Treason is one of the most powerful accusations in the Western political discourse. In recent years, similar to previous times of crisis, it became widely used within political discourse. At the same time, the term has different meanings in different languages, and some cultures do not even have one specific concept for the same stigma. In order to understand the wide-spread use in contemporary discourse, this course explores the development of the accusation through the ages: the emergence as a concept out of very specific circumstances, the development of distinct conceptions in Roman and Germanic law, and the mechanisms and consequences of the merger of these conceptions that went hand in hand with the rise of the modern state and in particular its usage in nationalist and populist discourses nowadays.
- Teacher: Marcus Pyka