The Utopia of Peace and the Origins of Non-Violent Militancy: From Erasmus to Nelson Mandela Alhelí de María Alvarado-Díaz Mohandas Gandhi during Salt Satyagraha, 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 Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy, 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? 1 Alvarado-Díaz, Alhelí de María 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 Pacifism: The War Resisters League and Gandhian Nonviolence 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) 2 Alvarado-Díaz, Alhelí de María 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). 3 Alvarado-Díaz, Alhelí de María 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 Civil Disobedience 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). 4 Alvarado-Díaz, Alhelí de María 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, “Gandhism 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 Mahatma Gandhi (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: 5 Alvarado-Díaz, Alhelí de María 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