DeVane Lectures: Power and Politics in Today's World

Jul 17, 2024

DeVane Lectures: Power and Politics in Today's World

Introduction

  • Opportunity to give DeVane Lectures at Yale
  • Course available for credit and open to the public
  • Focus: Power and politics from 1989 to present

Comparison to Previous Period

  • Post-WWII advanced capitalist democracies experienced stability
    • Prosperity in Europe with Marshal Plan aid
    • Cold War maintained stability
  • 1989-Present: Tumultuous period with rapid changes

Goal of the Course

  • Explore political changes from 1989 to present
  • Challenge: Balancing perceptions of those who lived through it and those who didn’t

1989 and the Fall of the Berlin Wall

  • Momentous occasion celebrating the symbolic tearing down of the Berlin Wall
  • Triggered by Soviet Union losing its grip on Eastern Europe
  • Resistance movements in Eastern Europe
  • Democratization followed in many former Soviet bloc countries

Global Democratic Movements

  • Democracy spread in the early 1990s (e.g., South Africa, Northern Ireland, Israel-Palestinian conflict)
  • Francis Fukuyama's "End of History" thesis: Liberal democracy spreading

Political Shifts in Germany and Europe

  • Example: German far-right AfD party gaining prominence
  • 2017: Political instability with coalition challenges
  • Angela Merkel’s CDU faced difficulty forming government without far-right support
  • SPD extracted concessions to rejoin coalition
  • Rise of extremist parties reminiscent of 1930s

Global Rise of Populism

  • 2016 Major Shocks: Brexit, Trump’s election
  • Growth of far-right and anti-system parties in Europe (e.g., Austria, Belgium, Italy)

Course Structure and Key Questions

  • Central Questions: How did we get from 1989 to now? Challenges and prospects? How to improve the future?
  • Approach: Historical analysis using political science and political theory

Use of Political Science and Theory

  • Political science tools applied to data from the past 30 years
  • Test conventional wisdom with new data
  • Example theories: Modernization theory, state-run economies' compatibility with democracy

Use of Political Theory

  • Political theory background and normative questions
  • Critique: Many theories fail to consider practical implementation

Exploring Paths Not Taken

  • Example scenarios: NATO expansion, Global War on Terror, 2008 financial crisis response
  • Assess realistic political alternatives to mainstream decisions

Course Structure

  1. Collapse of Communism and Aftermath
    • Focus on Eastern Europe, Russia, China, Vietnam
    • Shift to unipolar world dominated by single power
  2. Neoliberalism and Washington Consensus
    • Trade deregulation, privatization, and removing trade constraints
    • Spread in developing countries
  3. New Global Order Post-1989
    • Democratization waves and new international institutions
    • Concept like