Talk: NPR's Deborah Amos: Iraq "shedding its diversity"
NPR foreign correspondent recounts the recent political history of Iraq at a Shorenstein Center Speaker Series event titled "Sectarianism and a Post-Election Iraq"
Talk: Matthew Hindman on "The Myth of Digital Democracy"
Matthew Hindman, 2010 Goldsmith Book Prize winner, said that the idea that the Web will democratize politics is misplaced: "Inequalities in political voice online are far greater than anything that we're used to in traditional politics."
Talk: Google's Peter D. Greenberger discusses the technology giant's growing involvement in politics
Peter D. Greenberger, Google's head of industry relations, outlined how the company's political involvement fits with its broader mission
2.5 Declaration of the Rights of Man
This unit provides basic historical background to the French Revolution. It will show that the Revolution accelerated intellectual, cultural and psychological change, and opened up new horizons and possibilities. In fact, while much controversy and scepticism remain as to the real extent of underlying change in the social and economic structure of France, it is generally agreed by scholars that the Revolution stimulated a widening of expectations and imaginative awareness: a belief, inherited fr
2.1 The bankrupt monarchy
This unit provides basic historical background to the French Revolution. It will show that the Revolution accelerated intellectual, cultural and psychological change, and opened up new horizons and possibilities. In fact, while much controversy and scepticism remain as to the real extent of underlying change in the social and economic structure of France, it is generally agreed by scholars that the Revolution stimulated a widening of expectations and imaginative awareness: a belief, inherited fr
6. Developing the Good Citizen: Contemporary Political Campaigning
Technology, politics, social theory, organizing, Democratic party, voting machines, political consulting, web pages, broadcast, data technology, mobilization, fundraising, e-mail, MoveOn.org, social networking, blogosphere, netroots, web 2.0, volunteering
17. How Revolutionary Was the War for Independence (November 10, 2008)
history, humanities, social science, political studies, international relations, anthropology, cultural studies, religion, philosophy, ethics, theory, Thomas Jefferson, military, Massachusetts, John Adams, bicentennial, loyalty, army, imperial power, patr
14. The View From London: Or, The Dilemma of Empire (October 29, 2008)
history, humanities, social science, political studies, international relations, anthropology, cultural studies, religion, philosophy, ethics, theory, stamp act, Benjamin Franklin, natural philosopher, polity Great Britain, parliament, sovereignty, libert
4. Washington's Frontier and Hamilton's Marketplace: Visions of Post-Revolutionary Greatness (May 22
History, American history, government, American Revolution, Revolutionary War, founders, George Washington, colonial America, political culture, Alexander Hamilton, Native Americans, northern frontier, Congress, political economy, Henry Knox, westward exp
4.5 Parents and adult family carers
Social work is a vital element in how our society cares for those in need. This unit looks at the meaning of ‘social work values’ as well as the different approaches to social work and the skills involved.
02 - Southern Society: Slavery, King Cotton, and Antebellum America's "Peculiar" Region
Professor Blight offers a number of approaches to the question of southern distinctiveness. The lecture offers a survey of that manner in which commentators--American, foreign, northern, and southern--have sought to make sense of the nature of southern society and southern history. The lecture analyzes the society and culture of the Old South, with special emphasis on the aspects of southern life that made the region distinct from the antebellum North. The most lasting and influential sources of
11.375 Role of Science and Scientists in Collaborative Approaches to Environmental Policymaking (MIT
This course examines joint fact-finding within the context of adaptive and ecosystem-based management. Challenges and obstacles to collaborative approaches for deciding environmental and natural resource policy and the institutional changes within federal agencies necessary to utilize joint fact-finding as a means to link science and societal decisions are discussed and reviewed with scientists and managers. Senior-level federal policymakers also participate in these discussions.
24 - The Collapse of Communism and Global Challenges
The disintegration of the Soviet Union resulted from a number of different factors. Three important ones are nationalism among Soviet satellite states, democratic opposition movements, and economic crisis. Along with these elements, the role of Mikhail Gorbachev should not be discounted. Although his attempt to reform communism was rejected, his reformist positions as Soviet premier helped open the way for full-fledged political dissidence. One of the major challenges faced by Europe in the wake
22 - Fascists
While Nazi Germany's crimes were unprecedented, Adolf Hitler himself was in many respects a typical figure. An idle youth, of seemingly mediocre talents, his political career and passionate hatreds were formed by the experience of World War I. The rise of fascism in Germany, as elsewhere, must be understood in the context of a postwar climate of resentment and instability. Germany's economic crisis, in particular, led the middle classes to support National Socialism well before any other group.
19 - The Romanovs and the Russian Revolution
The period between the Russian Revolution of February 1917, which resulted in the overthrow of the autocracy and the establishment of a provisional government, and the Bolshevik Revolution in October of that same year, offers an instructive example of revolutionary processes at work. During this interval, the fate of Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra, was bound up in the struggle for power amongst competing political factions in Russia. Until his death, Nicholas was convinced that the Russian
18 - Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning
As a result of World War I, Europe had a different understanding of war in the twentieth century than the United States. One of the most important ways in which the First World War was experienced on the continent and in Britain was through commemoration. By means of both mass-media technologies and older memorial forms, sites of memory offered opportunities for personal as well as political reconciliation with the unprecedented consequences of the war. The influence of these sites is still felt
15 - Imperialists and Boy Scouts
The boom in European colonial expansion in the second half of the nineteenth century, the so-called New Imperialism, can be seen to follow from three principle factors, in ascending order of importance: religious proselytizing, profit, and inter-imperial political strategy. With respect to the latter concern, the conflicts emerging from imperialism set the stage for World War I. Along with its military and industrial consequences, imperialism also entailed a large-scale cultural program dedicate
14 - Radicals
Socialism in the nineteenth century can be divided into two different strains of thought: reformist and revolutionary. While reformist socialists believed in changing the State through legal activity, such as voting, revolutionary socialists viewed such measures as ineffective and perhaps even complicit in maintaining the status quo. Along the spectrum of leftwing political thought, syndicalists and anarchists shared the conviction that the State could not be reformed from within. In some cases,
11 - Why no Revolution in 1848 in Britain
Revolutions occur when a critical mass of people come together to make specific demands upon their government. They invariably involve an increase in popular involvement in the political process. One of the central questions concerning 1848, a year in which almost every major European nation faced a revolutionary upsurge, is why England did not have its own revolution despite the existence of social tensions. Two principal reasons account for this fact: first, the success of reformist political
06 - Maximilien Robespierre and the French Revolution
Robespierre's ascetic personal life and severe philosophy of political engagement are attributed by some to his difficult childhood. As a revolutionary, one of his most significant insights was that the Revolution was threatened not only by France's military adversaries abroad, but also by domestic counter-revolutionaries. Under this latter heading were gathered two major groups, urban mercantilists and rural peasants. Relative strength of religious commitment is the major factor in explaining w
