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Politics is about legitimacy, not just officeholding
The course treats politics as a debate over justified power, obligation, freedom, and redress, which is broader and deeper than a simple survey of institutions or elections.
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01:790:101 · Political Science · School 01 — New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences
Nature of Politics is Rutgers Political Science's introductory political theory course, using major texts from the Western canon and later critiques to ask what power, freedom, justice, citizenship, racism, and self-determination mean in political life.
Can I take it?
Rutgers Schedule of Classes
How hard?
Students rate teaching
SIRS · 2,295 responses · 2014–2025
Spring 2027
6 open in snapshot · 1 instructor
When it meets
College Avenue
Checked-in sections · current seat counts are unavailable.
MW 3:50 PM · College Avenue · 6 sections · 6 open
AI-generated overview
Higher means more demanding · AI summary
5 units · topic sequence may vary by instructor
The course description says this class is historical and conceptual, and the syllabus confirms that by opening with texts that ask what counts as power, whether force can be just, and why political subjects obey or resist. The early weeks treat political theory as argument rather than memorized fact.
A large middle section pivots from classical theory to the language of liberal institutions, property, and the market. Here the course asks how freedom gets attached to contracts, ownership, and institutions, and then immediately tests those ideas against critiques of exclusion and inequality.
The syllabus then moves from canon-building to canon-challenging texts on race and domination. Instead of treating racism as a side topic, this module makes it central to political theory by asking how freedom and citizenship were historically distributed through racial hierarchy.
Later readings shift from diagnosing domination to debating how freedom should be rebuilt. The official syllabus groups abolitionist writing, civil-rights argument, and Black feminist critique into a sequence about political remedy, solidarity, and the limits of narrow legal inclusion.
The course ends by widening the map of political theory again through Indigenous perspectives on sovereignty, jurisdiction, and land. That closing move matters because it shows the class is not only about learning famous thinkers, but also about revising what counts as politics and who gets to define it.
Public Rutgers discussion usually describes Nature of Politics as reading- and theory-heavy rather than technically difficult: students often say it is straightforward to do well when they keep up with the arguments, but much less pleasant if they want a low-reading memorization course. Threads also make clear that format and feel vary noticeably by instructor.
The course treats politics as a debate over justified power, obligation, freedom, and redress, which is broader and deeper than a simple survey of institutions or elections.
Across the syllabus, freedom appears as participation, property, market liberty, abolition, civil rights, and self-determination, so one of the class's main lessons is that the word changes meaning across traditions.
The course starts with familiar Western political theory but then uses anti-racist, feminist, and Indigenous critiques to show how canonical frameworks can exclude or distort political life.
To succeed, students have to identify what a text is arguing, what concept it is redefining, what evidence it uses, and what vision of collective life it makes possible.
Common pitfall
Instead
After each assignment, write one sentence for the author's main claim, one for the key concept, and one for what the author thinks politics should do.
Common pitfall
Instead
Remember that the class asks you to evaluate and compare interpretations, not just repeat what each thinker said.
Common pitfall
Instead
The race, abolition, feminism, and Indigenous-sovereignty units are not side notes; they are central to how the course reframes the meaning of freedom.
Common pitfall
Instead
Build around a claim of your own about how a concept such as property, power, or citizenship works across the texts.
6 open · College Avenue
| Section | Status | Instructor | Meeting | Campus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0116385 | Open | Elena Gambino | Monday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at SC 135; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at SC 135; Wednesday 10:20 AM-11:40 AM at HH A6SC 135HH A6 | College Avenue |
| 0216386 | Open | Elena Gambino | Monday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at SC 135; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at SC 135; Tuesday 12:10 PM-1:30 PM at FH A2SC 135FH A2 | College Avenue |
| 0316387 | Open | Elena Gambino | Monday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at SC 135; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at SC 135; Tuesday 10:20 AM-11:40 AM at FH B1SC 135FH B1 | College Avenue |
| 0416388 | Open | Elena Gambino | Monday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at SC 135; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at SC 135; Tuesday 10:20 AM-11:40 AM at HH A3SC 135HH A3 | College Avenue |
| 0516389 | Open | Elena Gambino | Monday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at SC 135; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at SC 135; Thursday 2:00 PM-3:20 PM at CA A3SC 135CA A3 | College Avenue |
| H116390 | Open | Elena Gambino | Monday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at SC 135; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at SC 135; Tuesday 12:10 PM-1:30 PM at FH B6SC 135FH B6 | College Avenue |
Historical student surveys
Teaching
4.45
Course quality
4.37
Response rate
47.1%
Coverage
59 offerings · 2014–2025
| Instructor | Offerings | Teaching | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bailey Eaise | 13 | 4.75 | 4.65 |
| Kyle Murphy | 5 | 4.80 | 4.64 |
| Richards | 4 | 4.50 | 4.50 |
| Minhyuk Hwang | 4 | 4.45 | 4.50 |
| William Field | 4 | 4.50 | 4.40 |
| Hwang | 4 | 4.35 | 4.25 |
Catalog and planning context
Credits
3
Current campuses
College Avenue
Current availability
6 open of 6
Catalog terms
Fall, Spring, Summer
Core codes
GVT, SCL, SOEHS
Loaded terms
6
No prerequisite note appears in the checked-in Rutgers catalog snapshots.
No direct degree-list membership appears in the checked-in requirement index.