LEAD 255
Weaponized Leadership: Demagoguery and Populism in Contemporary Perspective Spring 2021
Division II Writing Skills
Cross-listed PSCI 255
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

Since Donald Trump began his rhetorical assault on immigrants, the political establishment, and the free press, all in the name of “the American people,” terms like demagoguery and populism have come to dominate American political discourse. Demagogues and populists are often defined as bad leaders who manipulate the emotions of their audiences for the sake of personal ambition– leaders who turn a good thing (popular government) into something dangerous. At the same time, and as Trump has shown, many of the tactics that populists and demagogues deploy are politically effective. Protest leaders tell their audiences to get angry and to stand up and fight precisely because this kind of rhetoric can move an audience to action when rational persuasion cannot. And, many of the leaders we think of as great today were regarded as demagogues and populists during their own times. Puzzles like these point to our current political moment. How useful are terms like demagoguery and populism for understanding leadership? How have these terms been weaponized to distort politics instead of clarifying it? Should we reserve these terms for leaders who are truly bad, and if so, what counts as a “truly” bad leader (as opposed to one we just happen not to like)? Or can demagogic and populists tactics be deployed in better and worse ways? We will approach these questions through a survey of classic and contemporary writings on popular leadership, from Thucydides and Machiavelli to present-day social science. With these competing theories in view, we will read historical and biographical accounts of some of history’s most controversial leaders–including Bolivar, Lenin, FDR, and Hugo Chavez–so as to better understand the popular leaders who dominate much of our politics today.
The Class: Format: seminar; This course will be hybrid, combining elements of synchronous meetings and asynchronous content so as to allow both in-person and remote students to participate.
Limit: 14
Expected: 14
Class#: 5302
Grading: no pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: weekly writing assignments, a medium-length essay, and the option either to write a second medium-length essay or to develop the first essay into a longer research paper
Prerequisites: None
Enrollment Preferences: Leadership Studies concentrators and Political Science majors
Distributions: Division II Writing Skills
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
PSCI 255 Division II LEAD 255 Division II
WS Notes: Each student will write a critical essay responding to a particular day's reading assignment, with the option to rewrite. Students will write a 10-12 page research paper on a topic they will have discussed with me. For the final assessment, students will have the option either to write a second 10-12 page research paper on a topic different from the first, or to expand their original paper into a 25-30 page research essay. I will provide written feedback regarding grammar, style, and argument.
Attributes: LEAD American Domestic Leadership

Class Grid

Course Catalog Archive Search

TERM/YEAR
TEACHING MODE
SUBJECT
DIVISION



DISTRIBUTION



ENROLLMENT LIMIT
COURSE TYPE
Start Time
End Time
Day(s)