36
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
What Is Conservatism?
The opening lecture explains some definitions of Conservatism and previews Professor Allitt's approach to exploring its rich and varied lineage in both Britain and America and its fund of ideas and principles. Each is explored within the context of contemporaneous historical events and debate.
1.
What Is Conservatism?
|
19.
Opposing the New Deal
The onset of the Great Depression would transform American Conservatism. Explore how Conservatives reacted to both the New Deal and to arguments over whether America should stand behind Britain in defending European civilization in the Second World War, or remain aloof from a conflict in which the nation had no vital interest.
19.
Opposing the New Deal
|
2.
The Glorious Revolution and Its Heritage
In gaining a grasp of Tory ideas about politics during the early years of Parliament's supremacy, you learn much about the roots of English Conservatism, including Lord Bolingbroke's comments about what we now call the "loyal opposition." His views would influence generations of subsequent English and American politicians.
2.
The Glorious Revolution and Its Heritage
|
20.
The Tory Party from Bonar Law to Churchill
Britain entered the interwar years sobered and psychologically wounded by the First World War. Learn how a string of Conservative leaders, though holding power much of this time, offered mediocre leadership until the crisis of the oncoming war forced the party to turn to Winston Churchill.
20.
The Tory Party from Bonar Law to Churchill
|
3.
Burke, Tradition, and the French Revolution
Learn about the ideas of Edmund Burke, the Whig politician whose Reflections on the Revolution in France is regarded by many Conservatives as the founding text of their political creed. His book, written after the conflict's early stages, counseled respect for tradition and avoidance of radical change.
3.
Burke, Tradition, and the French Revolution
|
21.
The Reaction to Labour and Nationalization
Gain insight into the reasons why Churchill, in spite of victory, was repudiated in 1945 by an electorate to whom he represented the wrong kind of Conservatism: backward-looking, elitist, and dedicated to class distinctions and empire. Although he would eventually lead the Conservatives back to power, he was unable to reverse the massive political and economic changes of the postwar years.
21.
The Reaction to Labour and Nationalization
|
4.
Pitt and the Wars of the French Revolution
Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger was to Conservatism's politics what Burke was to its theory. Learn why he is probably the one man to whom it is easiest to trace the growth of Britain's Conservative Party.
4.
Pitt and the Wars of the French Revolution
|
22.
American Anticommunism and McCarthyism
American Conservatives, already afraid of Socialism, were horrified by the militant Communism of Lenin's Bolsheviks. See how anticommunism gradually became one of the defining features of postwar American Conservatism.
22.
American Anticommunism and McCarthyism
|
5.
The American Revolution
The underpinnings of America's revolution were really as "un-revolutionary" as could be. See how many of its leaders actually looked back to a long British tradition of liberty under limited government and the heritage of the Glorious Revolution, and how large numbers of the populace remained loyal to the crown.
5.
The American Revolution
|
23.
American Traditionalists
While McCarthyism was making headlines in the early 1950s, a quieter, self-identified Conservative movement was also taking shape and becoming intellectually influential. This lecture explores some of the thinkers prominent in this movement, including Ross Hoffman, Richard Weaver, Russell Kirk, Walter Lippmann, and Peter Viereck.
23.
American Traditionalists
|
6.
The Federalists
Strongly influenced by the Western political tradition, America's Constitution can be seen as a very conservative kind of revolutionary document. Learn about the Federalists' role in creating and passing it and their dismay over the eventual changes in national direction brought by Thomas Jefferson and his party.
6.
The Federalists
|
24.
Libertarianism
See a third strand of the new American Conservatism emerge in the 1950s, as Libertarianism joined anti-Communism and traditionalism. Its adherents had virtually unlimited faith in the powers of the free market, deplored state intervention in the economy, and regarded personal liberty as the highest possible good.
24.
Libertarianism
|
7.
Conservatives in the American South
Southern plantation owners wanted to be left to their own devices, without the federal government imposing its power on their states. Explore how these desires combined with unapologetic racist justifications for slavery to shape the face of southern Conservatism.
7.
Conservatives in the American South
|
25.
