Political Theory - Senior Thesis

As a subfield, political theory is not limited by content or topic; instead, it is shaped by method of analysis. A political theory project might explore topics in American Politics, International Relations, Comparative Politics, Public Administration, or Public Law. The difference in a theory project is that it will center a core analytical theoretical framework (rooted in one or more core political theorists within the subfield of political theory) from which it will analyze the topic. Ultimately, a political theory version of senior thesis is open to a very wide variety of topics. Projects here might sit with a particular concept (e.g., freedom, equality, property, citizenship) and trace its usage across a variety of texts (theory texts, speeches, policy documents, films, TV shows, news media, etc.). Other projects might focus on a key political thinker/activist and their contribution to relevant debates (e.g., Emma Goldman, W.E.B Du Bois, Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X, John Rawls, Carole Pateman, Friedreich Nietzsche, bell hooks, Michel Foucault, Charles Mills, Gloria Anzaldúa, etc.). While others might explore alternatives to our current political, cultural, and/or economic systems (such as anarchism, cooperatives, a universal basic income, etc.) or critically expose the workings of white supremacy, colonialism, capitalist oppression, patriarchy, intersectional forms of oppression, etc. within a political, cultural, discursive, and/or economic process of interest to you (e.g., policies and/or court decisions related to voting, housing, climate change, reproductive justice, environmental justice, or health justice; or perhaps discourse within popular culture, news media, social media). The focus here is critically oriented and the starting place for all political theory theses will be in close interpretive textual analysis and reconstruction of core concepts and methodological and political commitments of some set of core political thinkers (e.g., anarchists, feminists, liberal theorists, critical race theorists, decolonial theorists, postmodern theorists, indigenous theorists, Marxist theorists, etc.). Where you go from this starting place is up to you!

Political Theory Analytical Frameworks Taught in PLS Courses

PLS 2040, Introduction to Political Thought (the social contract tradition, postmodern theory, feminist theory, critical race theory, indigenous political theory, Marxist theory)

PLS 3311, Ancient and Medieval Political Thought (this is its own approach often categorized by thinker, Plato versus Aristotle, Socrates, etc.)

PLS 3321, Modern Political Thought (analytical political theory, postmodern theory, decolonial theory, anarchist thought and cooperatives, critical race theory, women of color feminism)

PLS 3331, American Political Thought (analytical political theory, critical race theory, indigenous political thought, feminist theory, Marxist theory, racial capitalism, critical American political development)

PLS 3345, Feminist Political Theory (liberal feminism, socialist feminism, radical feminism, postmodern feminism, intersectional feminism, feminist standpoint theory, indigenous feminist theory, postcolonial feminist theory, decolonial feminist theory)

PLS 4360, Contemporary Political Theory (analytical political theory, libertarian theory, critical race theory, liberal feminism, postmodern theory, neo-republican theory via Hannah Arendt, identitarian theory via Iris Marion Young, intersectional feminist theory, critical American political development)

PLS 4365, Contemporary Issues in Feminist Political Theory (different approaches within feminist political theory as applied to a specific contemporary feminist issue, such as workplace justice, reproductive justice; exact topic and feminist lens varies by year)

PLS 4375, Coalitional Activism: Women of Color Feminist Interventions (postmodern feminism, intersectional feminism, women of color feminism, indigenous feminist theory, decolonial feminist theory)

PLS 4381, Environmental Political Theory (critical environmental theory drawing from decolonial, feminist, postmodernism, and other lenses)

*PLS 4205, American Political Institutions and Behavior (when Dr. Taylor or Dr. Hargis teaches it) (critical American political development, critical race theory, feminist theory, intersectional feminism)

*PLS 4250, Women and Politics in America (when Dr. Taylor teaches it) (liberal feminism, radical feminism, intersectional feminism, women of color feminism)

*Indicates an American Politics class that is taught via a “theory” lens

Past PLS Theses in Political Theory (sample titles)

A New Voice Against Porn: Making the Case for a Socialist Feminist Critique of Pornography Redlining and the Roots of Inequality: How the Racial Contract Shapes Health Disparities Today o w HistoyHi
A Modified Carceral Feminist Approach to Lenient Sentencing for Sexual Assault Perpetrators
Maintaining White Democracy: How Citizens United and Shelby County Reinforce White Political Dominance
The Politics of Knowledge: Epistemic Violence and Colonial Subjugation in the USA and Philippines
Policing Black Motherhood: Reconstructing Dorothy Roberts’ Notion of Liberty
The Dangers of Tradwife Culture on Mexican-American Women: A Chicana Feminist Encounter
The Electoral College’s Hidden Cost: Using Critical American Political Development to Expose the Connection between the Electoral College and the Dobbs v Jackson Decision
Making Deals with the Devil: An Analysis of American Involvement in the Camp David Accord
An Intersectional Feminist Reading of The Handmaid’s Tale for the Sake of Exposing Reproductive Oppression in a Dobbs World
Beyond Neoliberalism: Breaking Free from Neoliberal Solutions to Climate Crisis
Super or Superiority: Breaking Down the Issues of White Supremacy in Superhero Media
Relational Equality: Rethinking Political Equality in Light of Citizenship and Liability
A Theory of Property: Using Locke to Answer, Can Whales be Owned?
Equality of Opportunity in Libertarianism
Revisiting Feminist Standpoint Theory with María Lugones
“Canceling” the American Left and Right
A Critical Encounter with Intersectional Intimate Justice