New World (Dis)Order: The State & Society in an Age of Populism & Protest

This course explores historic, recent and contemporary trends in the political authority invested in the nation-state and its agencies, and contrasts this with social and political forces expressing discontent with the status quo. The first half of the course will examine ideas for greater global governance, such as the League of Nations, the UN and new bodies such as the International Criminal Court. The second half will survey ideas for local autonomy and radical action on such matters as policing, systemic racism, carbon consumption, the rising use of surveillance technology, and the free-market assumptions that underpin Western societies. The phenomenon that has been labelled "populism" and the discontent with the current form of globalization, both from the political right and the political left, will be explored, and there will be a reconstruction of the fragmentation of the West-centric global order due to an increasing multipolar world and the rising economic and political dynamism of China.