France in Crisis & Revolution: Historical Political Economics through a French Lens

Catalog description

France has been one of the world's great innovators in introducing new political ideas, often born out of economic or social crises, that have driven not only its own economic and political development but have also influenced institutions around the world. From the trauma of the Great Revolution to the modern emergence of the Extreme Right, the experience of France has much to teach us: not only about how societies develop economically, and how to manage the political polarization and conflict that can often result, but also the role of new ideas in shaping the institutions of nations. In this course, we will study the latest ideas in Political Economics and Historical Political Economy in light of ideas and examples that draw from the French experience in comparative perspective. Each week we will pair a core concept in political economics with a detailed study of how the methods of social science history can shed new light on a particular crisis or episode in France's development. The aim will be to understand what lessons we might draw for reducing political polarization and conflict not only in France but around the world.