The Utopia of Peace and the Origins of Non-Violent Militancy: From Erasmus to Alhelí de María Alvarado-Díaz

Mohandas during Salt , 1930

Introduction

This seminar will introduce students to the intellectual origins of non-violent militancy and to foundational texts on the topic. Students will explore the meaning of the concept of peace in both philosophical and political documents, studying the transformations of the idea throughout time and through diverse cultural contexts. The course will reflect on the transnational reception of non-violent thinking in the writings by , , Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Leonardo Boff, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, among others. Students will study the myth and paradoxes of non-violent revolutions, reflecting on the limits of translating non-violent theory into political practice. Is peaceful resistance a feasible alternative to anarchy, violence and terrorism? Can peace become a long- term condition of in the lives of national and multicultural communities? Or is it a mere utopia limited by the unpredictable turns of human behavior and the international order of politics?

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This course will adopt an interdisciplinary approach, covering literature and debates from the disciplines of intellectual history, political philosophy, religion, ethics and political science. Transnational case studies will orient the program of this advanced seminar allowing students to follow the international evolution of non-violent politics at a global level. The course will conclude with a discussion on the topic of peace enforcement by international organizations, the politics of forgiveness, and the legacies of non-violent militancy today.

Evaluation

Students will prepare an oral presentation on a figure, event or text included in the course syllabus. Presentations will last no longer than 15 minutes. A mid- term article review (7-8 pages) on one of the course’s secondary source texts will be due in mid-March. A final paper on an original research topic will be due the last day of class. Papers should be 20 pages in length. Active class participation, attendance and respectful and responsible behavior in all seminar related activities will determine the final course grade.

The grade breakdown will consist of 20% Oral Presentation 20% Class Participation 60% Papers (Mid-Term 20%, Final 40%)

Required Texts

Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace and Other Essays (Hackett, 1983)

Mohandas Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth (Beacon Press, 1993)

Scott Bennett, Radical : The War Resisters League and Gandhian in America, 1915-1963 (Syracuse University Press, 2004)

Christian Smith, The Emergence of Liberation Theology: Radical Religion and Social Movement Theory (University of Chicago Press, 1991)

Samuel Moyn, The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History (Belknap Press, 2010)

David Barash, Approaches to Peace: A Reader in Peace Studies (Oxford University Press, 2009)

Martin Luther King, Strength to Love (Fortress Press, 2010)

Nelson Mandela, Selected Speeches (Red and Black Publishers, 2010)

Desmond Tutu, No Future without Forgiveness (Image, 2000)

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Non-Violence and the Utopia of Peace: Theory and Practice from Erasmus to Mandela

Session I: Peace as Utopia

The Politics of Peace-Making Introductions to the Idea of Peace Concept of Peace in the History of International Relations

Reading Assignments:

Sandra Pinardi, “The Possibility of Genuine Peace”, Concerning Peace: New Perspectives on Utopia, Kai Gregor and Sergueï Spetschinsky, eds. (Cambridge Scholars, 2010).

Williamson Murray, “Versailles: the Peace without a Chance”, The Making of Peace: Rulers, States, and the Aftermath of War (Cambridge University Press, 2009).

Richard Hart Sinnreich, “History and the Making of Peace”, The Making of Peace: Rulers, States, and the Aftermath of War (Cambridge University Press, 2009).

Alex Bellamny, “Peace Operations in Global Politics”, “Who are the Peacekeepers?”, Understanding Peace (Polity, 2010).

Olivier Ramsbotham et al., “Ending Violent Conflict: Peacemaking”, “Postwar Reconstruction”, “Peacebuilding”, Contemporary Conflict Resolution (Polity, 2011).

Session II: The Intellectual Origins of Peace

Erasmus’ Idea of Peace Locke’s Idea of Toleration The Utopia of Perpetual Peace in Kant

Reading Assignments:

Erasmus, “The Complaint of Peace”, The Essential Erasmus (Plume, 1964).

Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace and Other Essays (Hackett, 1983).

John Locke, “A Letter concerning Toleration”, Locke on Toleration (Cambridge University Press, 2010).

Jürgen Habermas, “Kant’s Idea of Perpetual Peace and the Benefit of Two Hundred Years’ Hindsight”, Perpetual Peace: Essays on Kant's Cosmopolitan Ideal (MIT Press, 1997).

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Kenneth Baynes, “Communitarian and Cosmopolitan Challenges to Kant’s Conception of World Peace”, Perpetual Peace: Essays on Kant's Cosmopolitan Ideal (MIT Press, 1997).

Micah Schwartzman, “The Relevance of Locke's Religious Arguments for Toleration”, Political Theory, Vol. 33, No. 5 (Oct., 2005), pp. 678-705.

