3.0

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Much of international politics in the last century can be described as a conflict between liberal democracy and its modern critics. During this period the values and political structures of liberal democracy have been extended to more parts of the world than ever before. Yet the same era has seen the emergence of powerful challengers to liberal democracy from both the right and the left. The resulting clash of ideologies defined such conflicts as World War II and the Cold War. And in our time critics of liberal democracy in Russia, China, and political Islam are central opponents of the American-led world order. In this course, we will survey both the intellectual roots of Fascism, National Socialism, and Communism, as well as contemporary critics of liberal democracy in Russia, China, and the Islamic world. Among those whose ideas we will examine are Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin, Benito Mussolini, Carl Schmitt, Syed Qutb, Ayatollah Khomeini, Alexander Dugin, Wang Huning, Jiang Qing, and Zhang Weiwei This course counts towards the Security Studies concentration.