EH06 - LIBERALISM, ITS CRITICS, AND CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES

An exploration of the most significant arguments for and against liberal democracy, followed by an examination of challenges facing liberal orders today. Beginning with a comparison between ancient and modern republicanism, the course scrutinizes the intellectual architecture of the modern state, proceeds to examine the foundational arguments for liberalism of John Locke, Immanuel Kant, and John Stuart Mill, and then turns to the critical writings of Edmund Burke, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Nietzsche (and their modern heirs). Finally, the course canvasses contemporary challenges to liberal democracy: the replacement of politics by bureaucracy (or administration), tensions between nationalism and multiculturalism, the dangers of populism, and the rise of social media disinformation and surveillance capitalism. While situating thinkers within their contexts, students will be encouraged to view liberal democracy through the competing theoretical lenses of the course.