Section Info: POLIT-387TH-01

Course Title: Advanced Topics in Politics: 'Conservative Political Thought'

Start Date: 01/27/2026 End Date: 05/12/2026

Term: Spring Semester 2026

Description: This course surveys the development of conservative political thought in the West, with emphasis on the United States, tracing its evolution from Edmund Burke and Russell Kirk through contemporary figures such as J.D. Vance, Patrick Deneen, Sohrab Ahmari, and Adrian Vermeule. Students will examine conservative arguments about tradition, authority, order, freedom, the economy, and the relationship between church and state, as well as internal tensions and transformations across time and place. Readings also include conservative appropriations of earlier thinkers-ranging from Plato to Thomas Aquinas-showing how classical and medieval ideas have been reinterpreted for modern conservatism.

Distribution(s): III - Social Sciences , SI - Speaking-Intensive , WI - Writing-Intensive , TP - Topics Course

Academic Level Of Course: Undergraduate

Credits:4.00

Faculty	Phone	Email address
Kevin Henderson		khenderson@mtholyoke.edu

Meeting Dates	Method	Meeting days	Meeting times	Building name	Room	Frequency
01/27/2026 - 05/12/2026	Seminar	Tuesday and Thursday	03:15PM - 04:30PM	TBA	TBA	Weekly

REGISTRATION DETAILS

Requisite Courses
None

Comments

Additional Comments

Course Tags

Cross-listed Sections

None

Course Availability
Section status: Waitlisted	Capacity: 18	Enrollment: 18	Available: 0	Waitlist: 11

Please note: The "Available" count will equal 0 in a Waitlisted course where spaces in the course have recently opened and students have not yet been moved into them from the waitlist.

BOOK INFORMATION

Book List	Required	Publisher Full Price
To be determined.

Additional Book Comments

This is NOT the complete book list for this class.