This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the scholarly literature on the origins, developments, and current realities of globalization. It covers the arguments of main proponents and critics of globalization from a political, social, economic, and environmental perspective. It also enhances their understanding of the basic trends and power dynamics of globalization. The course utilizes quantitative, qualitative, and spatial data analysis to illuminate and critique global economic, political, and social trends. PREREQUISITES: Two 100-level courses (from A&S 102, ECON 101, GOVT 102, HIST 105, or REL 101) or permission of instructor.
This course introduces students to the use of geographic information science (GIS) techniques by applying these tools to identify and analyze global environmental issues, with a particular focus on the implications of transnational flows of materials, people, and ideas. This course takes a hands-on approach, investigating topics through a close engagement with mapping and geospatial data through laboratory exercises.
This interdisciplinary course tackles fundamental questions about the gendered nature of different societies and political systems around the globe. It questions and challenges social relations that subordinate women to men in politics, society, and culture and investigates such issues as representation, education, work and health. The course also emphasizes how gender intersects with other forms of oppression and social inequality, such as race, class, nationality, and sexuality and investigates what forms of local, international, and transnational resistance and cooperation developed in response. [GM1, GM2, W]
This course investigates the challenge of achieving global sustainability by looking at a selection of international sustainable development goals. Students will investigate progress toward sustainability across the world, with an emphasis on transnational connections and the holistic nature of the sustainability challenge. Students will explore the importance of measurement and monitoring for global sustainability through direct engagement with and analysis of key sustainability data sets.
Starting from the contemporary debates around “there is no such thing as a natural disaster,” this course focuses on international case studies to explore what makes people vulnerable to disasters and to investigate how to address those issues. We will draw on diverse research in the social sciences and humanities that include writings by political scientists, geographers, historians, anthropologists, and disaster scholars. Since the makings of a disaster, and preparation for the next, involve a diversity of approaches—such as engineering, policy, and art—students are encouraged to bring their own interests and skillsets to the classroom for interdisciplinary discussions.
This interdisciplinary course studies the emergence of reparations as reaction to atrocities and genocide on a national and international level across time and place. It introduces conceptual nuance by focusing on the theoretical and practical implications of the emergence and development of nationalism for state violence. The course situates past atrocities historically and discusses cultural, societal and social reactions that have led to symbolic and/or material reparations. [GM1, GM2, SS, W]
This course introduces students to the research methods utilized in the study of international relations. Emphasis is on the interdisciplinary nature of the discipline. Quantitative and qualitative methods are examined. The goal is to provide students with the ability to critically read the sophisticated literature of the discipline and understand its methodology. Required of all International Affairs majors; others with permission of instructor. [W]
Junior and senior International Affairs majors are encouraged to focus on a topic of particular interest to them, under the supervision of a selected faculty member. Generally, this course involves intensive reading and written reports, though other arrangements can be made between the student and faculty member. Students must obtain the approval of the International Affairs chair and the selected faculty member.
This course takes a transnational perspective on the “Urban Century,” in which, for the first time in human history, the majority of people live in urban areas. Students will study the development and changing footprint of world cities and world city networks, considering issues including migration, diasporas, land use, transportation, gentrification, agglomeration, and sustainability.[GM2]
This course examines the construction of the western notion of “development” in historical perspective, especially the gendered assumptions in both the economic and political frameworks. Students examine the gendered allocation of the benefits of growth in various models for development-both theoretically and in specific cases. Students explore the policy ramifications for aid (both private and international). [GM1, GM2] PREREQUISITES: WGS 101.
Global giving has risen as a result of the amassing of great fortunes in the global economy and driven by digital technologies that encourage small-donor individuals to “make a difference”. This course examines the philosophical, legal, political, and sociological roots of (primarily) Western philanthropy from the Global North and analyzes the claims and the records of different kinds of philanthropic entities operating in the Global South. Students will deepen their own ethical and political frameworks as donors, citizens, well-meaning individuals. Open to Juniors and Seniors. [V]
This course examines global extraction of non-renewable resources such as metals, rare-earth minerals and fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. We will investigate the relationship between extraction and global economic development, but also how our dependency upon non-renewable resources undermines the environmental well-being and human rights of the communities where resources are extracted. We will also examine how social movements are organizing to transform the extractive industry and the global economy. [GM2, V].
An offering on a transnational, international and/or global subject selected by the instructor to meet student and programmatic needs as conditions permit.
This interdisciplinary course examines how international migration has become a complex phenomenon affecting people and communities. It analyzes the unevenness of human mobility and the forces at play that halt or enable the circulation of people and interrogates why many are forcibly displaced while migrating is not available to everyone. Students will understand the social and political factors that impact who, how, and why people migrate as well as their migration experiences, struggles, and livelihoods. [GM2, SS]
This interdisciplinary seminar focuses on the analysis of several large-scale crises that have shaken European economies, politics, and societies in recent years. With the help of several case studies, such as the Euro crisis, the refugee crisis, and Brexit, we are asking what situations constitute a “crisis” and for whom or what? How did these crises turn from local or national problems into large-scale European-level crises? How are these national, transnational, and supranational crises linked to the rise of right-and left-wing populism? The course will assess these timely questions and ask why the existing mechanisms of cooperation have become insufficient and how to address these shortcoming. [GM2, W] PREREQUISITES: A&S 204 or Govt 102 or Govt 103 or AI 200 or permission of instructor.
A required course for all International Affairs majors, the capstone seminar provides an opportunity for the student to bring together, through research and the completion of several papers, his or her various experiences in the discipline. Normally the seminar explores a topic or topics of current international interest through an interdisciplinary approach. [W]
Students interested in completing a thesis for program honors are advised to consult with the chair toward the end of their junior year. Following selection of a topic and a thesis director, a research design must be provided at the opening of the fall semester. The student then completes IA 495. If the thesis director and chair conclude that sufficient progress has been made, the student takes IA 496 and completes a thesis for submission for honors. [One W credit only upon completion of both 495 and 496]