Summary: Few literary works have inspired as diverse and impassioned opinions as Machiavelli's The Prince. While some have denounced it as epitomizing the immorality and cynicism of despotic political rulers, others have considered it a paragon of pragmatism and lucidity in political affairs-including Napoleon Bonaparte, who deemed The Prince the only book that deserved to be read. In this program, the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Who should lead the world's only superpower? When is it acceptable to topple another country's leader? Are personal freedom and national security mutually incompatible? The answers to urgent political questions such as these are informed by 23 centuries of discourse that started with The Republic. This program focuses successively on the pivotal ideas of Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Rousseau,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Thomas More's Utopia, one of the most significant texts of English humanism, has become the ideal for a society based on fundamental human principles of fairness and justice. This program follows the progress of More's intellectual development, from his early friendship with the influential humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam, to his rise to power as a member of Parliament and later Chancellor of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: The life, personality, and thought of the 18th-century political philosopher and essayist are examined in this outstanding program. Emphasis is on Rousseau's critique of the inequities and shallowness of French society, and the new values system he developed which promoted individual rights and a return to nature. Rousseau's masterwork, The Social Contract, defined this philosophy and served as...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program chronicles the life and work of John Locke, the 17th-century English philosopher and political theorist considered by many to be the first notable thinker of the Enlightenment. Without a doubt, Locke's legacy is vast: his articulation of empiricism laid the intellectual groundwork for an explosion of scientific activity that continues to this day, and his political philosophy is...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: In 1776, Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations, a treatise that would forever change our understanding of how work, value, and money are interrelated. This program details Smith's life and traces the impact of his work as Europe began the arduous transition from mercantilism to the laissez-faire philosophy of the Physiocrats. After Smith, labor was seen as the source of a country's wealth,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Furrowed brows, widened eyes, clenched teeth-such signals reveal a great deal about our leaders, and they also influence our reactions to media images. This program investigates ways in which facial expressions and nonverbal communication determine political charisma and power. Presenting examples from a wide range of historical and current sources, the film shows how psychologists diagram and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Is it reasonable to expect the entire world to adopt democratic ways, or is it wrong to press other countries to embrace a system that-however beneficial it may, in theory, be-is completely at odds with their cultures and traditions? The motion under consideration in this Oxford Union-style debate is "Democracy isn't for everyone." Panelists in favor stress that true democracy is more than...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: In the fullness of time, his failings have become obvious. Yet, even after the collapse of global Communism, Karl Marx stands undiminished as one of history’s most influential thinkers. This program chronicles Marx’s life and intellectual development, including the publication and impact of his major writings. Beginning with his birth and religiously confused childhood in Prussia, the video...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program explores the fascinating story of Thomas Jefferson's admiration for Voltaire and how the French philosopher, steadfast advocate of political and religious freedom, influenced not only Jefferson but many of the other founding fathers. Striking parallels are observed between life at Voltaire's rural retreat at Ferney near Geneva and Jefferson's estate at Monticello. Narrated by...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: City planning that puts people before cars, sculptural museums that are as artistic as the masterpieces they contain, commercial spaces that redefine retail—these are some of the paradigm-shaking ideas of today’s architects at work. This compilation of recent NewsHour segments introduces viewers to Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, Vincent Scully, and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: The impact of Marx on the 20th century was all-pervasive and worldwide, costing tens of millions of lives where Communism was imposed, resulting in brutal wars to contain or expand it, and vastly improving the lives of workers where fear of Communism resulted in social reform. This program looks at the man, at the roots of his philosophy, at the causes and explanations of his philosophical...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Given the vitality of China's economy today, it is difficult to imagine that Deng Xiaoping's early reforms met any resistance-but they did. This program examines Deng's transformation from a Maoist functionary into the leader who broke from pure Communism and, despite the highest of stakes, reinvented his country. Helping viewers understand Deng's creation of China's Special Economic Zones, the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: No episode of history illustrates the interplay between violence and radical idealism more clearly than the overthrow of Russia’s czar and aristocracy. Using vivid reenactments and colorized archival footage, this program depicts the seizure of power by a political party which, although initially representing a small fraction of the Russian nation, rapidly engulfed it. Viewers learn about the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Winston Churchill said that democracy is "the worst system devised by the wit of man, except for all the others. Although the state has taken many forms throughout history, some consider it not a protector of its citizens and their freedoms, but a fetter on their liberty. This program provides a historical overview of the myriad forms of government that have existed and their organizing...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: As a peacekeeper, the UN has had dubious results. It did nothing for Darfur. Its 17,000 blue helmets have failed to stop the violence in North Kivu. And it never reached a resolution on whether to intervene in Myanmar. Is the United Nations terminally paralyzed-and does the democratic world need a new forum of its own? That is the two-part question in this Oxford Union-style debate as panelists...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Joseph Stalin's almost unfathomable crimes have given him the distinction of being a personification of evil in the 20th century, rivaling Adolf Hitler. This episode of Declassified examines how as the first General Secretary of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union, Stalin was responsible for as many as 20 million Soviet deaths in his purges and infamous Gulag.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: What forces drove Chinese capitalism forward and enabled a generation of innovators and business leaders to emerge? Can the tragedy of Tiananmen Square be understood in terms of China's economic, rather than political, development? What is Deng Xiaoping's legacy today? This program addresses those questions as it explores the maturation and impact of Deng's policies. Interviewees include Chen...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Shortly after the establishment of Bolshevik rule in Russia, brewing conflict threatened the party’s leadership. This program depicts Lenin’s response to those threats through ruthless campaigns against political rivals and foreign forces. Drawing on letters and personal accounts, the film also makes use of dramatic reconstructions and colorized archival footage, portraying the era as those at...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Patterns of urbanization and poverty are playing an increasingly heavy role in the debate over globalization and market regulation. In a hard-hitting analysis of the issues, this program assembles a wide-ranging set of opinions from scholars and experts-as well as from ordinary individuals around the world who face urban hardships and obstacles to their livelihoods every day. Commentators...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: The global financial crisis has called into question the viability of the American model of capitalism. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown the limits of American might. And the spending of the U.S. government has grown hazardously dependent on offshore investors. Is the era of American dominance over? That is the question in this Oxford Union-style debate as panelists make their case....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: The recession of 2008 has cast serious doubt on whether free-market capitalism, an idea set that functioned reasonably well in the 20th century, is a healthy economic ideology to carry over into the 21st. Has free-market capitalism become an outdated economic model? That is the question in this Oxford Union-style debate as panelists make their case. Speakers for the motion argue that capitalism...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: The law is a set of rules found in all organized societies. In the modern world, many key aspects of human existence are governed by laws: registration of births, school attendance, traffic, taxation, business, procreation, and the pronouncement of death. This program discusses the application of law to regulate human conduct, including the subject of global human rights. But can any...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: In this TEDTalk, political economist Yasheng Huang compares China to India, considering whether China's authoritarian rule contributed to its astonishing economic growth. Huang discusses the notion that democracy may be holding India back and invites audiences to rethink their ideas about China and other large emerging economies. Does democracy hinder or promote economic growth? Huang's...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011