$80.00
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Instructor: Dr. Steve Harris
Mondays, Sept. 14, 21, 28, Oct. 5, 12
3:00 – 5:00 PM, Berger Center
5-week session. Cost: $80
Course Description:
The Beatles famously asked if we really “want a revolution.” But what’s a revolution, anyway? How do revolutions start? Do they have to be quick? Or successful? How much has to change? Do they need to be violent? We will explore the theory and practice of political/ideological revolutions in the modern world. We will stop in London in 1689, Boston in 1775, Paris in 1789, St. Petersburg in 1918, Djakarta in 1947, Cairo in 1952, Moscow and Prague in 1990, Tunis in 2011, and a host of other places and times. Are we done with them or are they merely unpredictable?
Course Details:
Week 1) Introduction
Course Overview, What is a “revolution”? What are the different kinds? Are there any patterns? How do they start…and finish? What do they mean?
Week 2) Early Modern Revolutions
English (17C) and American (18C); Why were there no revolutions earlier?
Week 3) The French Revolution and its 19C echoes.
Week 4) Revolutions in the early 20C
Catching up with Modernity; Mexico China, Persia, Russia.
Week 5) Global Revolutions in the 20C
a. Rejecting the West (Fascism, decolonization, China (1949), and Iran (1979)
b. Rejoining the West (Southern Europe in the 1970s, End of Communism
6) Revolutions in the 21C:
a. Arab Spring and Afghanistan
b. Can we have revolutions anymore?
Instructor Biography:
Steve taught modern European and world history at San Francisco State University from 2013 to 2024. His history research interests include international law and relations, democracy, and the modern mentalité. He regularly teaches public history courses and has co-founded several history teaching projects. Before returning to his love of history (Ph.D., UC Davis), Steve spent 30 years working as a lawyer and executive in the telecom and internet industries, in companies ranging from start-ups to embedded behemoths; handling corporate law, public policy and regulation, new technologies and strategy. You can find more about him, and check out his weekly blog, “Condemned to Repeat It,” at www.steveharris.net.
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