{"id":775,"date":"2017-02-03T13:27:48","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T13:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/?p=775"},"modified":"2024-06-07T13:29:10","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T13:29:10","slug":"democracy-and-demagogues-lessons-from-ancient-greece-and-rome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/2017\/02\/03\/democracy-and-demagogues-lessons-from-ancient-greece-and-rome\/","title":{"rendered":"Democracy and Demagogues: Lessons from Ancient Greece and Rome"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
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\"headshot\"<\/p>\n

Rachel Sternberg, Ph.D. – Associate Professor of Classics at Case Western Reserve University<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

\"headshot\"<\/p>\n

Timothy Wutrich, Ph.D. – Senior Instructor of Classics at Case Western Reserve University<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
Friday February 3, 2017
\n12:30-1:30 p.m.
\nDampeer Room
\nKelvin Smith Library
\nCase Western Reserve University<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Colleagues:<\/p>\n

The authors of the U.S. Constitution read Thucydides and Cicero.<\/strong>\u00a0The classic texts on politics and government helped shape their position that democratic politics was vulnerable to perversion by the “propensity of mankind to fall into animosities” and “an attachment to different leaders ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and power” and so\u00a0they argued the Constitution was desirable precisely because it could help prevent the effects of demagoguery.\u00a0<\/strong>They knew from Roman experience that “republics” with complex divisions of power also could be overcome by tyrants.<\/p>\n

Many commentators have linked these concerns to the candidacy and now presidency of Donald Trump.<\/strong>\u00a0A column in\u00a0The Economist<\/em>\u00a0titled, “Dude, where’s my toga?” noted that, “As the parade of billionaires and generals joins Donald Trump’s cabinet, it’s hard not to be reminded of the Roman republic.”\u00a0But to what extent can the experience of Ancient Greece and Rome actually help us understand the causes and future of the Trump presidency?<\/strong>\u00a0What does classical history tell us about human nature, class and group jealousies, politicians’ grasping for power, mob psychology, and the manipulation of fear? What questions can we ask of those texts, and what answers might we receive?<\/p>\n

All best regards,
\nJoe White
\nLuxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

About Our Guests<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rachel Sternberg\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0courses include Greek Civilization, Greek History, Classical Mythology, Women in the Ancient World, Elementary Ancient Greek, Sophocles, and Xenophon. The highlight of each year is a study trip to Greece. Sternberg holds a B.A. in archaeology and history from Cornell University, an M.A. in classics also from Cornell, and a Ph.D. in Greek from Bryn Mawr College. Her monograph,\u00a0Tragedy Offstage: Suffering and Sympathy in Ancient Athens<\/em>, was published by University of Texas Press in 2006, and her edited volume,\u00a0Pity and Power in Ancient Athens<\/em>, by Cambridge University Press in 2005. She is interested in the history of emotion, emotional discourse and moral rhetoric, and the reception of the classical tradition in the age of Jefferson. She is writing a book on how Athenian humane discourse relates to modernity\u2019s Human Rights.<\/p>\n

Timothy Wutrich<\/strong>\u00a0is the author of the book\u00a0Prometheus and Faust: The Promethean Revolt in Drama from Classical Antiquity to Goethe<\/em>. His scholarly interests include all aspects of ancient Greek and Roman drama, Vergil, and the Classical Tradition in literature and the arts.<\/p>\n

At CWRU, Dr. Wutrich teaches Greek and Latin language and literature, Greek and Roman drama and theater in translation, Greek and Roman literature surveys, Greek and Roman civilization, and Greek and Latin elements (etymology). He also regularly teaches in the university\u2019s SAGES program.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where We Meet<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Friday Public Affairs Lunch convenes each Friday when classes are in session, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Our programs are open to all and no registration is required. We usually meet in the Dampeer Room of Kelvin Smith Library. The Dampeer Room is on the second floor of the library. If you get off the elevators, turn right, pass the first bank of tables, and turn right again. Occasionally we need to use a different room; that will always be announced in the weekly e-mails.<\/span><\/p>\n

Parking Possibilities<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The most convenient parking is the lot underneath Severance Hall. We regret that it is not free. From that lot there is an elevator up to street level (labeled as for the Thwing Center); it is less than 50 yards from that exit to the library entrance. You can get from the Severance garage to the library without going outside. Near the entry gates – just to the right if you were driving out – there is a door into a corridor. Walk down the corridor and there will be another door. Beyond that door you’ll find the entrance to an elevator which goes up to an entrance right inside the doors to Kelvin Smith Library.<\/span><\/p>\n

Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

February 10: Immigration Policy and the Trump Administration.<\/strong>\u00a0With\u00a0David Wolfe Leopold J.D.,<\/strong>\u00a0Past President, American Immigration Lawyers Association.<\/p>\n

February 17: The New Health Education Campus and the Future of Health Care.<\/strong>\u00a0With\u00a0James Young M.D.,<\/strong>\u00a0Executive Dean, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University.<\/p>\n

February 24: Challenges Facing the U.S. Intelligence Community.<\/strong>\u00a0With\u00a0Vincent E. McHale, Ph.D.,<\/strong>\u00a0Marcus A. Hanna Emeritus Professor of Political Science.<\/p>\n

March 3: Staffing and Organizing the Trump Presidency.<\/strong>\u00a0With\u00a0David B. Cohen, Ph.D.,<\/strong>\u00a0Professor of Political Science, University of Akron.<\/p>\n

March 10: Nuclear Weapons.<\/strong>\u00a0With\u00a0William J. Fickinger, Ph.D.,<\/strong>\u00a0Emeritus Professor of Physics.<\/p>\n

March 17: No program, Spring Break.<\/strong><\/p>\n

March 24: Energy Storage: A Key to Sustainability.<\/strong>\u00a0With\u00a0Daniel A. Scherson, Ph.D.,<\/strong>\u00a0Frank Hovorka Professor of Chemistry and Director, Ernest B. Yeager Center for Electrochemical Sciences.<\/p>\n

March 31: Merkel\u2019s Challenge: Managing Trump, Putin, and a Million Syrians.<\/strong>\u00a0With\u00a0Mark K. Cassell, Ph.D.,<\/strong>\u00a0Professor of Political Science, Kent State University.<\/p>\n

April 7: Program to be Determined<\/strong><\/p>\n

April 14: Brazil\u2019s Political Crises.<\/strong>\u00a0With Juscelino F. Colares, Ph.D.,<\/strong>\u00a0Schott-Van den Eyden Professor of Business Law and Associate Director, Frederick K. Cox International Law Center.<\/p>\n

April 21: Program to be Determined<\/strong><\/p>\n

April 28: Putin\u2019s Russia.<\/strong>\u00a0With\u00a0Kelly M. McMann, Ph.D.,<\/strong>\u00a0Associate Professor of Political Science and Director, International Studies Program.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rachel Sternberg, Ph.D. – Associate Professor of Classics at Case Western Reserve University<\/strong><\/p>\n

Timothy Wutrich, Ph.D. – Senior Instructor of Classics at Case Western Reserve University<\/strong><\/p>\n

Friday February 3, 2017
\n12:30-1:30 p.m.
\nDampeer Room
\nKelvin Smith Library
\nCase Western Reserve University<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear Colleagues:<\/p>\n

The authors of the U.S. Constitution read Thucydides and Cicero.<\/strong>\u00a0The classic texts on politics and government helped shape their position that democratic politics was vulnerable to perversion by the “propensity of mankind to fall into animosities”<\/p>\n

Continue reading… Democracy and Demagogues: Lessons from Ancient Greece and Rome<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":778,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775\/revisions\/778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}