National Review and Barry Goldwater
Enjoy a front-row seat as Conservatism in America achieves a level of unity with the publication of William F. Buckley Jr.'s National Review in 1955. Anti-Communist, anti-big government, and sympathetic to traditional values—the magazine soon becomes the central journal of the Conservative movement.
25.
National Review and Barry Goldwater
|
8.
Northern Antebellum Conservatism
See how concerns over President Andrew Jackson becoming a tyrant—with democracy turning into mere demagoguery—became the catalyst for the formation of a new political party. The Whigs drew their nucleus from remnants of the Federalist Party in New England and prosperous businessmen throughout the Union.
8.
Northern Antebellum Conservatism
|
26.
Upheavals of the 1960s
Why did the Conservative movement gain adherents during the 1960s, despite the defeat of Conservative Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater? You'll grasp the answer in the galvanizing influence of the Vietnam War, the spread of affirmative action, and an increasingly activist—and often violently demonstrative—youth culture on college campuses.
26.
Upheavals of the 1960s
|
9.
Opposing the Great Reform Act
A mood of romantic conservatism in early 19th-century England pitted Conservatives against reform movements like Catholic emancipation and the Great Reform Act of 1832. See that Conservatives vigorously resisted passage of such bills, which began the slow process of making Britain a parliamentary democracy.
9.
Opposing the Great Reform Act
|
27.
The Neoconservatives
Among the sharpest critics of the new Conservatives in the 1950s were a group of Liberal social scientists, including Daniel Bell, Nathan Glazer, Samuel Huntington, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. See how the unfolding social turbulence of the 1960s prompted them to begin thinking in different directions.
27.
The Neoconservatives
|
10.
Robert Peel and the Conservative Revival
Follow the career of Robert Peel, who built the modern Conservative Party. Although he presided over a great Conservative revival, his rivalries with Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone created a party rift.
10.
Robert Peel and the Conservative Revival
|
28.
The Neoconservatives and Foreign Policy
In the 1970s Saigon fell, the Soviet Union built a world-spanning navy, and revolutions broke out in Iran and Nicaragua. See that the Neoconservatives—who had come to share the Conservatives' views on domestic issues—began to join them on foreign policy, as well.
28.
The Neoconservatives and Foreign Policy
|
11.
Smith, Ricardo, Malthus, Mill
Take a ride on the swinging pendulum of political definitions as you meet the pioneers of free-market capitalism. The same principles now considered bulwarks of modern Conservatism then marked them as radicals, with some of their admirers even now referring to them as "classical Liberals."
11.
Smith, Ricardo, Malthus, Mill
|
29.
Christian Conservatives and the New Right
For five decades, evangelical Protestants in America had avoided direct involvement in politics. You grasp how societal changes in the 1960s and 1970s—including feminism, the sexual revolution, gay rights, and the legalization of abortion—prompted some evangelical leaders to rethink their position.
29.
Christian Conservatives and the New Right
|
12.
Conservatism and the American Civil War
Can the Civil War be considered the clash of two Conservative philosophies? Judge for yourself as you see conservative southern states secede from the Union while northern Conservatives refused to acknowledge their secession as legitimate.
12.
Conservatism and the American Civil War
|
30.
Margaret Thatcher's Counterrevolution
Margaret Thatcher, a shopkeeper's daughter from Grantham, was an unlikely figure to rise to the leadership of the Conservative Party. Learn how she nevertheless became the decisive personality of her era and left an impression on the country as vivid as that left 40 years before by Winston Churchill.
30.
Margaret Thatcher's Counterrevolution
|
13.
Industrialists, Mugwumps, Traditionalists
With American industrialization accelerating after the Civil War, at least three different brands of Conservatism surfaced, including the "Gospel of Wealth" argued by Andrew Carnegie; the older Republican values of the "Mugwumps"; and the longing for an even more-distant past evident in the works of Henry Adams.
13.
Industrialists, Mugwumps, Traditionalists
|
31.
Monarchs and Prime Ministers
Examine how John Major, the successor to Margaret Thatcher, consolidated her counterrevolution and gave further evidence that the Conservative Party was no longer the preserve of aristocrats. Meanwhile, see how the outpouring of grief at the death of Princess Diana in 1997 demonstrated the continuing emotional appeal of royalty and the monarchy's skill over three centuries of adapting to changing times.
