Pol. Sc. 352: Course Title: History of Political Thought

UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

UNDERGRADUATE EXAMINATION

Session: 2012/2013

Semester: Second

Course code: Pol. Sc. 352

Course Title: History of Political Thought

Unit Load: 2

Instruction: Answer question 1 and any three others.

1. Critically analyze the status of women in the polity according to the following philosophers: Nicollo Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Fredrick Hegel, J.S. Mill, and Karl Marx.
2. With reference to appropriate literature analyze the logic of dialectics according to Fredrick Hegel and Karl Marx.
3. Critically discuss the philosophy of civil disobedience as espoused by Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jeremy Bentham.
4. Discuss the notion of human nature according to Nicollo Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jeremy Bentham.
5. Relate the utilitarian philosophers of Bentham and Mills to the upsurge of Boko Haram, the Niger Delta Struggle, and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra in Nigeria.
6. While states like Germany, France, and Spain experienced a measure of stability arising from the existence of strong monarchies, Italy buckled under internal disorganization and external aggression. Comment on Machiavellian advice to the Prince on “the end justifies the means”.
7. Analyze the relationship between the social contract and utilitarian theorists in the Nigerian context.
8. Compare and contrast the political philosophers of Nnamdi Azikiwe and Kwame Nkrumah.