Foundational course in the Program in New York City. This course introduces the main theoretical approaches and basic issues in the study of contemporary globalization. Topics include the rise, and fall of the Bretton Woods system; exploration of the role of basic international economic organizations (IMF, World Bank, WTO), the development and significance of global neoliberalism; the political economy of energy, the development of the U.S. military industrial complex; the political economy of work; underdevelopment and poverty; challenges from Asia and the European Union.

 

As the site of the United Nations and related international organizations New York City plays a central role in international politics. Notwithstanding the recent travails of the U.S. imperium international financial relations continue to reflect the power of the "Dollar Wall Street complex." Internships, field trips, and lectures enable students to gain first-hand knowledge of the problems and prospects for contemporary globalization.

 

A tutorial resulting in a substantial paper (30 pp) that integrates experience and learning from the internship with an academic perspective and knowledge gained in the seminars or other tutorial readings.

 

Work experience during four days a week that includes a journal or written account of that experience.

 

This course is oriented around ten debates in US Foreign Policy: the Iraq War, immigration policy, global financial shifts, globalization and poverty, humanitarian intervention, dollar-euro rivalry, US-Iran conflict, US-China relations, and US-Russia relations. Approved for credit in Government.