31.
Monarchs and Prime Ministers
|
14.
Disraeli and Tory Imperialism
Meet Benjamin Disraeli, the outsider who converted from Judaism to Anglicanism and enjoyed a meteoric ascent through the ranks of the Conservative Party. Creating much of the structure of the modern Conservative Party, Disraeli remained an inspirational figure to the party for more than a century.
14.
Disraeli and Tory Imperialism
|
32.
Reagan Triumphant
You look at the rise of Ronald Reagan, who was to American Conservatism what Thatcher was to British Conservatism. Enjoying great personal popularity, he was able to make Conservatism seem normal, friendly, relaxed, and all-American, qualities it had certainly not exhibited in the 1950s and 1960s.
32.
Reagan Triumphant
|
15.
The Rise of Labour and the House of Lords
Although the American trade union movement never created a political party of its own, you see how Britain's union movement did just that, with the founding of the Labour Party in 1900 carrying powerful implications for both the Liberal and Conservative parties.
15.
The Rise of Labour and the House of Lords
|
33.
The End of the Cold War
When most of the Communist world collapsed at the end of the 1980s, American Conservatives were taken by surprise. Explore America's dilemma in navigating this strange new world. Should it withdraw into isolationism, or exert its power to influence all future global crises?
33.
The End of the Cold War
|
16.
The Idea of Anglo-Saxon Supremacy
Racism was intellectually respectable in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with Anglo-Saxons seen as destined to rule the rest of the world. Explore how this idea influenced Conservative thought in Britain and America.
16.
The Idea of Anglo-Saxon Supremacy
|
34.
Paleoconservatives and Theoconservatives
Look at the arguments of those American Conservatives who were opposed to a foreign policy based on trying to democratize the world. Among them were the Paleoconservatives, which included southern descendents of the Agrarians; Libertarians; and the Theoconservatives, a group of ecumenical religious writers organized by Richard John Neuhaus.
34.
Paleoconservatives and Theoconservatives
|
17.
No Vote for Women
While today's belief is that men and women are similar in all essentials except the most physical, articulate Britons and Americans in the early 20th century were more struck by the differences. Explore how this different perspective made itself felt in the debate over suffrage for women.
17.
No Vote for Women
|
35.
Culture Wars
Focus on several writers, including Allan Bloom, E. D. Hirsch, Lynne Cheney, and Roger Kimball, who lamented what they considered a decline in civilization and civility. They argued that Conservatives had won the battle for national politics, but not the one for the souls of young Americans.
35.
Culture Wars
|
18.
American Conservatives after World War I
Under a trio of Conservative Republican presidents, the 1920s was a period of prosperity throughout the United States. Examine how isolated Conservatives—including groups known as the New Humanists and the Southern Agrarians, along with journalist H. L. Mencken—deplored this turn to materialism.
18.
American Conservatives after World War I
|
36.
Unresolved Paradoxes
This final lecture summarizes the issues discussed in the course. See why, no matter how Anglo-American Conservatives react to new challenges, they have good reason, whatever their short-term anxieties, to approach the future in a mood of quiet confidence.
36.
Unresolved Paradoxes
|
36
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Why Think about Capitalism?
You consider how capitalism works, its political prerequisites, and its political, moral, and cultural ramifications through key elements of capitalism and its origins.
1.
Why Think about Capitalism?
|
19.
Individual and Community—Tönnies vs. Simmel
In the last third of the 19th century, a newly unified Germany went through a process of capitalist transformation, leading to debate about capitalism's social, cultural, and political ramifications.
19.
Individual and Community—Tönnies vs. Simmel
|
2.
The Greek and Christian Traditions
You learn how modern Western intellectuals have evaluated capitalism by starting with the two great premodern traditions: the civic republican tradition and the Christian tradition.
2.
The Greek and Christian Traditions
|
20.
The German Debate over Rationalization
Georg Simmel, Max Weber, and Werner Sombart offered three different perspectives on the cultural and spiritual effects of the spread of capitalism and its ideas of rationality and calculation.
20.
The German Debate over Rationalization
|
3.
