PLTC346

This seminar examines theories of protest from nonviolent resistance to armed insurrection to social critique. When laws are unjust, are citizens morally obligated to obey them? What kinds of resistance tactics and protest actions are justifiable, and under what conditions? How might we understand the relationship between effective and legitimate protest? What are the promises and limitations of violence and nonviolence? Is exiting politics –– leaving a political society or refusing to participate –– a meaningful form of resistance? This seminar explores these questions by putting texts in modern and contemporary political theory in conversation with works by those who engage in forms of protest themselves.