SYLLABUS - CMC PPE



PPE POLITICS SEMINAR AND TUTORIALSPRING 2020PPE Politics Seminar (PPE011A) and Politics Tutorial (PPE011B)Seminar: Kravis 334 Thursday (and sometimes on Tuesday) 1:15-3:30Tutorial: KRV 332, Tuesday by appointmentProfessor Thomasgthomas@cmc.eduOffice Hours: W 1-3, F 2-4INTRODUCTIONWhy do human beings create political order? What does the creation of a political order entail? What makes it legitimate? Is there a best political order? What does it mean to belong to a political community? What does it take to sustain it? Why do political orders vary? Why do they fail? While such questions date back to Aristotle’s Politics, written sometime in the 4th century BC, they remain live questions. Today, we tend to think that a legitimate political order necessarily requires some form of democracy—usually with liberal or constitutional modifying democracy—linked to a market economy. Writing at the birth of such a modern political order, Alexander Hamilton insisted that government ought to be created based on the peoples’ “reflection and choice,” which he contrasted with “accident and force.” Yet can “accident” be avoided in creating political order? We might think of the study of Politics, or Political Science, as an effort to understand the conditions under which a stable, healthy, and just political order can be created. This is an enterprise that is at once normative and descriptive. It is philosophically informed: what kind of political community do we desire or think just? But it is also empirically bound: what kind of political community is possible given our circumstances? Political Science of this sort is concerned with the creation and development of institutions in empirical terms. Yet it is just as concerned with normative questions about the health and justice of the political order. Indeed, the relationship between ideas and institutions, the empirical and the normative, is at the heart of PPE. Exploring these connections invites us to think about politics as embracing more than governmental institutions; it encompasses aspects of life that we do not often think about as political. We will take a particular interest in how Politics intersects with Philosophy and Economics—both as disciplines and as subjects of study. We will consider how philosophy shapes political institutions, ideas, and culture. Similarly, we’ll take up arguments about economic development being essential to a healthy political order. TUTORIALTutorial is loosely modeled on the traditional Oxbridge model. You will write five tutorial papers over the semester (no more than 1500 words), as well as five comments on the tutorial paper of your partner (no more than 750 words). We will be split into two groups, a and b. Each group will have a tutorial paper due roughly every other week, and a comment paper due the alternate week. Tutorial is Tuesday. Tutorial questions will generally be emailed on Thursday prior to seminar. Papers must be e-mailed to me and to your tutorial partner by noon on Monday. We will have six sixty-minute tutorials throughout the day. Your paper and comments will provide the basis of tutorial discussion. As the writer, you will be expected to defend your analysis, arguments, and criticisms. As the commentator, you will be expected to evaluate the writer’s analysis and arguments, particularly the extent to which the writer does justice to the arguments in the relevant text and how effectively the writer speaks to the questions asked. Each tutorial paper (including discussion) will be worth 13% of your overall grade; each commentary (including discussion) will be worth 7% of your grade.SEMINARWe will meet on Thursday, though a few times throughout the semester we will meet on Tuesday as well. You are expected to have carefully and thoughtfully done the reading prior to each seminar and you are to be prepared to answer and discuss questions whether or not your hand is raised. Class discussions will elucidate the general problems and concepts we are discussing, but they will not settle such questions. Generally, questions to help focus seminar discussion will be emailed on Tuesday, but you are also expected to come with your own questions and thoughts drawn from the readings. Given the nature of discussion, it is likely that we will not discuss all facets of what you have read; yet the reading is an essential part of your education. The quality of your participation (including how thoughtfully and carefully you have done the reading) will make up 50% of your grade. The other 50% of your grade will be based on a research paper due at the end of the semester (May 13). A schedule of due dates for your topic, outline, bibliography, and rough draft will be given out before spring break. POLICIESCome to seminar and tutorial prepared, come with the text, and come on time. Given the