HONORS SEMINAR

ON GLOBAL CIVILIZATION

SPRING 2009

HONP 103-01

 

Professor: No�mi Giszpenc

[email protected]

973-746-2451

Office hours: by appt.

 

Required Reading:

Selections of articles and other materials in hard copy and online will be assigned. See class schedule and Bibliography.

 

Course Structure:

This is a seminar course. Everyone will be participating in discussions and group activities. We will have themes for every class and you will be responsible for reading the material that is assigned for that class. You might be asked to participate individually or as a group.

 

Papers:

Students will randomly select a country on the first day of class. Beginning January 26, each week, every student will be responsible for providing a written summary of a news article concerning that week�s globalization topic as it relates to the chosen country.

 

In addition to the paragraph summaries, each student will be responsible for handing in two papers (5 pages each). The first paper will be due on March 9, 2009. The second paper will be due on April 27. We will discuss the contents of the paper in class.

 

All summary paragraphs and papers must be prepared on a computer and sent to my email: [email protected]. Handwritten papers will not be accepted.

 

Exams:

There will be a take-home final exam.

 

Grading:

Students will be graded on their class participation (40%); on their paragraph summaries (30%); on their two papers (20%); and on the take-home final exam (10%). Attendance is compulsory. If you miss more than one class, your grade will automatically go down by one grade point.

 

Class schedule and reading assignments:

 

January 21: What is Globalization?

Course description and discussion of class content. Each student randomly chooses a country to report on throughout the semester.

Discussion on definition of Global Civilization, globalization. Comparison of countries.

Assignment:

  1. Read Zakaria pp. 1-5, pp. 31-2 �In a globalized world... disintegration.� and p. 38 ("The traditional mechanisms... outrageous.").
  2. Read the Foreword by Barbara Ehrenreich to Field Guide to the Global Economy and a page with quotes from world leaders critical of economic globalization.
  3. Read Global Trends 2025, p. 1, and Chapter 6, �Will the International System be Up to the Challenges?� pp. 81-88.
  4. Read CIA Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook) on your country and report:
    1. Population
    2. area (compare to known area, e.g. roughly size of New Jersey, twice Texas)
    3. GDP (Official exchange rate & Purchasing Power Parity)
    4. form of government
    5. main economic sectors
    6. main imports & exports
    7. main trading partners
    8. ratio of trade ((imports + exports)/2) to GDP
    9. something else of interest that caught your attention.

 

 

January 26: Who are all the Global Players?

Discussion on readings. Exploration of global and regional bodies, functions, accomplishments and failings. Is there a �world order� and what does it look like?

Assignment:

1.          Read McMillan pp. 3-14.

2.          Find a news article related to your country and the functioning of some market.

 

January 28:��� Forces at Play: Microeconomics

Presentation of assignments and discussion of supply and demand, externalities, assumptions, initial endowments, efficiency, market failures, and poverty traps.

Assignment:

  1. Read Macro Handout I.
  2. Read Meadows, http://www.pcdf.org/Meadows/kinds_of_capital.html.

 

February 2: Forces at Play: Macroeconomics I

Discussion on readings, presentation of �the big picture� of macroeconomics and national accounts, including balance with natural environment.

Assignment:

  1. Read Macro Handout II.
  2. Read interview with Lequiller, �Is GDP a satisfactory measure of growth?�
  3. Find and summarize an article related to your country and to the macro economy (e.g. GDP, terms of trade, inflation, etc.).

 

February 4: Forces at Play: Macroeconomics II

Discussion of government goals and actions relative to the macro-economy: full employment, stability, growth, efficiency, equity, and scale. Discussion of usefulness of various measures, including GDP.

Assignment:

  1. Read Varian, �An iPod has Global Value.�
  2. Read Rodrigue, �Commodity Chain Analysis: 2. The China Connection� http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch5en/appl5en/ch5a5en.html
    1. Look at sidebar illustrations, particularly first (Major Components to Price Reductions) and fourth (Costs of a Shoe Sold)
    2. Read also his illustration of �Commodity Chains and Added Value� http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch5en/conc5en/commoditychainsaddedvalue.html
  3. Read Krugman, �Growing World Trade: Causes and Consequences: The Growth of World Trade: An Overview,� pp. 330-337
  4. Read Field Guide,
    1. pp. 8-11, �Since World War II: New Divisions� and
    2. pp. 12-15, �Global Flows Today: A. Trade in Goods and Services.�

 

February 9: Trade: Global Supply Chains

Discussion of the supply chain for making an iPod: countries and materials involved, processes involved (design, management, extraction, transformation, transportation, manufacture, assembly, packaging, marketing, sale, support), economic value involved.

