Twenty-First Century Pamphleteers: The Internet’s Promise and Perils for Political Participation

Taught by Ross K. Smith, Director of Debate and Instructor at Wake Forest University.

Students will explore how they can and cannot participate in politics using the rapidly changing tool set of the internet, including blogs, YouTube, and social networks.Ross taught a similar unit last year and he has significant experience with this topic and with involving students in hands-on activities. In fact, he himself is an active and prominent blogger.

Invisible Borders: Citizens and Conflict in Regions and Nations –Civic/political dimensions of the trans-Atlantic dialogue

Taught by Dr. Alessandra Beasley, Assistant Professor of Communications at Wake Forest University.

The purpose of this class will be to explore the political, cultural, and social tensions in areas where regional and national identities come in conflict with one another. These tensions and conflicts take different forms, ranging from actual wars, to simmering disputes, to the reconciling of centuries-old conflicts and cultural differences in otherwise peacefully coexisting countries such as in Western Europe and the United States. Moreover, the ideals of unity and difference are particularly salient for European Union members and potential candidates for the EU who face the challenge of working toward political, economic, and social cooperation while maintaining and respecting cultural differences. While in Alessandra’s class, students will explore these questions through discussions, role-playing activities, and other forms of active learning.

Comparative Constitutionalism (Founders)

Taught by Dr. John Dinan, Associate Professor of Political Science at Wake Forest University.

John taught a similar course to last year’s group, and the discussions that were started in his course continued during the students’ trips to Philadelphia and Washington. The purpose of the “Comparative Constitutionalism” course is to examine the ways in which constitutions and political systems are designed in the United States and in European and Eurasian countries. For instance, how have various polities gone about establishing a constitution? What sorts of rights are appropriate for including in a constitution? How to design a constitution to limit the power of governing officials? And to what extent should the constitution of the U.S. or of any other countries serve as a template for emerging democracies that are drawing up constitutions for the first time? These questions and others will be explored through discussions, group activities, formal class debates, and internet research on the particular details of the political system of each student’s home country (or home state, in the case of the American students). Throughout this course, John is intent on conveying the understanding that citizens on both sides of the Atlantic are engaged in a common enterprise of seeking to design functioning constitutions and political systems, even if we may end up with differences in the particular structures and provisions in our respective countries.

Social Movements (Diplomats)

Taught by Dr. Nate French, Assistant Professor at Christopher Newport University.

This course will focus on the rhetoric of non-majority and/or non-State voices as they seek social change. In the U.S., and in many countries around the world, ordinary people are working individually and through groups to persuade others, to voice their grievances, and to articulate their challenge to a broader society. Our concern is with examining the tactics employed by a wide range of social movements, whether grounded in concerns about racial, ethnic, and gender equality, or the rights of religious minorities, or the goals of environmental and anti-war groups. This course considers personal narratives, cultural memory, music and film features as equally viable resources. The resources will be engaged via lecture, discussion, student presentations and other forms of active learning.