Politics of Protest: 1640 to the Present

(2.5-3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Look in any paper and you will see that the world has grown tired of professional politicians. Everywhere new forms of protest are appearing. From the rise of Anonymous, to Wikileaks, to Occupy and the Arab Spring populations are reinventing the way we protest when authority seems to be ignoring us. In recent years there has been an overwhelming feeling that traditional politics have failed and that ideas such as environmentalism and anarchism might be the answer, realigning the concept of left and right inherited from the French Revolution and exemplified by the Cold War. Much of modern protest is decided by new media, but much still takes place on the streets. How do people make their voices heard? What are the origins of ideas of people's democracy, social democracy and personal freedom and what role does the organized political party play in revolutionary protest? Starting in the 1640s, in England, with people like John Lilburne and the Levellers and Gerard Winstanley and his proto-communists, the course will explore the ideas of republicanism, anarchism, Marxism, feminism, pacifism, anti-imperialism and fascism in a global context through to the present day. There will be at least one guest speaker from the world of alternative politics and economics as well as a number of short field trips to places around London associated with political agitation. The essence of the class is to introduce ‘non-parliamentary' politics and political debate as it has affected and as it affects global mass movements. The class combines political theory with philosophical thought and is aimed at students who have a keen interest in public affairs, business and international relations. Students should be willing to engage in lively debate in areas of radical political thought and grapple with concepts they may not have encountered in political science classes. This class is not therefore for ab initio students although the class would be suitable for those with a keen interest in history, psychology, anthropology and philosophy.