Assignment:

1.      Read Sustainable Economics Curriculum, �Trade and the Global Economy: Background for the Teacher� http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/edumat/sustecon/lessons/lesson8.html

2.      Read �Trade and Globalization�: http://www.globalization101.org/uploads/File/Trade/tradeall2008.pdf

a.       �Liberalization of International Trade,� pp. 35-36

b.      �Regional Trade Liberalization,� pp. 39-40

3.      Read Rodrigue, �Commodity Chains and Freight Transportation: 1. Contemporary Production Systems� http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch5en/conc5en/ch5c3en.html

4.      Find and summarize an article related to your country and to trade.

5.      In Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_bloc

a.       Read the definition of �Trade Bloc� and

b.      find which trade bloc(s) your country is a member of (click on [show] members to see what countries are members of each bloc).

6.      Optional: Read �Trade and Environment: MTBE and NAFTA� http://www.commercialdiplomacy.org/case_study/case_mtbe_public.htm

 

February 11: Trade: Political Agreements

Discussion of the agreements among countries related to facilitating trade: GATT/WTO, NAFTA, other multilateral and bilateral trading blocs. Exploration of arguments for and against.

Assignment:

  1. Read �Trade and Globalization�: http://www.globalization101.org/uploads/File/Trade/tradeall2008.pdf
    1. �The Theory of Comparative Advantage,� pp. 17-18
    2. �Comparative Advantage versus Absolute Advantage,� pp. 19-20
  2. Read Rodrik, �The Global Governance of Trade as if Development Really Mattered,� Executive Summary, pp. 1-4.
  3. Read the Speaker�s Notes, http://transfair.ca/sites/transfair/files/TFC%20Youth%20presentation%20speaker%27s%20notes.pdf, for the TransFair Canada Youth Presentation: (slides) http://transfair.ca/sites/transfair/files/TFC%20Youth%20presentation.pdf

 

February 16: Trade: Its Potential Benefits

Class discussion on the Theory of Comparative Advantage, trade as a means of development, and the concept of fair trade.

Assignment:

  1. Read Finance Handout.
  2. Read Field Guide, B. International Financial Flows
  3. Find and summarize an article related to your country and to finance (especially the global financial crisis).

 

February 18: Finance: Lifeblood of Economies

Discussion of the need for finance and the volume of financial transactions; discussion of the difference between �investment� and �speculation.�

Assignment:

  1. Browse the Baseline Scenario blog, http://baselinescenario.com
  2. Read Rodrik, �Emerging Economies to reap from Global Crisis.�
  3. Read Na�m, �Three Paradoxes of the Financial Crisis.�

 

February 23: Finance: Crisis and Response

Discussion of the causes and consequences of the global financial crisis and what countries are doing to address it.

Assignment:

  1. Read Stiglitz, �Towards a New Paradigm for Development,� p. 5, �I. Development as a Transformation of Society,� first 3 paragraphs.
  2. Read Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen, pp. 13-15.
  3. Read Ellerman (on Jacobs), pp. 2-7 �Recently, migration... jostle together in cities.�
  4. Read Daly, Beyond Growth, pages to be assigned.
  5. Find an article related to development, preferably also related to your country or region.

 

February 25: Development: What Do We Think It Is?

Discussion of what different people mean when they talk about development.

Assignment:

  1. Read Ugandan president Museveni on the Millennium Development Goals: http://www.statehouse.go.ug/news.php?catId=2&&item=353
  2. Read Geldof, �Remember the Bottom Billion.�
  3. Optional: Read Heintz, �Reintroducing Employment into Macroeconomic Policy,� International Poverty Centre Poverty in Focus pp. 18-19.

 

 

March 2: Development: What Do We Do to Promote It?

Discussion of the various development programs and agencies, what they are meant to accomplish and how they go about it.

Assignment:

  1. Read �Sustainable Development,� http://www.globalization101.org/index.php?file=issue&pass1=subs&id=219
  2. Read Daly, Beyond Growth, pages to be assigned.
  3. Find an article related to sustainable development, preferably also related to your country or region.

