Struggle over democracy

  Over the course of the quarter, the central theme of this course has been the “struggle over democracy”, seen not only as the struggle to constitute democratic rule as the global norm, but also as the struggle over what constitutes an ideal democratic state and society. Instead of a linear evolution, the struggle to establish a democratic world order over the past century has been complicated by direct challenges, obstacles, un-comfortable trade-offs, contradictions and disagreements about what a truly democratic world order would look like. Write an essay that identifies what you view as the most important issue in the struggle over democracy (e.g., individual freedom vs. community welfare, poverty/inequality vs individual freedom, imperialism vs national independence, first vs third world hierarchy, rational vs irrational, secular vs. religious politics, etc). In structuring your essay, choose four movements or events (2 from pre-1945, 2 from post) and discuss what they contributed to shaping the “struggle over democracy” in terms of the issue you identified. In your conclusion, speculate on where you see the “struggle over democracy” headed in the 21st century. The question allows for broad leeway and creativity, as well as skill in weaving together diverse elements into a coherent argument. There are also some parameters: choose at least four items, give about equal weight to the first and second halves of the century, and include items that cover both the “west/first world” and the “non-west/third world.” Pre- 1945 Dadaism and Futurism Freud/Psychoanalysis Frankfurt School/mass society Communism (pre-1945/USSR) Fascism Decolonization/National Liberation (pre-1945 cases) Totalitarianism World War I Depression Post-1945 Existentialism Sixties Counter Culture Islamic Fundamentalism Communism (post-1945 non-USSR examples) Decolonization/National Liberation (post 1945 examples) Authoritarian Development Cold War