History 394RI - ComparativeRevolutns/ModernEra

Spring
2016
01
3.00
John Higginson
TU TH 10:00AM 11:15AM
UMass Amherst
62121
We are now living in the throes of the "Arab Spring" and the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. This General Education IE course seeks to integrate students' contemporary understanding of these events against the backdrop of analogous moments in world history over the past three centuries. The core mission of the course is to examine why economic underdevelopment, in combination with weak or dependent state formations, often induces popular instances of rebellion and revolution in the modern era. We will also examine why revolutions do not always usher in genuine social reform. The class will be particularly focused on comparative models of social change and revolution found in the works of Gregor Benton, Crane Brinton, Edmund Burke, Jean Chesneaux, Richard Cobb, Eric Hobsbawm, Barrington Moore, Edmund Morgan, James Scott, Theda Skocpol and William T. Vollman. The course will afford students an opportunity to improve their speaking and writing ability, while critically assessing the course material through an interdisciplinary lens.
This course is open to Senior & Junior History majors only. Full fills the IE Gen Ed Requirement
Permission is required for interchange registration during all registration periods.