Political Philosophy: The State

What is the state or polity? How does it relate to law? Is it necessarily or ideally a corporate agent? If so, can its power be distributed among separate bodies? How does it relate to the people? Can the people be the sovereign? What are the limitations on what, by its nature, the state can or may do? How can or may it act in determining property, finance and the rights of corporations? The course covers questions like these, drawing both on classical figures like Bodin, Hobbes, Locke, Kant and Rousseau and contemporary legal and political philosophers.