Spring 2025 Course List

Abraham Lincoln is widely regarded to be the greatest American President and one of the most noteworthy leaders in human history. In this course, we will examine the extent to which that judgment of Lincoln’s leadership is sound. In particular, we will study the three most distinctive features of Lincoln’s political career: (1) the rhetoric of his public speeches and writings; (2) his political thought on such topics as democracy, constitutionalism, union, liberty, and equality; and (3) his statesmanship both before and during the American Civil War. We will consider the claims of Lincoln’s opponents during his life and his critics since then, as well as the arguments of his admirers. By doing so, we will aim to find some answers to the question: What might we learn about the challenges and possibilities of democratic statesmanship today from someone who lived more than 150 years ago?

M/W 1:30pm - 2:45pm | Aaron Kushner | Tempe Campus | Session C: #25509

Abraham Lincoln is widely regarded to be the greatest American President and one of the most noteworthy leaders in human history. In this course, we will examine the extent to which that judgment of Lincoln’s leadership is sound. In particular, we will study the three most distinctive features of Lincoln’s political career: (1) the rhetoric of his public speeches and writings; (2) his political thought on such topics as democracy, constitutionalism, union, liberty, and equality; and (3) his statesmanship both before and during the American Civil War. We will consider the claims of Lincoln’s opponents during his life and his critics since then, as well as the arguments of his admirers. By doing so, we will aim to find some answers to the question: What might we learn about the challenges and possibilities of democratic statesmanship today from someone who lived more than 150 years ago?

TTH 12:00pm - 1:15pm | Adam Seagrave | Tempe Campus | Session C: #26167

What civil liberties do you have under the US Constitution? We begin with a discussion of the Founding and earlier understandings of rights, before moving broadly through the Bill of Rights and Fourteenth Amendment, with reference also to the Arizona Constitution. This is the second of a two-part sequence on the U.S. Constitution and its development.

M/W 1:30pm - 2:45pm | Sean Beinberg | Tempe Campus | Session C: #20989

A survey of economic thought from classical to modern economics; including classical economics, Marxist economics, neoclassical economics, institutionalist economics, Austrian economics, Keynesian economics, Chicago economics, new institutionalist economics, and public choice.

M/W 10:30am - 11:45am | Ross Emmett | Tempe Campus | Session C: #26160

Prepares the foundation for students to become active participants, as citizens and leaders, in a liberal democratic society that faces an uncertain future. Provides familiarity with core conceptual tools provided by philosophy, politics, and economics, and an appreciation for the foundation they provide together to address social and political uncertainties we face today as well as in the future. Reliance on any one disciplinary set of tools and skills is useful, of course, but the real challenges of any liberal democracy are met by neither technocratic nor bureaucratic solutions. They require an awareness of the relevance of ethics, politics, and economics, as well as an appreciation for the limitations of each and the necessity of thinking through their interactions.

W 4:30pm - 7:15pm | Alex Rosenburg | Tempe Campus | Session C: #34427

Debating Socialism: This class explores the concepts of value, economic calculation, and the Socialist Calculation Debate in relation to the viability of central planning in a modern economy. What is 'value' and what relation does it have to money prices? What problems would a socialist commonwealth face in assigning value to resources? Is socialism of a central planning variety a viable alternative to capitalism? What is the relationship between totalitarianism, democracy, capitalism and socialism?

TTH 12:00pm - 1:15pm | Nicholas O'Neil | Tempe Campus | Session C: #27779

Allows ASU students from a variety of disciplines to encounter liberal education, classic texts and Socratic seminars, in an intensive, supportive and beautiful environment. Explores a fundamental question: How do I live a life of meaning? Students read thinkers ranging from Aristotle, Plutarch and Cicero to Viktor Frankl, Toni Morrison and Marge Piercy--and brings to bear their own life experiences--to understand concepts of love, friendship, work, community, citizenship and identity in relation to living an examined life. Expands these studies through practical experiences of service work, meditation and film to create a vital cohort and intellectual community. A central assessment for the course, the Organic Reflective Assessment (ORA), is a series of prompts and responses designed to allow students to think about and receive feedback from professors regarding the practice and methods of liberal learning: how to read texts and annotate them, how to ask questions of authors, how to think about one's own life in relation to and using language from classic texts--on the idea that to use existing, perhaps even widely known, language and relate it to our lives is a way to make our ideas known to ourselves and others. Students have need to keep up with these responses during the retreat.

 Susan Carrese | 3/10/2025 to 3/15/2025  | Prescott National Forest | Session B: #34760

Why are sports important to society? Discover why fans are obsessed with their favorite teams, by taking Sports and Leadership with Professor Jack Doody. Enroll today!