Hobbes's Challenge to the Traditions
Hobbes criticized these traditions, emphasizing happiness in this world as the goal of government and refuting the notion that government exists to guide us to some shared purpose or highest ideal.
3.
Hobbes's Challenge to the Traditions
|
21.
Cultural Sources of Capitalism—Max Weber
You examine the cultural sources of disparate group success under capitalism, with special focus on Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905) and Sombart's The Jews and Modern Capitalism (1911).
21.
Cultural Sources of Capitalism—Max Weber
|
4.
Dutch Commerce and National Power
In the 17th century, the Dutch Republic provided an example of a highly commercial society of increasing power, leading European thinkers to reformulate civic republicanism in a more commercial direction.
4.
Dutch Commerce and National Power
|
22.
Schumpeter on Innovation and Resentment
Joseph Schumpeter was among the most wide-ranging analysts of capitalism. But unlike most mainstream economists of his day, Schumpeter focused on the role of entrepreneurs, whose dynamism, he believed, caused resentment of capitalism.
22.
Schumpeter on Innovation and Resentment
|
5.
Capitalism and Toleration—Voltaire
In his Letters on England (1734), Voltaire argued that commerce provides a means for people of different orientations to cooperate.
5.
Capitalism and Toleration—Voltaire
|
23.
Lenin's Critique—Imperialism and War
You examine Vladimir Lenin's idea that capitalism fosters imperialism and related arguments by the British liberal John Hobson and Marxists Rudolf Hilferding and Rosa Luxembourg, before taking up a refutation offered by Schumpeter.
23.
Lenin's Critique—Imperialism and War
|
6.
Abundance or Equality—Voltaire vs. Rousseau
Enlightenment thinkers debated the moral status of material well-being. Voltaire argued that the abundance created by commerce was the basis of civilization. Rousseau countered that material progress had increased inequality and undermined virtue.
6.
Abundance or Equality—Voltaire vs. Rousseau
|
24.
Fascists on Capitalism—Freyer and Schmitt
This lecture looks at the critiques of the Weimar Republic's liberal democracy by political analyst Carl Schmitt and sociologist Hans Freyer, who argued that capitalist democracy posed a threat to effective government and national power.
24.
Fascists on Capitalism—Freyer and Schmitt
|
7.
Seeing the Invisible Hand—Adam Smith
In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith explained how a competitive market could channel self-interest into socially beneficial directions.
7.
Seeing the Invisible Hand—Adam Smith
|
25.
Mises and Hayek on Irrational Socialism
This lecture looks at ideas about the importance of markets introduced by Ludwig von Mises and further developed by his student, Friedrich von Hayek, whose "neo-liberal" approach focused on individual liberty and the restriction of government. Hayek's theories about the roots of Fascism and the link between anti-Semitism and anticapitalism are also examined.
25.
Mises and Hayek on Irrational Socialism
|
8.
Smith on Merchants, Politicians, Workers
Smith argued that capitalism diverged from his competitive model, with each economic group trying to use its political power to promote its own interest. He urged policymakers to promote competitive markets that served the general interest.
8.
Smith on Merchants, Politicians, Workers
|
26.
Schumpeter on Capitalism's Self-Destruction
You focus on Schumpeter's version of the notion that capitalism ignites processes that destroy its institutional foundations—set forth in his Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy.
26.
Schumpeter on Capitalism's Self-Destruction
|
9.
Smith on the Problems of Commercial Society
Smith's influence was probably greatest in arguing against government's direct economic involvement, but Smith, in fact, believed that a well-functioning government was the only source of many essential functions for a commercial society.
9.
Smith on the Problems of Commercial Society
|
27.
The Rise of Welfare-State Capitalism
Perhaps the most important transformation of capitalism in the mid-20th century was the development of welfare-state capitalism. This lecture explores its origins and the varieties of welfare-state capitalism that developed after World War II.
27.
The Rise of Welfare-State Capitalism
|
10.
Smith on Moral and Immoral Capitalism
You explore Smith's views on how a capitalist society could make people better and better off—but that lack of the rule of law, or inequality before it, could cause commerce to lead to immoral outcomes.
10.
Smith on Moral and Immoral Capitalism
|
28.
