ROMS 4650 - [Revolution: An Intellectual History]

(crosslisted) HIST 4655
(HA-AS)

Spring. Not offered 2017-2018. 4 credits. Student option grading.

Co-meets with HIST 6655/ROMS 6650. Conducted in English.

E. Traverso.

For more than two centuries, revolutions have marked the rhythm of modernity. In 1780, the original meaning of revolution - an astronomical rotation - was transformed in order to apprehend a social and political overthrow. This course will investigate the multiple uses of this crucial concept of political theory, from the revolutionary canon (Blanqui, Marx, Fanon…) to the classics of conservatism (Maistre, Cortés, Schmitt…), which depict contemporary history as a conflict between revolutions and counter-revolutions, socialist and fascist revolutions. We will explore the connections between history and theory, and stress the global dimension of revolutions, forged by a permanent transfer of ideas and people from one continent to another.