Political Freedom

Undergraduate / Graduate

In modern liberal democracies like the U.S., we often think freedom has to do with choice: whether a woman works or is a stay-at-home mother, whether a citizen votes for this or that candidate, they choose freely between two or more options and are hence "free." Others, however, have suggested that choice, though important, is far from the only factor that ensures a politically free society: the ability to engage in social movements, civil disobedience, to actively and successfully shape one's society through collective action, are all important aspects to ensuring a society that is politically free. This course asks: what is freedom? And what does it mean to think of freedom as a political question? In which ways might the concept of "choice" help but also hinder how we practice and understand freedom daily? Over the course of the quarter, we will study the evolution of the debates surrounding freedom as a political problem, especially in their relation to democracy. We will discuss theories of freedom starting from the history of political thought but also engaging contemporary critiques of liberal and neoliberal freedoms like radical democratic, feminist, and postcolonial theory. We will engage authors like J.S. Mill, Hannah Arendt, Jacques Rancière, Simone de Beauvoir, and Franz Fanon, among others.