POST 198B PZ -Senior Seminar: Logics of Political Authority

Institution: Pitzer College

Description: How do people govern themselves: how did they; how might they? Hesitantly straddling the subfields of comparative and international politics, this course explores different logics of political authority through an examination of empires, territorial states, tribute systems, and tribal and other non-territorial forms of political organization. Questions include: What is the logic of state authroity; of imperial authority? Whither the state? How have empires spread historically - and how do they spread today? Are corporations soverign? Is Internet governance different (than what?). Is it easier not to be governed if you live on a hill? Under what logics of authority are we governed in oour everyday lives?