GOVT 6596 - Theories of Non/Violence

(crosslisted) AMST 6596

Fall. 4 credits. Student option grading.

A. Livingston.

This seminar explores the politics of violence and nonviolence from a theoretical perspective. We will examine classic and contemporary theories of violence and nonviolence with attention to disputes concerning the nature of violence, the relationship between violence and power, the ethics of means and ends in politics, the psychological consequences of violence, the logic of nonviolent resistance, and the relationship between non/violence and conceptions of freedom, sovereignty, and humanity. These topics will guide an intensive study of M.K. Gandhi’s critique of violence, along with writings by Marx, Kropotkin, Tolstoy, Weil, King, Fanon, Arendt, Butler, Agamben, and Tully. (PT)