GVPT379F

This course introduces students to fringe ideas and actors active in America politics. Through an exploration of social and political movements, the course seeks to understand the different forms of political organization that operate outside the two major parties and the ideas or interests that underlie such organization. Additionally, the course explores the motivations for participation in fringe politics . Throughout the course, we will contrast the concepts of mainstream and fringe and critically assess the basis for such a distinction. Finally, the course explores the history of alternative political thought in America, the persistence of particular alternative ideologies, and the role of fringe in contemporary politics.