World War II: Inter-Relations between Ideology and Politics before and during the War: course description
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The goal of the proposed course is to analyze and assess the impact that ideology and politics had on each other before and during World War II, the major event of the 20th Century. On one hand it was a war prompted by ideologies that conflicted each other: The racial theories of Nazi Germany, the Bolshevik-Soviet ideas regarding the relations between class and nation; the Fascist viewpoint giving the State the right to manipulate the life of the individual; the monarchist views of Imperial Japan; and the democratic-liberal notion centering on the individual’s rights, strongly opposing the other regimes as threats to world peace and security.
On the other hand, decisions as well as alliances were determined by “real-politik” and by the practical needs of the moment.
The research question of the course will therefore be – when did practical considerations have the upper hand; in what cases did ideology prevail; and what were the results on the battle fields and in the cost of human life?
Course Outline
In attempting to answer the research question, students would be required, to use, when possible, primary sources: Archival documents, the press, testimonies, memoirs and diaries. Secondary sources that would be used are essays, research and textbooks. The main venue for class discussions will be the pin-pointing of the events, turning points and decisions in which ideology and politics conflicted, and the frameworks in which such decisions were taken by the different regimes.
The educational goal of the course is to raise discussions and debates over questions of values, such as the rights of the individual and of the minorities, the role of leaders and leaderships in shaping the balance between values and practical considerations, the possibilities and venues an individual could use to oppose the current stigmas and dogmas, and the role of compassion in world affairs.
Rationale: Following is a list of meetings and reading materials, bearing in mind that a semester consists of 12 meetings, three hours each. Closer to the 2008 fall semester the students will get a list that specifies chapters and pages in the reading materials. Bearing in mind as well that the students’ life experience is fairly remote from the war, and that they come from many a country, the main documentaries, movies and literary works, that have become symbols of the war and its reflection, were added to the list. The documentaries and movies will naturally have to be watched, and the literary works read, beforehand, so that classes’ time be devoted to presentations and discussions.
