Europe Between Washington and Moscow: Can Western Values Survive?

(3 Credits)

Europe is not just a continent; it is a thousand-year-old culture, a political project, a set of moral ideals. Modern Europe was founded on a belief in individual liberty and social equality, the rule of law, reason and secularism. That ethos is now endangered by, among other things, an increasingly belligerent Russia and an illiberal America. This colloquium will ask how, and whether, Europe can preserve its identity and values amid these grave challenges. Through visits to cathedrals, palaces, museums, libraries, concert halls, and memorials treating Prague as one of our main texts, and through readings and discussion, students will examine how Europe has been shaped by art and philosophy, by empire and religion, by nationalism, communism and democracy. We will then move on to the contemporary struggle over the survival of this project, focusing on the war in Ukraine, the rise of right-wing populism, immigration, and deteriorating relations with Washington, which has compelled Europeans to recognize that they can no longer count on protection from across the ocean. Students will engage firsthand with journalists, security analysts, and policy scholars shaping contemporary Europe.