S. Moyn & A. Sartori (Eds.), Global Intellectual History. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 3–30

Additional Readings

March, Andrew 2009. “What is Comparative Political Theory?” Review of Politics, Vol. 71, No. 4, Fall 2009, pp. 531-565.

Godrej, Farah “Response to ‘What is Comparative Political Theory?’” Review of Politics, 71 (2009),

567–582

Godrej, Farah, Cosmopolitan Political Thought: Method, Practice, Discipline (New York: Oxford, 2011

Session 2: Methodological Innovations  Required Readings

Jenco, Leigh. 2007. “‘What Does Heaven Ever Say?’ A Methods-Centered Approach to Cross-Cultural Engagement” American Political Science Review 101, no. 4

Joshua Simon “Institutions, Ideologies, and Comparative Political Theory,” Perspectives on Politics. pp. 1–16- online first view.

Iqtidar, Humeira. 2016. “Redefining Tradition in Political Thought”, European Journal of Political Theory, Vol. 15(4) 424–444

Additional Readings

Thomas, Megan. 2010. “Orientalism and Comparative Political Theory”, Review of Politics, 72/4: 653-677

Session 3: Colonialism and Democracy   Required Reading

1. K. Gandhi, Hind Swaraj (1909), chapters 4-8, 13-17, conclusion

Additional Reading

Mehta, Uday Sing. 2010. “Gandhi on democracy, politics and the ethics of everyday life” Modern Intellectual History. 7(2), pp. 355–371

Mantena, Karuna. 2012. “Another Realism: The Politics of Gandhian Non-violence” American Political Science Review, 106/2: 455-470

Session 4: Race and Class Required Reading

C.L.R James. 1963[1938]. The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Overture and the San Domingo Revoluation. Vintage Books.

Additional Reading

Scott, David. 2010. “Antinomies of Slavery, Enlightenment, and Universal History”. Small Axe 1 November, 14 (3 (33)): 152–162.

Pitts, Jennifer. 2010. “Political Theory of Empire and Imperialism”, Annual Review of Political Science, 13, pp. 211–35

Session 5. Nationalism and Sovereignty Required Reading

Maududi, Abul ‘Ala. 1941. Nationalism and India, Lahore: Tarjuman-ul-Quran

Additional Reading

Zaman, Muhammad Qasim, “The Sovereignty of God in Modern Islamic Thought.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 25, no. 3 (2015): 389–418.

Humeira Iqtidar, “Jizya Against Nationalism: Abul Ala Maududi’s Attempt at Decolonizing Political Theory” Journal of Politics, 2021, 83/3: 1145-57

READING WEEK

Session 6: Violence

Required Reading

Fanon, Franz.1968 [1961]. Wretched of the Earth. Vintage.

Additional Reading

Shilliam, Robbie. Colonial Architecture or Relatable Hinterlands? Locke, Nandy, Fanon and the Bandung Spirit, Constellations. prepublication

Burke, Edmund. 1976. Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth, Daedalus, Winter, Vol. 105, No. 1: 127-135 Wallerstein, Emmanual. 1970. Frantz Fanon: Reason and Violence. Berkeley Journal of Sociology Vol. 15: 222-231

Session 7: Revolution and/or Reform  Required Reading

Sayyid Qutb ((1964) 2005) Milestones, American Trust Publications

Additional Reading

Andrew March, “Taking People as They Are: Islam as a ‘Realistic Utopia’ in the Political Theory of Sayyid Qutb” American Political Science Review, Vol. 104, No. 1, pp. 189-207, February 2010

Hallaq, Wael. 2014. The Impossible State: Islam, Politics and Modernity’s Moral Predicament. Chapter 4, The Legal, The Moral and The Political.

Session 8: Justice

Required Reading

Ali Shariati. 1980.  Marxism and other Western Fallacies: An Islamic Critique, trans. R. Campbell, Mizan Press.

Additional Reading

Bayat, Asef. 1990. “ Shariati and Marx: A Critique of the ‘Islamic’ Critique of Marxism” Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, No. 10, Marxism and the Critical Discourse / 19-41

Sadeghi-Bourjerdi Eskander. 2020. “Shariati, Anti-Capitalism, and the Promise of the “Third World” Philosophy and Global Affairs, first view

Session 9 Political Economy Required Reading

Kwame Nkrumah (1970) Africa Must Unite, New York: International Publishers.

Additional Reading

James, Leslie. Blood Brothers: Colonialism and Fascism as Relations in the Interwar Caribbean and West Africa, The American Historical Review, Volume 127, Issue 2, June 2022, Pages 634–663

Session 10: Mobilization

Required Reading

Mao Zedong. 1930. Oppose book worship https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selectedworks/volume–6/mswv6_11.htm

-1937. On Practice

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected–works/volume–1/mswv1_16.htm

-1937 On Contradiction

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected–works/volume–1/mswv1_17.htm

Additional Reading

Badiou, Alain. 2005. “The Cultural Revolution: The Last Revolution?” (Translated by Bruno Bosteels) Positions, 13/3, Winter: 481-514

20th Century Global Political Thought 6SSPP348, 2025-26

Module Specific Marking Criteria

Comparative Political Theory

Building on the DPE marking criteria, and the general KCL marking criteria, this module requires your essays to demonstrate the following:

• Thorough engagement with the required readings. You are very welcome to expand to further readings suggested or to other material, but not at the expense of the required reading.

• A clear engagement with the essay question rather than other issues discussed in lectures or readings. The essay question was not ‘answered’ in any one lecture.

• As discussed in classes as well, there is no right or wrong answer. There is no requirement to claim a ‘best’ theory status for any particular writer or tradition of thought, and there is no expectation that you will agree with the authors and their writings on the required reading list. In fact, as I have mentioned in the lectures, I don’t agree with many of the authors I have included in the reading list. However, there is an expectation that you will give serious consideration to their ideas and have clear arguments about why they are not convincing.

20th Century Global Political Thought 6SSPP348, 2025-26