Despotism and Dictatorship: The Political Theory of Nondemocracy

Most regimes in the world are not representative democracies. They are autocracies. This class thinks through what makes the political life of these polities distinctive. To do so, we will read great works of philosophy, by figures such as Hannah Arendt, and recent social scientific and philosophical literature on the topic, including work in the Confucian tradition. We will also read novels exploring the nature of life in a non-democracy.