Download CLCV 199: WESTERN DEMOCRACIES AND ECONOMIC POLICIES

FALL 2007 – First Eight-Week Course
Ts 3:30-5:00 (Aug. 28 – Oct. 16)
FLB G-18
Prof Jon Solomon
FLB 4056
333-0973
[email protected]
CLCV 199: WESTERN DEMOCRACIES AND ECONOMIC POLICIES
Jon Solomon, Robert D. Novak Professor of Western Civilization and Culture,
Department of the Classics
SYLLABUS
COURSE OUTLINE:
This unique and innovative course will examine interrelationships between
Western democracies and economic policies, with a particular (though not exclusive)
focus on the influence of ancient Greece and Rome on the development of American
political and economic thought. The chronological periods to be examined will range
from archaic Greece to the United States of the twenty-first century, and the spectrum of
political and economic perspectives will be comprehensive as well, ranging from
archaic barter economies to Reaganomics. The course will proceed chronologically from
antiquity to modernity, surveying several different historical periods and economic
models.
We will begin with ancient Greece, which introduced radical democracy to
Western culture. Using both primary and secondary sources, we will examine the
political and economic forces which allowed, or necessitated, the creation of Athenian
radical democracy, and we will follow its progress through periods of domestic
prosperity and crisis, and in political climates which include the growth and decline of
the Athenian empire and the domestic stress cause by the Peloponnesian War against
Sparta and her allies. We then turn to the founding of the Roman Republic, which was
contemporary with the establishment of the radical democracy in Athens but quite
different in concept. After overthrowing their Etruscan overlords, the Romans
established a representative democracy was to include both elections of two heads of
state (dual consuls) and, over time, several legislative and deliberative institutions as
well as a veto-empowered tribune of the non-patrician class. Here, too, we have enough
historical data to examine the progress of Rome and her economic policies as she
coalesces into a viable city-state, acquires foreign territories as allies or provinces, and
then rules a vast empire. We can follow the grain market, the importation of luxuries,
the spice trade, and even price structures, again by using both primary and secondary
sources, as well as the rebellions of the plebeian class and, later, the slave Spartacus.
After acquiring a structural knowledge of ancient democracies and economics,
we will turn to the modern world, beginning with the foundations of constitutional
democracies, the industrial revolution, and capitalism. We will examine the influence of
Greco-Roman political philosophy as well as the impetus for the development of classic
economic thought, including the work of Adam Smith, and the economic policies of the
United States shortly after it established its democracy, with particular attention paid to
the opposition between the traditions championed by Thomas Jefferson and the
innovations engineered by Alexander Hamilton.
Finally we turn to our contemporary world to examine the influence of
Aristotelian rationalism and Platonic positivism amidst a variegated succession of
economic policies and historical realities. We will consider the work of the Austrian and
Chicago Schools, among others, and we will consider such important topics as the effect
of the New Deal and Supply-Side economics, and the growth and maintenance of the
American hegemony.
FORMAT:
The format of the course will feature lecture and discussion. Lectures will be
approximately 45-60” in length, and the rest of the period will be open for discussion
with the lecturer and fellow students. Lecturers will include Professor Solomon of the
Department of the Classics as well as faculty from such UIUC units as Political Science,
Economics, Finance, and History. Ideally, external support [already promised] will
allow the importation of at least faculty from other educational institutions for guest
lectures. There will be seven lectures, with a final class period reserved for in-class
presentations by students and a final discussion.
GRADES:
Grades will be based on regular class participation (20%), several written exit
slips (10%), a concise in-class presentation (20%), a mid-term exam (20%), and a final
paper of at least 12 pages (30%).
CLASS SCHEDULE:
Aug. 28: Introduction Sept.
4: The Democracy and Economy of Ancient Athens
Sept. 11: The Democracy and Economy of the Ancient Roman Republic
Sept. 18: The Roman Empire
Sept. 25: Eighteenth-Century Concepts of Ancient Democracies and Economics; MidTerm Exam
Sept. 27: Special Event: Lecture by Steve Forbes
Oct.
2: The New Deal, Supply-Side Economics, the Marketplace, and Democracy-1
Oct.
9: The New Deal, Supply-Side Economics, the Marketplace, and Democracy-1I
Oct.
16: Summary, Presentations, and Final Discussion
READINGS:
Readings will be supplied online via COMPASS.