Pluralism as Limit to Social Justice—Hayek
This lecture examines Hayek's conception of the links between capitalism and Liberalism, which called into question many of the premises of those who wanted to use the welfare state to shape society.
28.
Pluralism as Limit to Social Justice—Hayek
|
11.
Conservatism and Advanced Capitalism—Burke
Edmund Burke offered a conservative analysis of the hazards posed by some forms of capitalism. His Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) remains the most influential work of conservative thought ever published.
11.
Conservatism and Advanced Capitalism—Burke
|
29.
Herbert Marcuse and the New Left Critique
During the 1960s, Herbert Marcuse's most influential work analyzed contemporary capitalism's ability to keep the masses quiescent by manipulating their needs.
29.
Herbert Marcuse and the New Left Critique
|
12.
Conservatism and Periphery Capitalism—Möser
Justus Möser is an example of a conservative in a largely precommercial society, for whom the spread of international capitalism was a threat to existing ways of life.
12.
Conservatism and Periphery Capitalism—Möser
|
30.
Contradictions of Postindustrial Society
In the 1970s, Daniel Bell argued that America had entered a postindustrial age and that capitalism undermined the work ethic, frugality, and deferred gratification that it depended on.
30.
Contradictions of Postindustrial Society
|
13.
Hegel on Capitalism and Individuality
This lecture introduces you to Hegel's ideas about capitalism, individuality, and how institutions foster individuality.
13.
Hegel on Capitalism and Individuality
|
31.
The Family under Capitalism
This lecture examines some useful conceptual frameworks for thinking about the links between capitalism and the family.
31.
The Family under Capitalism
|
14.
Hamilton, List, and the Case for Protection
You encounter two voices in the early debate over free international trade: Alexander Hamilton, who made the case for protecting "infant industries," and Friedrich List, who developed Hamilton's ideas into a national industrial policy.
14.
Hamilton, List, and the Case for Protection
|
32.
Tensions with Democracy—Buchanan and Olson
You explore James M. Buchanan's critique of Keynesianism based on public choice theory and Mancur Olson's explanation of how the logic of collective action could lead to economic stagnation.
32.
Tensions with Democracy—Buchanan and Olson
|
15.
De Tocqueville on Capitalism in America
Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America explores the propensity toward individualism and materialism in America and the countervailing influence of republican institutions and religion.
15.
De Tocqueville on Capitalism in America
|
33.
End of Communism, New Era of Globalization
This lecture explores the origins and nature of the newest era of globalization and puts it into historical perspective.
33.
End of Communism, New Era of Globalization
|
16.
Marx and Engels—The Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels concluded that industrial capitalism profited only the wealthy while leading to the material and moral degradation of the masses. Nevertheless, in The Communist Manifesto (1848), they also recognized capitalism's achievements and possibilities.
16.
Marx and Engels—The Communist Manifesto
|
34.
Capitalism and Nationalism—Ernest Gellner
An interpretation of modern history argues that the processes that made capitalism possible also led to changes in personal identity that made nationalism attractive.
34.
Capitalism and Nationalism—Ernest Gellner
|
17.
Marx's Capital and the Degradation of Work
Marx spent most of the decades after The Communist Manifesto working on his comprehensive analysis of the capitalist economy. Although he provided a searing portrait of the industrial factory's degradation of labor, he overlooked the trends that argued against his theory.
17.
Marx's Capital and the Degradation of Work
|
35.
The Varieties of Capitalism
You examine capitalist societies from five perspectives—political structures, types of welfare states, developmental strategies, forms of business, and extent of equality.
35.
The Varieties of Capitalism
|
18.
Matthew Arnold on Capitalism and Culture
The British poet and cultural critic Matthew Arnold was concerned about "Philistinism"—spiritual and cultural narrowing in a capitalist society and the spill-over effect of applying a narrowly utilitarian, market mentality to other areas.
18.
Matthew Arnold on Capitalism and Culture
|
36.
Intrinsic Tensions in Capitalism
Why has capitalism been so productive and innovative, and why has it outlasted its competitors, such as Socialism? You look at some recent thinking on this and at some intrinsic tensions in capitalism.
36.
Intrinsic Tensions in Capitalism
|