History of International Order

This course charts the history of international order over the last two centuries, from the Haitian Revolution to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. It explores how grand schemes for world parliaments, universal peace, and human rights as well imperial domination and dismal violence shaped today's world system. Can great power politics be squared with global ethics, with self-determination, with environmental protection? Is there such a thing as just war? We will investigate shifting answers to these questions in conversation with figures like Kant, L'Ouverture, Marx, Wilson, Du Bois, Lenin, Hitler, Ho Chi Min, Arendt, Hayek, and Nkrumah.