Corruption (2039): This seminar course will explore the connections between corruption, law, and democracy. We will examine how corruption is defined and understood--mostly the ancient problem of corruption of politics and government, but we'll also look briefly at some analogous worries about corruption of reading, writing, and reasoning in an age of artificial intelligence. We will explore the links between corruption--both as rhetoric and as reality--and the rise of populism, in the United States and around the world. And we will consider how the law does and should respond to corruption, and how ideas about corruption shape, in particular, criminal law and the law of campaign finance. The class will meet once a week for two hours and will be limited to eight students. The weekly reading load will vary but will average roughly 150 pages. Over the course of the term, each student will be required to make four oral presentations of three to five minutes each, and one of these will have to be written out in the form of a 500- to 750-word paper submitted in advance of class. A schedule for these presentations will be assembled after the first class session. The presentations will respond to the assigned readings and help to kickstart class discussions, and ideally they will incorporate and build on earlier class discussions and presentations, both during the same class session and earlier in the quarter. Partly for this reason, the presentations will not be accompanied by slides. Grading will be based on the oral presentations, the short paper, and participation in class discussions. Each meeting of the class will consist of two blocks of discussion, separated by a short break. Except for the first week, each block will begin with two oral presentations of three to five minutes each. Students will rotate through each of these slots; by the end of the quarter, each student will have given the first presentation in the At block, the second presentation in the A block, the first presentation in the B block, and the second presentation in the B block. The student giving the first presentation in the A block will be required to submit a written version in advance of class, running 500-750 words. Students will be expected to read all of the assigned materials with care and to participate actively every week in class discussions. Regular, punctual, in-person class attendance will be required. There will be no option for Zoom participation. Digital devices, including phones and laptops, will need to be turned off and put away during class. Students will be permitted to talk to other people and use AI tools in developing their ideas, but not in drafting their written or oral remarks. In order to facilitate full and meaningful class discussions, students will be asked to observe the Chatham House Rule: they will be free to repeat what they hear in class, but will be asked not to identify, by name or in any other way, who made any particular comment or asked any particular question (unless it is the instructor). Elements used in grading: Attendance, class participation, written assignments, oral presentations.