 

March 4: Sustainable Development

Discussion of the concept of sustainable development: development that does not harm the future.

Assignment:

  1. Read Kolbert, Field Notes From a Catastrophe:
    1. pp. 28-31,
    2. p. 34,
    3. pp. 131-42 �...give a damn.�
    4. pp. 178-80 �Despair...� and
    5. pp. 185-7 �Luck... �
  2. Read Meadows, http://www.pcdf.org/Meadows/arctic.html.
  3. Read Specter, �Big Foot.�
  4. Read An Inconvenient Truth Study Guide, pp. 25-27, �Six Countries and Their Positions on the Kyoto Treaty.�
  5. Read Zakaria, pp. 30-1. �The most acute problem... Kyoto accords.�

 

March 9: Environment: Global Climate Change

Discussion of climate change, with a focus on system dynamics and �positive feedback loops.�

The first paper is DUE TODAY.

Assignment:

  1. Read McMillan, page numbers to be assigned.
  2. Read Ekman, �The Limits of Growth, Part I�
  3. Read Living Planet Report 2008, Foreword p. 1.
  4. Find an article related to your country and to an environmental issue.

 

March 11: Environment: Managing a Public Good

Discussion of cross-border environmental issues such as water consumption, pollution, and over-fishing and the mechanisms for managing these issues.

Assignment:

  1. Read Poast, page numbers to be assigned.
  2. Read Fortna, page numbers to be assigned.
  3. Read Global Trends 2025, Chapter 5, Growing Potential for Conflict, page numbers to be assigned.
  4. Find an article related to your country and war, the military, or arms.

 

March 23: War and Peace

Discussion of why countries go to war (including wars over resources) and what keeps war from breaking out or contributes to peaceful resolutions.

Assignment:

  1. Read Poast, Section 5.4.
  2. Additional readings to be assigned.

 

March 25: War and Money

Discussion of the economics of war and military spending and the �military-industrial complex,� with particular attention to the international sale of arms.

Assignment:

  1. Read Na�m, Illicit, page numbers to be assigned.
  2. Read Poast, page numbers to be assigned.
  3. Read Anup Shah, Small Arms � They Cause 90% of Civilian Casualties, http://www.globalissues.org/article/78/small-arms-they-cause-90-of-civilian-casualties
  4. Find an article related to war or terrorism and preferably related to your country or region.

 

March 30: War, Terrorism and �Failed States�

Discussion of terrorism and its relationship to international arms shipments (legal and illegal) and to the phenomenon of �failed states.�

Assignment:

  1. Read Na�m, Illicit, page numbers to be assigned.

 

April 1: International Crime

Discussion of how globalization has benefited illicit trade networks and the growing danger that these pose.

Assignment:

  1. Read Na�m, Illicit, page numbers to be assigned.
  2. Find an article related to smuggling, trafficking, or piracy and preferably related to your country or region.

 

April 6: Responding to International Crime

Discussion of the mechanisms in place to combat international crime.

Assignment:

  1. Readings to be assigned.

 

April 8: Women and Globalization: Threats

Discussion of the particular vulnerabilities of women in a globalized world (economic and sexual exploitation, health issues).

Assignment:

  1. Read �Women as Agents of Geopolitical Change,� Global Trends 2025, pp. 16-7.
  2. Additional readings to be assigned.
  3. Find an article related to the status of women in your country.

 

April 13: Women and Globalization: Opportunities

Discussion of the ways in which women�s development can be promoted and how it leads to better outcomes for everyone.

Assignment:

  1. Read Gladwell, �The Risk Pool,� pp. 2-4 (Starting at the beginning of Section 2, ending at ��a lot easier�.)
  2. Read Global Trends 2025, Chapter 2: The Demographics of Discord, pp. 19-26.
  3. Read Zakaria, pp. 196-99 �But Europe... hungrier nations.�
  4. Additional readings to be assigned.

 

April 15: Demographics

Discussion of how trends in ageing, the �youth bulge�, and immigration will affect our work lives and retirement prospects.

Assignment:

  1. Read Zakaria, pp. 208-9 �Consider the automobile industry... perhaps for this reason.�
  2. Read McMillan, pages to be assigned.
  3. Additional readings to be assigned.
  4. Find an article related to your country and a health issue.

