Module description
Contemporary science fiction offers a compelling means of interrogating the current challenges of global governance and political economy. As Brad Torgersen (2013) says, “much of the Science Fiction being written in the 21st century concerns itself strictly with materialistic concerns: climate change, global warming, the decay of governments and the onset of dystopian hegemony, or anarchy”. This module provides students with an exploration of the nexus between science fiction and political economy. It uses science fiction literature as a means of understanding, exploring and critiquing concepts and theories from across Political Economy, including international relations, economics and politics.
Through this, students will apply the knowledge gained in other modules within political economy, applying key theories and techniques of analysis in novel areas in an engaging but rigorous way. The proposed module directly relates to a growing area of cutting-edge research, namely the interplay between popular culture and politics.
The economics of weeks 3 and 4 is very introductory, requiring no prior knowledge.
Assessment details
Participation 10%; Presentation 20%; Essay (2,500 words) 70%
Teaching pattern
Indicative Weekly Outline – subject to change
Introduction and expectations
This week sets out the general approach of the module, expectations concerning preparation for seminars, assessment pattern etc. It will also start the discussion in introductory terms, with a broad discussion of the nature of science fiction.
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SF, popular culture and politic economy
This week examines the academic literature on popular culture, particularly science fiction, and politics. It explores what the nature of that link is, if there is one at all. It serves to set out the principle analytical framework of the module. It asks whether science fiction and popular culture (a) merely provide useful pedagogical examples (that is, simply encourage student interest in a topic); (b) affects the context in which policy takes place, increasing or decreasing public support for particular policies; or (c) directly affects public policy through impacting key decision makers.
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The Economics of Dystopia
In science fiction, as in life, scarcity shows up everywhere. In the decisions characters face, the time and financial constraints limiting their choices and influencing their relationship with other characters. Economic models and science fiction tell stories about imaginary characters who make decisions over a finite horizon and live finite lives constrained by limited amounts of time and money. This lecture revises the extreme economies portrayed in post-apocalyptic films and dystopian fiction. These genres have very aptly reflected conflicts over scarce resources, the social unrest due to rampant income and wealth inequalities, and the negative economic consequences of the lack of an effective rule of law.
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The Economics of Utopia
Science fiction influences the way we imagine the future. Dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction may contribute to spread the belief that there will be no further progress for humans and that the world cannot be a better place. We even feel childish and naïve when we try to imagine a better future. The risk is that the apocalypse may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. But science fiction also offers us seeds of hope if we look closely enough. Several SF works have depicted better futures, better economic systems, and fairer societies. The films and novels discussed in this lecture explore different utopian horizons and discuss the economic and social implications of these alternatives.
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Contact
A recurrent theme in SF is that of ‘first contact’ with alien species, sometimes presented as having a positive impact on politics (e.g. Star Trek), breaking down divisions between states and cultures, elsewhere being seen in a more negative light, triggering conflict, fear and division. Discussion of these differing visions of contact with ‘the other’ will be used to springboard into debates over ‘the other’ in real world IR. This will include whether discourse about ‘the other’ justifies imperialist policies (Weldes 1999).
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Colonialism/empire/decolonisation
Science fiction frequently engages with the meeting of different groups, or races, frequently at different stages of technological sophistication. SF has been explicitly a reaction to, and critique of, colonialism (e.g. Ursula le Guin, The Word for World is Forest). Elsewhere, it explores the ‘inevitability’ of colonialism when humans meet other races, reflecting a Hobbesian view of human nature. Tade Thompson’s recent Rosewater trilogy examines neo-colonialism in Nigeria via an alien invasion that initially seems beneficial. Meanwhile, Iain M Banks’ highly influential Culture series provides an avenue for exploring the imperialism inherent in liberalism, in an otherwise utopian vision of the future. Such literature enables an exploration of empire, colonialism and decolonialism.
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Gender
This week explores how science fiction provides a space to think through radically different gender roles and identities and gives insights into the complexity of defining gender. It discusses the relevance of gender in contemporary real-world politics and how feminist science fiction enables a critique of prevailing theories of International Relations and their (gendered) assumptions. It also questions whether SF literature has been able to pre-empt major changes in thinking about gender, or whether it merely reflects contemporary thinking.
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Green politics, terraforming, built environment
Science fiction frequently deals with the effects of climate change and technology, as well as how humans might establish new homes on other planets. Writers and filmmakers also examine the effect of the natural and built environment on the people and political systems they are home to, both imagined utopias and dystopias. Here we reflect on how this can help us to think about the environmental challenges currently being faced.
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A.I.
Artificial intelligence is both a recurrent trope of SF and an area of increasing attention within political economy. The impact of AI on employment, inequality and other aspects of the economy is raising fundamental questions about the future of capitalism. Again, there is a sense in which this is SF within the academic literature, since it inevitably involves speculation about possible futures. This week examines the impact of AI, using key SF literature as a way into the discussion, particularly around whether the advent of AI will be to liberate humans from work or exacerbate inequalities.
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Political Systems: World government and beyond
World government was once a lively debate within IR and beyond (much taking place in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists) and has returned more recently (e.g. Craig 2008; Wendt 2003). In a sense, this is at times science fiction within IR. The SF literature provides multiple avenues for discussing alternative forms of world government, routes to achieving it and the problems engendered. Iain M Banks’s Culture is a multi-planet liberal utopia, where world government is almost meaningless as habitats are guided by the Minds, while other authors consider the possible fragmentation of systems, for example micro-state franchises in Neal Stephenson’s Snowcrash, and the Revelation Space universe of Alastair Reynolds.