Political Ideologies in Action: American Conservatism

The course. How did American conservatism get from Edmund Burke to Steve Bannon? The course follows classical conservatism and classical liberalism through four traditions in American conservative thought: libertarianism, neo-conservatism, white supremacism, and evangelical Christianity. Students read dense theoretical texts and apply them to current events.

AI in the course. Students examine how political campaigns, particularly on the American right, use AI to build models that target finely grained demographic groups, and they consider whether disinformation or deception is part of those strategies.