Bemerkung |
Hinweis:
„Wer die erste Sitzung der Lehrveranstaltung versäumt, ohne sich vorher schriftlich oder persönlich zu entschuldigen, kann den Anspruch auf einen Platz in der LV verlieren, wenn es mehr Interessenten als Plätze gibt. Dies gilt ungeachtet der Platzzuweisung durch Friedolin und ist im Einklang mit der grundsätzlichen Aufhebung der Anwesenheitspflicht.” |
Leistungsnachweis |
To complete the seminar successfully, students are required to thoroughly work through the reading material, give a presentation, and write a term paper. The details of the seminar will be presented in the first lesson. |
Lerninhalte |
In this seminar, we will explore the history and politics of conservatism, the “Conservative movement”, and the Republican Party in the United States of American. The aim of the seminar is to provide students with an extensive understanding of the development of the Conservative movement from two perspectives: First, the history of political ideas; second, a politics-centered approach.
After the Second World War, conservatism was basically non-existent as a political ideology. The few proponents felt isolated and lost. This was about to change: Within a couple of decades, a powerful movement formed that included public intellectuals, think tanks, grassroots organizations, and a powerful media landscape. The movement also took on the Republican Party and transformed the once rather open political party into a powerhouse for conservative politics (likewise, the Democratic Party unified behind a more liberal/progressive agenda). This ongoing polarization of the Republican Party (and of the Democratic Party) has led to an intense adversarial style of politics on local, state and national level. As a consequence, US politics seem at times paralyzed.
The Conservative movement, however, was never without friction. Within the movement, various strands of thought (libertarianism, anti-communism, value-based/religious conservatism, neo-conservatism, populism etc.) clashed repeatedly but also managed to form a political bond to pursue their individual aims. The history of the conservative movement is also one of exclusion. Strands that were deemed too extreme (or that threatened the appeal of the movement) at times (e.g. nativism, isolationism) were sidelined. However, as the rise of Donald Trump shows, they never went away.
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