A critical examination of the political theories of major thinkers of the modern period and the development of these ideas in contemporary political thought. We will investigate such issues as the origin and purpose of political societies, the nature of political power, and the concepts of authority and sovereignty, law, liberty, civil disobedience and revolution. We will consider the writings of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Mill, Marx, Martin Luther King Jr. and Rawls, among others. Fall semester, alternate years.