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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.