Session III: The Logic of Imperial Expansion and the Challenges of Peace

The Possibilities of Peace in a World of Empires Colonizers and Colonized Barolomé de Las Casas and the Early Days of Human Rights Politics

Reading Assignments:

Bartolomé de las Casas, Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (Penguin, 1999).

Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (Grove Press, 1995).

Albert Memmi, Decolonization and the Decolonized (University of Minnesota Press, 2006).

J. M. Blaut, “After 1492”, The Colonizer's Model of the World (Guilford Press, 1993).

Anthony Pagden, “Imperialism, Liberalism & the Quest for Perpetual Peace”, Daedalus, Vol. 134, No. 2, On Imperialism (Spring, 2005), pp. 46-57.

Session III: The Origins of and Non-Violence

Emerson and the American Civil War The Idea of Civil Disobedience in the Work of Thoreau Tolstoy as Predecessor of Non-Violent Politics

Reading Assignments:

Ralph Waldo Emerson, “To Martin Van Buren”, “Emancipation in the West Indies”, “American Slavery”, “American Civilization”, The Political Emerson: Essential Writings on Politics and Social Reform, David Robinson, ed. (Beacon Press, 2004)

Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience”, The Portable Thoreau (Penguin, 1964).

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Leo Tolstoy, “The Law of Love”, “Maxims and Musings”, Leo Tolstoy: Spiritual Writings (Orbis Books, 2006). W.B. Gallie, “Tolstoy from War and Peace to The Kingdom of God is Within You”, Philosophers of Peace and War: Kant, Clausewitz, Marx, Engles and Tolstoy (Cambridge University Press, 1979).

William Stuart Nelson, “Thoreau and American Non-Violent Resistance”, The Massachusetts Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Autumn, 1962), pp. 56-60.

Isaiah Berlin, “The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy's View of History”, The Proper Study of Mankind (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000).

Jason A. Scorza, “Liberal Citizenship and Civic Friendship”, Political Theory, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Feb., 2004), pp. 85-108.

Session IV: Gandhi and the Idea of Non-Violence

Non-Violence as Method of Resistance Philosophy of Non-Violence Legacies of Gandhi in the Postcolonial World

Reading Assignments:

Mohandas Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments With Truth (Beacon Press, 1993).

Rahmohan Gandhi, “London and Identity”, “South Africa and a Purpose”, “Satyagraha”, “Engaging India”, “The Empire Challenged”, Gandhi: The Man, His People, and the Empire (University of California Press, 2008).

Sean Scalmer, “ in action”, “An idea whose time has come?”, Gandhi in the West: The Mahatma and the Rise of Radical Protest (Cambridge University Press, 2011).

Stanley Wolpert, “His Indian Legacy”, “His Global Legacy”, Gandhi's Passion: The Life and Legacy of (Oxford University Press, 2002).

Session V: Conscientious Objectors and the Resistance to War

The Politics of Conscience Democracy and the Right to Dissent The Legacies of War Resistance

Reading Assignments:

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Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Conscientious Objector”, Approaches to Peace: A Reader in Peace Studies, David Barash, ed. (Oxford University Press, 2009).

Steven Smith, “The Phases and Functions of Freedom of Conscience”, Religion and Human Rights, John Witte and Christian Green, eds. (Oxford University Press, 2011). Charles Moskos et al., “The Secularization of Conscience”, The New Conscientious Objection: From Sacred to Secular Resistance (Oxford University Press, 1993).

John Whiteclay, “Conscientious Objections and the American State from Colonial Times to the Present”, The New Conscientious Objection: From Sacred to Secular Resistance (Oxford University Press, 1993).

Scott Bennett, Radical Pacifism: The War Resisters League and Gandhian Nonviolence in America, 1915-1963 (Syracuse University Press, 2004).

Jarret Lovell, “Society and its Discontents”, “Policing Dissent”, Crimes of Dissent: Civil Disobedience, Criminal Justice, and the Politics of Conscience (NYU Press, 2009).

Session VI: The Idea of Justice and Liberation Theology

The Origins of Liberation Theology The Politicization of the Church in Latin America Religious Intervention in Radical Politics

Reading Assignments:

Leonardo Boff, “The Three Levels of Liberation Theology”, “How Liberation Theology is Done”, “Key Themes in Liberation Theology”, Introducing Liberation Theology (Orbis Books, 1987).

Gustavo Gutiérrez, “The Process of Liberation in Latin America”, “Encountering God in History”, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation (Orbis Books, 1988).

Christian Smith, The Emergence of Liberation Theology: Radical Religion and Social Movement Theory (University of Chicago Press, 1991).

J. Milburn Thompson, “The Church and the World: The Social Mission of the Church”, Introducing Catholic Social Thought (Orbis Books, 2010).

