CLSOCPS001 - On Democracy
Responding to the current threats faced by democracy and constitutional government both in the U.S. and globally, this course examines the conditions under which democracies fail and flourish. The course links contemporary debates in political theory to historical examples from the 18th century via the Weimar Republic to the present. In the history of political thought, as much as in the history of the modern state, democracy remains a fragile and unfinished project, with the main threats coming from inside democracy itself. The question is whether, and how, we are able to learn from past failures and successes in order to understand the gravity of the current situation and bolster the ethos of a responsible democratic form of political citizenship in the present.
Course Details
Christian J. Emden, Ph.D., is Frances Moody Newman Professor, Professor of German Intellectual History and Political Thought, and chair of the Department of Modern and Classical Literatures and Cultures at Rice University. He is also a founding director of the Program in Politics, Law & Social Thought. Dr. Emden’s work focuses on modern German and European intellectual history with an emphasis on political thought. His research explores varieties of political realism, particularly the relationship between active political citizenship and the constitutional demands of the modern state. He is also interested in postnational manifestations of political citizenship. Dr. Emden is completing a book on philosophical nihilism in modern European political thought. He is also writing a book entitled “Hannah Arendt, Political Theory and American Empire.” Dr. Emden is one of the chief editors of the journal Nietzsche-Studien, and he is also on the editorial board of the Journal of Nietzsche Studies.
On campus
This course will be delivered on campus/in person. Classroom and parking information will be sent prior to your course start date.
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- Democracy Under Threat: An Overview
- Paradoxes of Democracy: The Founding Moment
- The Death of a Constitution: Lessons from the Weimar Republic
- Undoing Democracy: The Neoliberal Predicament
- Populism and Illiberal Democracy: Before and After Trump
- The Legitimacy of Democracy
Department of Modern and Classical Literatures and Cultures, Rice University; Program in Politics, Law & Social Thought, Rice University