Political Science Fiction - Empires Strike Back

Catalog description

This course examines the intersection of science fiction and (advanced) international relations. We will engage with classic and contemporary science fiction literature and film that touch on key themes in international relations like anarchy, empire, revolution, arms races, and hegemony. Science fiction authors have long explored political themes-such as the rise and decline of empires, the impact of technological change on individual liberty, the nature of revolutionary struggles, the workings of totalitarianism, and the impact of socio-political collapse on humankind. The imaginings of science fiction work allow us a view of life in alternative futures in ways that help us think critically about politics today. However, while the works chosen for the course reflect serious thinking about how technology might have social and political ramifications, they often skim over core concepts that ought to organize our thinking about politics and society. This is where our academic sources come in: through them, science fiction works will be examined as social-scientific and political-theoretic texts. Readings/films will include science fiction works on particular topics which are paired with scholarly texts on the same topic. For example, to discuss revolution, we will examine Theda Skocpol’s States and Social Revolutions and the Algerian revolution in tandem with select episodes from Andor. On nuclear deterrence, classical texts like Thomas Schelling and Kenneth Waltz will be examined along episodes from The Expanse. The combination of works of science fiction and academic literature on global politics offers us an opportunity for ontological displacement and a landscape of the imaginary that allows us to contemplate contemporary socio-political concerns. The course will equip the students with the ability to more readily see and examine these issues - and their potential…