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Course Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Syllabus of yesterday: fall 2000 Study Guides
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Illustrative
Exam 1 here
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Introduction
Required texts: Robert K. Schaeffer, Understanding Globalization: The Social Consequences of Political, Economic, and Environmental Change (4th Edition). D. Stanley Eitzen, Globalization: The Transformation of Social Worlds.
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IntroductionForces are at work in today's world that are clearly different from those that held sway in the past. How important is it for you to know more about them? How important is it for you to be happy, successful and to get the most out of life? The subjects of our class are a great deal more than fun and games, and the grades that each of us will make will become increasingly apparent during the years AFTER we get our university degrees. |
How the Course Will Work and Grading
In the lectures, we'll generally focus on one or two important books or articles, all recently published, that address our subject. Your reading for each day will be tied to the theme of the lecture.
In addition to assigned readings, I suggest that you scan The New York Times or The Washington Post every day, looking for articles that relate to themes that are important to the subjects we are taking up in this class. Often, at the begining of class we'll discuss some of these articles.
We will see several videos over the course of the semester. Several exam questions will come from these videos.
There will be three exams, weighted equally. The third exam will not be comprehensive.
Then there's option two, which I'll sketch out below.
Course Work: Option 2
If you choose this option, your overall course grade will be a combination of exam performance (three-fourths) and independent analysis projects (25 percent).
-These options will be discussed in class. Projects could involve any one of several kinds of information:
-You could review
two books (for example, The Lexus and the Olive Tree and The
World Is Flat) according to the criteria that you will find
here.
-You could view a couple of fiction films or several Charlie Rose interviews
and analyze them according to the criteria that you will find here.
-You could read several Robert Friedman op ed articles in The New York
Times and analyze them much the way you would organize a book review
(see above).
-There are many other possibilities, too. The sky is the limit. As
you think about how you will develop your project, keep in mind that it
is one-fourth of your course grade if you choose this option.
-All of your work should be posted to the GlobalStudies.net web site (Blackboard
at VCU).
Extra Credit for Class Participation
Up to three extra
credit points are possible -- points that will be added to your overall
course grade -- for class participation. We will talk about the guidelines
in class.
At VCU, plagiarism and cheating are taken very seriously. You can read about the VCU Honor System here. I illustrate plagiarism and discuss the penalty for honor code violations on the "Citations and Plagiarism" page. Please read it. Consistent with the VCU guidelines, if you are found to have committed plagiarism in this class or to have cheated on an exam, I will recommend to the Honor Council that you receive an F as your discussion grade for the course -- not just in one discussion but rather a grade of F for your overall discussion grade (including all five discussions). The recommendation will also be that you be placed on academic probation for the honor code violation.
For more details about what plagiarism is and how to avoid it, check out this page at the University of Indiana web site:
Plagiarism:
What It is and How to Recognize and Avoid It
Please note that cell phones and beepers should be turned off while in the classroom.
Also, the VCU University Rules and Procedures prohibit anyone "to have in his [or her] possession any firearm, other weapon, or explosive, regardless of whether a license to possess the same has been issued, without the written authorization of the President of the university."
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My office is in the Bowe House (917 W. Franklin St.), room 207. I'll generally be available for scheduled appointments on Monday afternoonss between 2:00 and 3:00 and Wednesday mornings some of the time. You can e-mail me at lnelson@vcu.edu to set up a meeting time. I'll respond to confirm. You can also post a message to the Internet Bistro and I'll usually respond within a few hours. |
Course Outline
I'll
change some details in this outline as the semester progresses -- substituting
new readings, in some cases, for the ones that are listed here. Be sure
to check the syllabus weekly to be sure that you keep up with the changes.
You should complete each
assigned reading before class time on the date indicated. Readings
will be added to the outline below at least a week before they are due.
You should complete
each required reading before class time on the date indicated.
Week of
August 23: Introduction
to global analysis
Reading: "Why the World is Flat," Wired, May 2005.
Week
of August
30: Modern
Europe and the European Union
Reading:
August 31, 2010, "The New York
Times,
"Passions and Detachment in Journalism," By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Wednesday, September 3: National
sovereignty in a globalized world
Recommended: Azar Gat, "The
Return of Authoritarian Great Powers," Foreign Affairs,
July-August, 2007.
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Recommended (not required): "Transcript: A TimesSelect/TimesTalks Event on Globalization," April 2006 Recommended (not required): Martin Wolf, "Will the Nation-State Survive Globalization?" Foreign Affairs, January-February 2001. Recommended: Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky, "Nuclear Insecurity," Foreign Affairs, September/October 2007. Study
notes - global evolution
Recommended (not required): Andrew C. Revkin, "Report: World Bank Still Not Lending With Environment (and Disasters) in Mind," The New York Times, July 22, 2008. Brian Kaplen, "Washington Consensus: A Uniform Policy that Doesn't Fit All," The Banker, September 1, 2006. This article is kinda' tough, but it's worth it. If you aren't sure what the term "Washington Consensus" means, you might want to read a few parts of the entry in Wikapedia (it's very long). Click here to access it.vOn the subject of transnational organizations, we will talk about Sebastian Mallaby, "Saving the World Bank," Foreign Affairs, May-June 2005. This is a difficult, but informatiave article. You aren't required to read it. We'll also discuss Michael J. Glennon, "Why the Security Council Failed," Foreign Affairs, May-June 2003. You don't need to read it, though.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Recommended (not required): "The End of Poverty: An Interview with Jeffrey Sachs," Mother Jones, May 2005. Milton Friedman, "Free Markets and the End of History," New Perspectives Quarterly, Spring 2006; Mike Davis, "Planet of the Slums," New Perspectives Quarterly, Spring 2006. Monday, October 10: First exam
Wednesday,
October 12: Gobal inequalities (continued) Recommended
(not required; we'll discuss it in class):
Jagdish
Bhagwati, "Borders
Beyond Control," Foreign Affairs, January-February
2003.
Recommended
(not required): Ali Mazrui, "Islamic
and Western Values," Foreign Affairs, September-October
1997; Tyler Cowen, "The Fate of Culture," The Wilson
Quarterly, Autumn 2002.
Video: Thomas Friedman, Does Europe Hate Us? Recommended
(not required): Charles
A. Kupchan, "The
End of the West," The Atlantic Monthly, November
2002.
Reading: MindTools.net, "Global Consciousness"; Willem van Vliet, "Cities in a globalizing world: from engines of growth to agents of change," Environment and Urbanization, 2002. Recommended,
not required: Donovan D. Rypkema, "The
Importance of Downtown in the 21st Century," Journal
of the American Planning Association, Winter 2003.
Recommended
(not required): Robert Skidelsky, "The
Chinese Shadow," The New York Review of Books, November
17, 2005.
Recommended:
about
M. King Hubbert; C. Ford Runge and Benjamin Senauer, "How
Biofuels Could Starve the Poor," Foreign Affairs,
May/June 2007. The biofuels article was suggested by your classmate
Kristen Sikorsky. |
Wednesday,
September 17:
Politics, Economics and Society in a Globalizing
World 
After November 17: Reserved for assigned textbooks.