Assistant Professor of Ethics and Public Policy, Division of Social Sciences, Duke Kunshan University (China)
Assistant Professor of the Practice of Global Studies, Duke University
Assistant Professor of Ethics and Public Policy, Division of Social Sciences, Duke Kunshan University (China)
Assistant Professor of the Practice of Global Studies, Duke University
Existing democracies are marred by long-standing inequalities, deep-seated exclusions, and profound injustices. Many democratic theorists, political commentators, social movement actors, NGOs, and other engaged actors argue, however, that it is possible to create much more “inclusive” democratic societies. This course examines the core ideals behind this hope, the prospects for its realization, and the dilemmas of its pursuit. We look at normative and empirical literatures, drawn from diverse contexts and disciplines. Central questions include: When actors envision a more “just,” “inclusive” democratic society, what precisely are they envisioning? How do they justify their visions? What major strategies have been employed to create more “inclusive” democratic processes, and how effectively have they worked in various socio-economic and political contexts?
Policy choices emerge from, respond to, and attempt to manage or mitigate value conflicts. In this course, we explore the meaning of this proposition; the various responsibilities that policymakers should assume in light of it; and the variety of ethical frameworks that scholars and policymakers deploy in reasoning about those responsibilities. The aim is to develop students’ ability to assess how (well) policymakers are confronting the most pressing public problems of the day — and to enhance students’ own capacity to confront them as well.
To what extent are policymakers responsibly, reflectively, and effectively deploying public resources to address some of the most urgent collective-action problems we face (e.g., climate change and racial inequality)? How might we better address such problems? And with what ethical frameworks are we to answer these questions? These are the central questions in this class. In addressing them, special attention goes to questions of democracy, justice, rights and freedom; how these concepts are variously understood; and the trade-offs and dilemmas involved in trying to realize the values associated with them. Readings are drawn from political theory and philosophy as well as interdisciplinary policy studies, with contributions from geography, economics, political science, cognitive science and beyond.
As we move through life, we all face questions about what we should do with our lives; about what kinds of people we should try to be and become; and about what effects our actions should have on others. Whether or not we think actively and intentionally about these questions, our actions will imply certain answers to them. This course — part of the Duke Kunshan University Common Core — provides students with an opportunity to develop the academic and interpersonal skills needed to reflect deliberatively and collaboratively on these important questions.
The key promise of a Duke Kunshan University education is that students will be able to navigate and become leaders within the globalized and rapidly changing world that lies in front of them. To fulfill that promise, students must learn to think in a truly collaborative manner about important issues across linguistic, religious, cultural, ideological, political, academic, and other differences.
Effective, collaborative thinking is a necessary element of good decisions about matters of collective concern. Moreover, it provides a rich model for effective individual thinking. However, collaborative thinking is difficult! For one thing, it requires intellectual rigor and the ability to ask difficult questions and to follow the answers and arguments wherever they lead. Furthermore, it demands effective interpersonal communication, in which people listen meaningfully; support each other in expressing their ideas clearly; and seek to understand, empathize with, honestly assess, and potentially integrate others’ values, judgments, and perspectives. In cultivating these skills in a focused and sustained manner, this course helps students to develop critical resources for living meaningful, fulfilling and engaged private and public lives.
This seminar is the first of a three-quarter sequence in the common core curriculum of the Social Sciences Collegiate Division. As a whole, the sequence offers an exploration of questions concerning the relationship of power to economics, politics, and culture in the modern and contemporary eras. Throughout the year we investigate how power is exercised in modern societies, how resistance emerges, and how social, political, and economic phenomena shape and are shaped by our identities.
In the Autumn Quarter (PIR I), we examine the emergence and critique of modern (i.e., “liberal”) political principles from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. In particular, we consider how effectively modern/liberal principles and practices achieve the freedom and equality they pursue, and examine to what extent these principles and practices create or permit severe forms of inequality and domination as well. Thinkers we commonly focus include Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Edmund Burke, Mary Wollstonecraft, and C.L.R. James.
Through close engagements with canonical texts, this class — like the others in the sequence — aims to provide students with tools for thinking through perennial social, political, and economic problems. More broadly, the aim is to enhance students’ argumentative skills and to develop their capacity for critical thinking.
The Winter Quarter (PIR II) focuses on a small number of classic texts that present foundational perspectives on modern capitalism and the market economy. The course highlights the organization of economic processes and the ways in which these relate to social and political relations and institutions. Our central questions include: How historically distinctive is the modern form of capitalist economy? Do human beings “naturally” act in certain ways in the economy and society? To what degree can we rely on individual self-control? Is inequality an inevitable outcome of capitalist economic development? What is the role of power in economic life? How should we think about the relationship between political power and economic practice?
We discuss the differing appraisals of modern economic relationships provided by such thinkers as Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Peter Kropotkin, Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, and Sidney Mintz.
In the Spring Quarter (PIR III), we examine forms of social domination that are neither simply economic nor simply political, such as racism, imperialism, and sexism. What cultural forces motivate and maintain these relations of power? How do they shape, or undermine, efforts to create a more just world?
Commonly included are works by Tocqueville, Nietzsche, Dewey, Du Bois, Claudia Jones, Martin Luther King Jr., James Baldwin, and Simone de Beauvoir.