PG 308 | Images of Corruption in American Politics

This course explores many visions of the corruption of the American republic, exploring concerns grounded in the liberal and civic republican and constitutional traditions, commitments to and deviations from the core commitments of the American 'creed,' religious values, pluralism, the partisan and ideological 'spirit of faction,' and the abandonment of the hope that, to borrow from Richard Rorty (through James Baldwin), we can 'achieve' a country. The reading list includes books that engage broad themes in American politics and American political development, and this course exposes students to those themes while working through the multifaceted meanings of corruption, and the political consequences of these perceptions of corruption.