Divided we Stand: Politics of Polarization in Contemporary America 4219-SF060

January 6th, 2021, assault on the Capitol shook American public opinion. The scenes of armed crowd storming the buildings of American Congress might seem unprecedented, but they had been in the making. Similarly, to an attentive observer of American politics, it should not come as a surprise that Americans are very divided in their opinions on what happened: for some it was an insurrection or a coup, a violent attempt at illegal power seizure, for other it was a peaceful exercise of the rights of the First Amendment (with violent provocateurs from Antifa). This division, largely mapping onto the party identification, is a symptom of political polarization in the United States. While it is true that the main cleavage goes along party lines, there are others which sometimes converge with it, but not always: gender divide, urban-rural divide, racial divide, class divide, educational divide. All of them contribute to the contemporary polarized landscape. The purpose of this course is to interrogate the causes of contemporary political polarization in United States of America and to explore its implications for democratic politics. Over the course of the semester, students will read works from the disciplines of political science, sociology, and anthropology, illuminating various facets of the polarization. After completing this class students will have a proper knowledge of American political developments associated with political polarization, as well as theoretical and conceptual tools to analyze polarization in different contexts. This class is for students interested in American politics; while there are no formal requirements, a cursory knowledge of US political institutions and US government is expected.