Politics of the Common Good: Moral Courage, Reconciliation, and Democratic Renewal

Undergraduate

This course responds to a growing rupture in democratic public life globally. The post–Cold War settlement assumed liberal democracy was secure, technocratic governance was sufficient, markets would deliver prosperity, and the United States would anchor an expanding democratic order. Those assumptions no longer hold. We examine what democratic practice looks like when old guarantees disappear. Rather than nostalgia or technocratic repair, this course explores civic renewal at a deeper level: moral courage, reconciliation, restorative justice, bridge-building across deep divides, economic dignity, and democratic reconstruction—from local communities to the international system. Students engage political philosophy, ethics, history, and contemporary case studies while practicing deliberation, civic design, and coalition-building. The aim is not only to diagnose democratic fracture—but to form leaders capable of rebuilding democratic life under conditions of genuine uncertainty. Each week pairs a historic case study with contemporary perspectives, so that students can see both the deep roots of the problems we face and the live debates through which we must navigate them. M 1:30pm-3:25pm