Every seminar should seek to accomplish three goals. \u00a0It should teach you about a particular subject (The Politics and History of Communism); it should advance your understanding of your general field of study (Political Science); and it should leave you with something to remember when you are old and grey.<\/p>\n
For over a century, the Communist Dream fueled one of the most powerful and popular political movements of modern times.\u00a0 At its height, the communist movement was the principal challenge to liberal democracy.\u00a0 The states that embraced it transformed their societies in ways that appeared to advance the well-being of millions of people.\u00a0 At the same time, their leaders committed acts of inhumanity that violated their founding principles. \u00a0Today, the dream of communism is mostly over.<\/p>\n The demise of the Communist Dream does not in any respect its significance in modern history. \u00a0It presents us with a number of challenging questions:<\/p>\n The study of politics is about nothing more than the examination of three interlocking features of human existence: Ideas, Institutions, and Incentives. \u00a0Whether we are talking about the U.S. Congress, the Vatican, the Boy Scouts of America, the NCAA, or the University of Notre Dame\u00a0du lac<\/i>, political systems differ only in how their leaders define these factors and put them into practice.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s face it, 20 years from now, you will have forgotten much of the content of this seminar. \u00a0Alas. \u00a0You may have lost some of your interest in politics, aside from an occasional adventure in the ballot booth. \u00a0Yet, your beliefs about what counts in life and about how best to implement them will constitute an essential part of your existence.<\/p>\n This seminar should challenge you to demystify the Communist Dream and see it as part of a continuing human struggle to realize the good like. \u00a0You, too, will be challenged to define what you believe and \u00a0decide how to act on your beliefs.<\/p>\n Question<\/strong>. \u00a0Who is the person depicted in the photo in my heading and why is he here?<\/p>\n \u03c9<\/p>\n NOTE<\/b>:\u00a0\u00a0Please turn off and do not use your technology during class.\u00a0 This includes electronic devices of any kind, such as laptops, i-Pads, cell phones, Kindles, video cameras, video games, or other personal digital devices.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every seminar should seek to accomplish three goals. \u00a0It should teach you about a particular subject (The Politics and History of Communism); it should advance your understanding of your general field of study (Political Science); and it should leave you with something to remember when you are old and grey. I. \u00a0The Politics and History […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communist-dream-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communist-dream-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communist-dream-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communist-dream-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communist-dream-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communist-dream-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communist-dream-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communist-dream-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communist-dream-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communist-dream-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI. \u00a0The Politics and History of Communism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
\nII. \u00a0The Study of Politics in General<\/b><\/p>\n\n
\nIII. \u00a0When You are Old and Grey<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMy Expectations<\/strong>. \u00a0This is a demanding seminar. \u00a0To avoid being left behind, you must keep up with your assignments.\u00a0 I expect each of you to participate fully in everything we do.\u00a0 This includes completing the readings, speaking in class, communicating with your classmates over Sakai, and daring to think for yourself. You are now looking at the authoritative syllabus for the seminar.\u00a0 I do not use a paper syllabus. \u00a0As\u00a0you will see by perusing these pages, I have deliberately designed this syllabus to be open to modification. \u00a0As we begin, much of the site will be naked, but as we move along, I will add fresh commentary and direct you to new assignments. \u00a0Consult these pages regularly!<\/p>\n