Political Science 291S - S- State and Violence

This course will examine the dialectics of violence and governance, especially exploring the familiar idea that "states oppose violence." We will analyze conceptual elements of violence (e.g., coercion, war, terror, anarchy, physical/psychic injury) and state (e.g., law, bureaucracy, government, policing, population, economy, community) as the production of unstable categories like dis/order, ir/rationality, and il/legality. We will situate this conceptual work in the hypothesized empirical transition from "sovereign" to "post-sovereign" forms of power. The seminar requires close reading, analytical discussion, and three critical review essays.

Open to Seniors, Juniors & Sophomores only.