Jack Doody | ICourse | Session A: #29548

This course will engage students in a fascinating intellectual journey into the history of political thought in Latin America. The class will explore the colonial debate on the "conquest" and the legal status of the natives, the Latin American Founding Fathers' struggle for order and liberty, post-independence liberalism, the abolition of slavery, the early 20th-century quest for identity in mixed-race societies, and, finally, debate on modernization, dependence theory, liberation theology, populism, and the Latin American contribution to contemporary political ideas.

M/W 10:30am-11:45 am. | Eduardo Schmidt Passos| Tempe Campus | Session C: #33523

Cyber threats have been recognized by the United States as its number one national security challenge for the last several years. This course will offer students experiential and other hands-on learning opportunities that will identify and cultivate the career-relevant skills and experiences that will advantage students seeking careers in the cyber policy arena. The course focuses in part on preparing students to compete in multiple national and international cyber policy competitions organized by the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative. Students will review government and private sector policy and strategy papers (and other scholarship), examine the institutions and officials responsible for making and implementing cyber policy and closely follow current cyber-related events, all of which will provide a deep understanding of the cyber threat and the policy prescriptions the US currently relies upon to protect against malign cyber activity. Preparation for the policy competition(s) will also include formal mock briefings, rigorous peer critiques and discussions led by cyber practitioners. The course will teach critical thinking and effective briefing/presentation skills, along with the technical knowledge necessary to operate effectively in the cyber domain. Together, the course will offer integrated learning experiences that translate directly into career development opportunities.

F 10:30am - 11:30am | Bruce Pagel | Tempe Campus | Session C: #23038

Targeted killings and drone strikes, cyber warfare, and war crimes are all subject to the law of armed conflict (LOAC). In this course, you will explore these issues, and more, focusing on how LOAC is applied on the modern battlefield, including the wars in Ukraine and Israel/Gaza. This class will expose you to the complex legal challenges warfighters often face in armed conflict and how the underlying culture of war influences the application of law on the battlefield.expose you to the complex legal challenges warfighters often face in armed conflict.

T/TH 1:30am - 2:45am | Bruce Pagel | Tempe Campus | Session C: #26173

US National Security Challenges: Russian-Ukrainian War. What role should the US play in opposing Russian aggression? This course will examine the war's strategic, operational and tactical evolution focusing on US interests. Students will better understand how national security institutions are dealing with the Russian-Ukrainian

T/TH 10:30am - 11:45am | Bruce Pagel | Tempe Campus | Session C: #29290

In partnership with the nonprofit organization, Veterans Heritage Project, students will interview a military veteran preserving the veteran's oral history in video and written form, submitting both to the Library of Congress and publishing it in a hardbound book, 'Since You Asked.' Students will become published authors, test their leadership skills and learn about civic responsibility, all while performing a valuable service to both the individual veteran and the larger national community.

F 12:00pm - 1:00pm| Bruce Pagel | Tempe Campus | Session C: #27780

The lines of difference marking the diverse and fascinating discourses of European cultures before and after the end of Soviet hegemony animate and legitimize the Other Europe. It is no longer possible today to speak of Czechoslovak or Serbo-Croatian literature, or of countries previously known as Yugoslavia. Political changes of the past decade, specifically the memorable events of 1988-1991, have revealed not only the unresolved variations and contradictions within a region once viewed as monolithic; they have also generated the emerging field of Post-Totalitarian Cultural Studies. In recent years Slovaks have created an independent cultural identity, while the present divisions in the former Yugoslavia have a much longer history. Most Serbs are Greek Orthodox and use the Cyrillic script, whereas Croats are Roman Catholic and use the Latin alphabet. Although the languages of the two nations are closely related, any story by Ivo Andric (the 1975 Nobel Prize recipient) will quickly show just how much their cultural traditions differ. My point, of course, is that while embroiled in the transitional period after the collapse of communism in Central Eastern Europe, these nations and cultures (Albanians, Bulgarians, Czechs, Croats, Hungarians, Macedonians, Poles, Romanians, Russians, Slovaks, Slovenes) have emerged as vibrant and independent states that define themselves within and beyond traditional dichotomies of cultural otherness and whose traditions and cultures do not line up with those of the West, particularly because of the long absence of interregional and cross-disciplinary studies in those region

T/Th 12:00pm - 1:15pm | Ileana Orlich | Tempe Campus | Session C: #27082

This course interrogates and explores the concept of Empire in ancient, medieval, and modern Europe, its cultural geography, and the emergence of the continent's nation-states. Empires are broadly defined as large political units extended over space that incorporate ethnically diverse people and geographically mapped areas. By contrast, nation-states are based on a single people that forms a unique community in a single territory.

T/Th 1:30pm - 2:45pm | Ileana Orlich | Tempe Campus | Session C: #34003