HIST 103 Rethinking Democracy: A History of Ideas and Practices

This course takes place under the shadow of an unprecedented threat to our democracy. That threat starts with an attempted coup sanctioned by one of the country's major political parties--undermining the peaceful transfer of power that has been the hallmark of American democracy for over two centuries. But the threat does not end there. The country is experiencing growing disparities between rich and poor, a radical loss of faith in its institutions, as well as the erosion of civil society with its democracy-sustaining ethics of reciprocity, humility and compromise.

This course seeks to address this ominous state of affairs (however modestly) by recovering the history of democratic debate and practice. We will explore the history of ideas that have contributed to the thickening of democratic practice in thinkers such as Aristotle, Montaigne, Locke, Rousseau, Wollstonecraft, Tocqueville, Mill, and C.L.R. James. We will supplement their contributions with four “case studies'' of democratic experiments. After examining the raucous, participatory democracy of Ancient Greece (with its limited suffrage and election by lottery), we will turn to the Levellers/Diggers in 17th century England, the Haitian interpretation of the French Revolution in the 18th century, and the efforts of Utopian communities to reimagine democracy in 19th Century America. Our goal throughout this course is to develop a clear-eyed understanding of the history of democratic ideas and practices in the hope of recovering the resources your generation will need in the struggles to come.

Prerequisite

None

Core Requirements Met

• Pre-1800
• Global Connections