The aim of this course is to allow students to acquire:
- Knowledge of the origins, development and effect of institutions on a specific historical theme at an advanced level
- The ability to analyze the origins, development and effect of these institutions by applying appropriate theories, concepts and methods
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What is civil society? Is it a myth; or does it really exist? Is it an ideologically normative or an analytically descriptive category? This course shall provide students with a critical and historical perspective on the concept and evolvement of ‘civil society’, which is often thought of as the 'ham in the sandwich' between the private sphere and the state. The aim of this course is to discuss ‘civil society’ in a historical context and to get a better understanding of the ways historians and social scientists have historicized its transformations over time. Students will become familiar with some theories of ‘civil society’ and explore some closely related social and political categories (such as public sphere and counter public-sphere; nationalism, liberalism and democracy; middle class and Bürgertum, social movements and participation).The course concludes with a contemporary and global perspective: to what extent is (the concept of) civil society still relevant in today’s global, urban and digital societies, and how does it differ fromits past appearances? At the end of the course, students will be able to defend their own definition and apply it to a selected case study in the history of civil society.
Career orientation:
Writing a newspaper article for a general audience is part of the course. Students thus hone their skills in forming and expressing a well-founded opinion and in communicating research results to non-specialists.
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