HIST388W

Why does democracy fail? How does authoritarianism arise? This seminar course explores several competing explanations for the failure of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) and for the consolidation of the Nazi Third Reich (1933-1945). To do so, it considers evidence in salient primary source texts, film art, and imagery (all in translation), and engages with relevant secondary scholarship. Ultimately, in exploring the particular historical record, this course seeks insights into the constitutive elements of democracy in general at the political, institutional, socio-cultural, and personal cognititve levels, and lessons about what makes democracy alternately vigorous or vulnerable. Students will lead discussion, take exams, and write a research term paper.

Odd Years

Fall Semester