Description
The state is widely considered the most powerful political organization of modern societies. Indeed it is hard to imagine social order without the state ─ stateless societies and maroon communities, such as the Indians, pirates, Diggers, slaves and mutineers, or the inhabitants of Zomia in South East Asia, are mostly history. Nevertheless the very existence and necessity of the state continuous to be disputed, even within the societies that had long been exposed to modernity and to the states’ existence, such as in Western Europe and other advanced industrial countries. The functioning of states is frequently subject of critique from different ideological and ideational positions and both history and contemporary politics are replete with examples of anti-state rebellions and other strategies of what James C. Scott calls “the art of not being governed.”
“Anti-statism” is the core subject of this course. We will approach it from the perspective of several sub-fields of political science, including political theory, social movements studies, and studies of public opinion. In Part I of the course we will explore key intellectual sources of anti-state philosophy, namely anarchism in its different forms and components. In Part II of the course, the ideas, organization and political fortune of several anti-state political actors, such as Occupy Wall Street, dissident groups in the former Central European communist regimes, and the patriot movement and militia organizations in the US, will be explored. In Part III of the course students will explore attitudes and behavior of contemporary European citizens towards the state on comparative basis.
Assessment method
Two essays (about 6000 words in total) and participation
Literature
Colin Ward, Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2004)
James C. Scott, Two Cheers for Anarchism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012)
Registration
See general information on tab 'Year 3'