nature of the tutorial, your tutorial papers must be in on time. Late papers and papers over the word count will be penalized. All components of both the tutorial and seminar must be completed to earn a passing grade. Participation obviously requires attendance, so excessive absences will result in automatic failure. Obviously, all work must be your own. If in doubt, cite! Possible violations of academic integrity will be reported to the Academic Standards Committee and vigorously prosecuted. Please turn your phones off and put them away; it will be good for your soul, not to mention class discussion. You may bring a computer or other electronic gadget, but it is to be used solely for accessing readings and taking notes—that means no Internet browsing! This is PPE so all of this should go without saying, but it’s now been said. TEXTSMichael Sandel, Democracy's Discontent, Francis Fukuyama, Political Order and Political Decay, Robert Putnam, Making Democracy Work, Patrick Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed, Ahmet Kuru, Secularism and State Policies Toward Religion, Stephen Holmes and Cass Sunstein, The Cost of Rights, Ganesh Sitaraman, The Crisis of the Middle Class Constitution, Jan-Werner Muller, What is Populism?, Tom Ginsburg and Aziz Huq, How to Save a Constitutional Democracy, Ayelet Shachar, The Birthright Lottery, and Sheri Berman, Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe. You may want to keep handy texts from the Philosophy section of PPE (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, Rawls, Nozick, Sen, and Brettschneider come to mind) and from Gov 20 (The Federalist Papers and Tocqueville’s Democracy in America). All other readings will be available on Sakai. I. Political Order and Political Decay Political Institutions and Political DevelopmentJan. 21: Francis Fukuyama, "The End of History?" Jan. 23: Fukuyama, Political Order and Political Decay, Intro, ch. 1-3, 27-30Jan. 28:Tutorial (a paper, b comment) Fukuyama, Political Order and Political Decay, ch. 35-36Jan. 30:a. Sheri Berman, Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe, ch.1, 18b. Bruce Ackerman, “The New Separation of Powers” (pgs: 634-671) Fukuyama, Political Order and Political Decay, ch. 34Feb. 4:Tutorial (b paper, a comment)John Finn, “Constitutional Dissolution in the Weimar Republic”Nomi Lazar, “Making Emergencies Safe for Democracy”Liberal Democracy: Shortcomings and AlternativesFeb. 6: Michael Sandel, Democracy's Discontent, ch. 1-2, 5, 9 Feb. 11:Tutorial (a paper, b comment)Sandel, Democracy's Discontent, ConclusionFeb. 13:Patrick Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed, Intro, ch. 1, 4, 6, 7, ConclusionFeb. 19:Tutorial (b paper, a comment)Isaiah Berlin, "Two Concepts of Liberty"Populism and Illiberal DemocracyFeb. 20:Jan-Werner Muller, What is Populism?Feb. 25:Tutorial (a paper, b comment)Yascha Mounk, “The Undemocratic Dilemma” Mounk, “Democracy is Deconsolidating”William Galston, “The Populist Challenge to Liberal Democracy” II. Civil Society, Political Culture, and Citizenship Social Capital and TrustFeb. 27: Robert Putnam, Making Democracy Work, ch. 1, 4-5 March 3:Tutorial (b paper, a comment) Putnam, Making Democracy Work, ch. 6Sheri Berman, "Civil Society and the Collapse of the Weimar Republic"Nationalism, Political Identity and Civic BelongingMarch 5: Ahmet Kuru, Secularism and State Policies Toward Religion, ch. 1, 4-6 Mark Lilla, “France on Fire”March 10: Tutorial (a paper, b comment) Kuru, Secularism and State Policies Toward Religion, ch. 7March 12:Yael Tamir, Why Nationalism III. Liberty, Equality, and Democracy Economic Rights and LibertiesMarch 24: Lochner v. New York (1905, US)Pharmacy Case (1958, Germany) John Tomasi, Free Market Fairness, ch. 4March 26:No seminarAll Rights as Positive (Welfare?) RightsMarch 31: Tutorial (b paper, a comment)Stephen Holmes and Cass Sunstein, The Cost of Rights, Intro, ch. 1-4 Cass Sunstein, “Social and Economic Rights? Lessons from South Africa”South Africa v. Grootboom (2000)Racial Equality and Democracy April 2: Danielle Allen, Talking to Strangers, Prologue, ch. 1-2April 7: No tutorial Economic Inequality and Political StabilityApril 9:Ganesh Sitaraman, The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution, Intro, ch. 1-2, 4April 14:Tutorial (a paper, b comment)Sitaraman, The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution, ch. 5-6Liberal Democracy in Crisis?April 16:Tom Ginsburg and Aziz Huq, How to Save a Constitutional Democracy, ch. 1-4 April 21: Tutorial (b paper, a comment) Ginsburg and Huq, How to Save a Constitutional Democracy, ch. 6, conclusionIV. Duties Beyond BordersGlobal Inequality and Citizenship as PropertyApril 23:Ayelet Shachar, The Birthright Lottery, Intro, ch. 1, 3, 6April 28:TBD ................
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