Globalizations since 1870

This course examines the failings of late 20th Century globalization, the period of increased global trade, investment, and migration from 1973 known as neoliberalism. Falls in absolute poverty have been more than matched by exploding inequality, massive financial instability, and looming environmental catastrophe. We ask whether globalization can be either collapsed, contested, or reformed. Are we experiencing de-globalization and will this de-globalization plunge the world into xenophobic nationalisms and resource wars or usher in new possibilities for development and justice? What was neoliberalism and how did it fail in its professed goals and has it failed as a political project? What global order or disorder could replace neoliberalism?

Texts: 

• Kate Aronoff, OVERHEATED: HOW CAPITALISM BROKE THE PLANET AND HOW WE FIGHT BACK (New York: Bold Type Books, 2021); 
• Elizabeth Henderson et al/Dollars & Sense, REAL WORLD GLOBALIZATION (20th edition; Portsmouth, NH: Economic Affairs Bureau, 2021); and 
• Lea Ypi, FREE: A CHILD AND A COUNTRY AT THE END OF HISTORY (NY: Norton, 2021)
• Selected chapters from Frederick Weaver’s Economic Literacy, Core Economics’ The Economy, Lourdes Benería, and Thomas Picketty

Credit/Evaluation: 1) Faithful attendance, preparation and engaged, active participation; 2) A quarter long research project. The project genres in this course are open including, for example, written research papers, found footage documentary videos, or videographic essays analyzing film texts. Research paper requirements include: i) an annotated bibliography, ii) a first draft, iii) a research presentation, and iv) a final draft.