Topics in Modern Political Thought: Russia as Other in the West

(PHIL/POLI/REES 120)

Course Description:

This course will: 1) to introduce students to major texts of modern political thought in the west, from the 16th century through the 20th century, and 2) to focus discussion of these texts through the theme of “the other” and Russia’s peculiar place in many of these same major texts.

The first task – theoretical – will familiarize students with a range of questions that arose in the modern era, such as the legitimate grounding of state authority, the proper role of laws and rights in society, and the problem of competing conceptions of ideals such as liberty, equality, and justice. The theoretical portion of the class will rely on careful study and discussion of the primary texts of thinkers such as Grotius, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Tocqueville, Marx, Berlin, Arendt, Du Bois, Fanon, and Lorde.

The second task of the course – thematic – will have students apply their study of these theoretical texts to the historical case of Russia, as it develops alongside modern political thought in the west. How has Russia been figured in modern political thought by its own people and by those observing from abroad? How do these figurations intersect with historical discussions of the ideas and identities such as “East,” “South,” and “West,” or “Asia,” “Africa,” and “Europe”? Particular attention will be paid to the ways in which Russia has variously been figured as a positive prospect, confounding paradox, or cautionary tale vis-à-vis concepts of sovereignty, war, enlightenment, revolution, and historical progress. The thematic portion of the class will be explored through a variety of primary and secondary texts, including historical correspondence, travel narratives, and fictional writing.

Ultimately, this course explores those questions that lie at the core of modern western political thought and, simultaneously, asks why Russia so often has been figured as a problem for modern political thought. We end the course with some consideration of how these major texts and questions continue to show up in both scholarly and popular approaches to Russia in our contemporary moment.

Selected Key Texts:

Grotius’ On the Law of War and Peace

Hobbes’ Leviathan

Pufendorf’s Of the Law of Nature and Nations

Morozov’s Code of Laws 1649

Locke’s Second Treatise

Whitworth’s Account of Russia as it was in the Year 1710

Voltaire’s Republican Ideas, History of the Russian Empure under Peter the Great

Catherine the Great’s Instruction to the Legislative Committee

Rousseau’s Social Contract

De Maistre’s Russia and the Christian West

Tocqueville’s Democracy in America

Marx & Engels’ On Social Realtions in Russia

Lenin’s Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism

Berlin’s Freedom and its Betrayal

Arendt’s On Revolution

Du Bois’ Russia and America (unfinished manuscript)

Fanon’s Toward the African Revolution

Casula’s Two Soviet Responses to Fanon

Lorde’s Notes from a Trip to Russia