The French Revolution and the Birth of Modern Politics

(Students who have taken HISTORY 134 should not enroll in this course.) This course will focus on the birth of modern politics in the French Revolution. The goal will be to understand the structural contradictions of the French monarchy in the pre-revolutionary period, the reasons for the monarchy's failure to resolve those contradictions, and the political dynamic unleashed as they were solved by the revolutionary action of 1789. Sovereignty, democracy, rights, representation, and terror will be principal themes. Lectures will be combined with close reading and discussions of political and philosophical writings of the period.