We are living in an unprecedented crisis. The COVID-19 global pandemic has put significant stress on longstanding American political processes and institutions, raising a fundamental question about how politics should work: How do crises shape our political landscape and vice-versa? This course considers the impact of crises on politics throughout Western history in order to sharpen our understanding of the challenge we are currently facing and the far-reaching implications it might have for our future. We'll consider various kinds of crises - political, economic, ecological, environmental, and social - from a political lens, and engage with an interdisciplinary array of authors, both historical and contemporary, from across social and political thought, such as Thucydides, Burke, Du Bois, and Arendt, among others.
Note: This course counts towards either the undergraduate American Politics subfield or the Political Theory subfield.
Course Attributes: EN S; BU Eth; BU IS; AS SSC; BU BA; FA SSC
