GOVT 3785 - Civil Disobedience

(crosslisted) AMST 3785
(KCM-AS)

Fall. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

A. Livingston.

This course will expose students to the theory and practice of civil disobedience in historical and contemporary perspectives. Do citizens have obligations to obey unjust laws? What makes disobedience civil rather than criminal? How do people take power into their own hands without recourse to violence? How has political dissent transformed in a digital era? And how do acts of protest influence public opinion and policy? We will pursue answers to these questions and others through studying both classic theorists of civil disobedience and contemporary debates about whistleblowing, direct action, nonviolence, and hacktivism. (PT)