 

April 20: Globalization and Health

Discussion of the intrinsic value of health, its usefulness as part of a country�s �human capital,� the contribution of increased trade to the spread of infectious disease, and the global response to health problems such as HIV/AIDS.

Assignment:

  1. Read �Higher Education Shaping the Global Landscape in 2025,� Global Trends 2025, p. 17.
  2. Readings to be assigned.

 

April 22: Education

Discussion of the benefits of education to individuals and countries, the �brain drain� phenomenon, the positive effects of exchange student programs, and differences in education across countries.

Assignment:

  1. Read Malouf, In the Name of Identity, pages to be assigned.
  2. Find an article related to education and preferably also related to your country or region.

 

April 27: Culture, Religion and Identity

Discussion of how global communications and commerce interacts with formation of identities, and how identities affect interaction with a globalized world.

The second paper is DUE TODAY.

Assignment:

  1. Read Malouf, In the Name of Identity, pages to be assigned.
  2. Find an article related to your country and a cultural issue.

 

April 29: Culture, Religion and Identity

Discussion of how a heterogeneous society can function positively.

 

May 4:

Discussion of student papers and overall class content.

Assignment:

  1. Preparation for discussion of class content review.

 

May 6:

Class content review.

Discussion about the take-home final.

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

�An Inconvenient Truth in the Classroom.�

 

Anderson, Sarah, John Cavanagh, and Thea Lee. Field Guide to the Global Economy, Revised Edition

 

Center for Economic Conversion. Sustainable Economics Curriculum.

 

CIA. The World Factbook

 

Daly, Herman. Beyond Growth.

 

Ekman, Bo. �The Limits of Growth, Part I.� YaleGlobal, November 21, 2008.

 

Ellerman, David. �Jane Jacobs on Development.� March 2004.

 

Fortna, Virginia Page. Does Peacekeeping Work? Shaping Belligerents� Choices after Civil War

 

Geldof, Bob. �Remember the Bottom Billion in our Brave New World.� Financial Times, November 13, 2008.

 

Gladwell, Malcolm. �The Risk Pool.� The New Yorker, August 28, 2006.

 

Heintz, James. �Reintroducing Employment into Macroeconomic Policy,� International Poverty Centre Poverty in Focus, pp. 18-19.

 

Kolbert, Elizabeth. Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change

 

Krugman, Paul. �Growing World Trade: Causes and Consequences� 1995.

 

Lequiller, Fran�ois. �Is GDP a Satisfactory Measure of Growth?� OECD Observer, December 2004-January 2005.

 

Maalouf, Amin. In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong

 

McMillan, John. Re-Inventing the Bazaar

 

Meadows, Dana. The Global Citizen

 

Museveni, Yoweri. �Statement at the United Nations General Assembly.� September 23, 2008.

 

Na�m, Mois�s. Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy

 

Na�m, Mois�s. �Three Paradoxes of the Financial Crisis.� Foreign Policy, February 2008.

 

National Intelligence Council. Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World

 

Poast, Paul. The Economics of War

 

Rodrigue, Jean-Paul. The Geography of Transport Systems

 

Rodrik, Dani. �Emerging Economies to reap from Global Crisis.� Business Daily, December 19, 2008.

 

Rodrik, Dani. �The Global Governance of Trade as if Development Really Mattered.� April 2001.

 

Sen, Amartya. Development as Freedom

 

Shah, Anup. �Small Arms�they cause 90% of civilian casualties,� GlobalIssues.org, Last updated: Saturday, January 21, 2006.

 

Specter, Michael. �Big Foot.� The New Yorker, February 25, 2008.

 

Stiglitz, Joseph. Globalization and its Discontents

 

Stiglitz, Joseph. �Towards a New Paradigm for Development: Strategies, Policies and Processes.� Given as the 1998 Prebisch Lecture at UNCTAD, Geneva, October 19, 1998.

 

TransFair Canada. �Youth Presentation.�

 

Varian, Hal. �An iPod has Global Value.� The New York Times, June 28, 2007.

 

WWF. Living Planet Report 2008

 

Zakaria, Fareed. The Post-American World

 

Useful Websites

 

http://www.globalization101.org, http://www.globalization101.org/useful/

http://www.nationmaster.com

http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/

http://www.studentsoftheworld.info

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=104

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/index.jsp

http://baselinescenario.com

http://en.wikipedia.org

http://www.carnegieendowment.org/