Scott Hunt, “Oscar Arias: Central America’s Ambassador of Peace”, The Future of Peace: On the Front Lines with the World's Great Peacemakers (Harper One, 2004).

Movie Screening: Romero (John Duigan, 1989)

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Session VII: The Human Rights Paradox

Constructing World Peace in the Postwar World The Dilemma of Humanitarianism The Peacekeepers and the Institutions of International Peace

Reading Assignments:

Marrack Goulding, “The Evolution of United Nations Peacekeeping”, Approaches to Peace: A Reader in Peace Studies, David Barash, ed. (Oxford University Press, 2009).

Samuel Moyn, The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History (Belknap Press, 2010).

Michael Barnett, “The Age of Imperial Humanitarianism”, Empire of Humanity: A History of Humanitarianism (Cornell University Press, 2011).

Fiona Terry, “Humanitarian Action and Responsibility”, Condemned to Repeat?: The Paradox of Humanitarian Action (Cornell University Press, 2002).

Session VIII: Non-Violent Resistance in Eastern Europe

Anti-totalitarianism and the Charter 77 The Politics of Solidarity The Legacies of the Velvet Revolution

Reading Assignments:

Vaclav Havel, “The Politics of Responsibility”, Approaches to Peace: A Reader in Peace Studies, David Barash, ed. (Oxford University Press, 2009).

H. Gordon Skilling, “Socialism and Human Rights: Charter 77 and the Prague Spring”, Canadian Slavonic Papers , Vol. 20, No. 2 (June 1978), pp. 157-175.

Timothy Garton, “A New Social Contract?”, “Noble Democracy”, The Polish Revolution: Solidarity (Yale University Press, 2002).

Robin Sheperd, “Havel: Power to the Powerless”, “The Velvet Divorce”, Czechoslovakia: The Velvet Revolution and Beyond (Palgrave Macmillan, 2000).

Session XI: Martin Luther King and Civil Rights Movement

The Remaking of Society through Agape Martin Luther King’s Re-reading of the Bible The Method of the Sit-Ins and the Program of Civil Resistance

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Reading Assignments:

Martin Luther King, Strength to Love (Fortress Press, 2010).

Greg Moses, Revolution of Conscience: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Philosophy of Nonviolence (Guilford Press, 1998).

Michael Nojeim, Gandhi and King: The Power of Nonviolent Resistance (Praeger, 2004).

Session X: The Politics of Nelson Mandela

Overcoming Apartheid Mandela’s Discourse of Freedom and Unity The Politics of Reconciliation Reading Assignments:

Nelson Mandela, “The Struggle is My Life”, Long Walk to Freedom (Back Bay Books, 1995).

Nelson Mandela, “Mandela’s Address after his Release from Prison”, “Statement at UN Special Committee against Apartheid”, “Speech to the Organization of African Unity”, Selected Speeches (Red and Black Publishers, 2010.

Nancy Clark, William Worger, “Historical Background”, “The Basis of Apartheid”, South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid (Longman, 2011).

Movie Screening: Invictus (Clint Eastwood, 2009)

Session XI: Music and Peacemaking

Said and Baremboim’s Western-Eastern Divan Music, Politics and Peace The Possibilities of Middle Eastern Reconciliation

Reading Assignments:

Daniel Baremboim, “German, Jews and Music”, Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society (Vintage, 2004).

Edward Said, “Baremboim and the Wagner Taboo”, Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society (Vintage, 2004).

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Svanibor Pettan, “Music in War, Music for Peace: Experiences in Applied Ethnomusicology”, Music and Conflict, John O’Connell, ed. (University of Illinois Press, 2010).

Elena Cheah, An Orchestra Beyond Borders: Voices of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (Verso, 2009). Session XII: The Possibilities of Peace Today

Peace and the Making of Social Justice The Missionaries’ Commitment to Peace The Society of Dialogue and Deliberation Cities of Hope

Reading Assignments:

John Rawls, “Duty and Obligation”, A Theory of Justice (Belknap Press, 2005).

David Harvey, “The utopian movement”, Spaces of Hope (University of California Press, 2000).

Michel Foucault, “Confronting Government: Human Rights”, The Chomsky-Foucault Debate (New Press, 2006).

Mother Theresa, “The Vocation of the Missionaries of Charity”, Works of Love Are Works of Peace: Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity (Ignatius Press, 1996).

Amartya Sen, “Justice and the World”, The Idea of Justice (Belknap Press, 2011).

Desmund Tutu, “Nuremberg or National Amnesia? A Third Way”, “Without Forgiveness there really is no Future”, No Future Without Forgiveness (Image, 2000).

Richard Wilson, “Human Rights and Nation Building”, “Reconciliation in Society”, The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2001).

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