Index#: 07581
Will Count Towards Political Science MAJOR
Will Count Towards Political Science MINOR
For the last century or so most economic systems around the world have called themselves capitalist or socialist, while most political systems have called themselves democratic. The number of democracies rose quite suddenly with the end of dictatorships in Europe, Latin America, and East Asia in the 1980s and ‘90s and during that time the ultimate question that needed to be answered was whether economic development or democratization came first. Since the financial crisis of 2007-09, though, the number of democracies has been falling, authoritarian models of development have been succeeding, and populist movements have risen around the world. The Reagan-Thatcher orthodoxies of the 1980s and 1990s that won the Cold War are under unprecedented challenge. What was once generally understood dogma --the Washington Consensus, US-led mutual defense treaties, and even the World Trade Organization --are under challenge by anti-democratic or anti-capitalist movements.
This course explores the philosophical and historical relationship between capitalism, socialism and democracy. For the first part of the course we will see how and why capitalism and socialism emerged in the nineteenth century as the result of the rise of liberal thinking. We then trace its spread in the 20thcentury through political and economic theory. Finally, we tackle the question of the proper relationship between capitalism and democracy and address the question of whether there is a future for socialism and then a future for democracy.
At its heart, this is a course about liberalism. The world you and I live in is a product of the European Enlightenment and its political philosophy, liberalism. With few exceptions, you, I, and everyone around us are liberals. What this term means, and how it relates to our lives and our futures, is the rationale for this course.
About Professor Field
WILLIAM FIELD earned his BA from Connecticut College 1983, PhD from Brandeis University 1995. Prof. Field studied at Nuffield College, Oxford, while in graduate school and at the University of Bonn in then-West Germany as an undergraduate. Current research interests explore the intersection of religion and politics.