"The Re-Configuring Global Order"
Global Studies 446 U/G
Associate Professor: Jeffrey Sommers
Course meets online
Email:
Office: Alumni House 227A
Office Hours: by appointment
Phone: 229-6099
Interaction between faculty and student takes place in online discussion and via email and meetings by appointment. I strongly encourage meetings to better students prepare and succeed in the course.
Course interaction itself takes place on UWM’s D2L system.
Course overview and objectives
Introduction
The world is undergoing tectonic changes, with the global system re-configuring as evolving power dynamics realign economic and political orders. The power of nations is increasingly in flux as the global system reorients in new ways. This course examines world-systems and global orders over the past 500, 50 and 5 years providing perspective past global orders to give insight into current changes underway. In our attempt make sense of our global political economy we will look for what patterns persist over time and what features are new.
In addition to global systems, we look at key places. We investigate US prospects for renewed prosperity in a world where the role of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) is creating a multipolar order. We further analyze whether 'Social Europe' can persist, as well as review Japan's prospects. Furthermore, we inspect the place of Central Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America in the re-configuring world order.
In short, this course delivers an understanding of the geo-economic and geo-political order that is re--structuring our 21st century. This can only be achieved by situating it into its continuum in the past, present and future. Let’s start!
A note on the past, present and future:
Past
Winston Churchill famously remarked, “History is written by the victors.” Victors do indeed control the past, which means they shape our understanding of the present. The present is highly configured by our historical inheritance, which in short, has been shaped by the past agendas of history’s winners. Thus, we should always be alert to the possibility that our historical understanding may reflect factors other than how the world system was actually previously configured.
Present
It is not only the victors and their written word which shapes our understanding of the world, but the really existing relations of power and systems of exchange under which we live in the present. Working from our perspective on the present we frequently make assumptions about how the world was structured in the past. We all do this to some extent, but must be on watch to identify where our present perceptions of the past are at odds with really existing historical systems.
Future
The future is difficult to discern. If it were easy we would have few problems. Problems on the horizon would be seen and we could rationally respond to them in advance. As we know, however, this infrequently happens. This is prevented by two chief factors: one, interests; and two, contingent variables.
Conflicting interests are constantly engaged in the work of managing our understanding of past, present, and future events. Intellectual curiosity motivates some in their endeavor to understand the world. Others have strong ideological commitments steering them to conclusions conforming to their normative desires of what the world was, is, and should be. Others still, represent those who have a more direct stake (money, power, status) linked to our past, present, & future understandings of the world.
Contingent variables also obscure the past. The very informed can project likely trajectories of events into the future. The ability to accurately do so consistently, however, is minimized by unknowable variables. New sources of energy, political movements, or technology, can quickly render forecasts obsolete. This does not make the exercise of divining future trends useless, but it does mean there are limits to what one can predict. That said those more engaged in a serious effort to do so are better placed to successfully engage the future.
Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the course, you should be able to:
· Comprehend and compare several world-system and global orders
· Have command over the contemporary and past global forces re-configuring our world system
· Grasp the sources of change over time generating new global configurations
· Comprehend the global historical and contemporary factors that have led to economic development and their impact on world-systems and global order
Our class is reading and discussion based. Itrequiresadhering to the weekly reading and discussion schedule. If you miss making posts by deadlines, please forgo making them move onto the next week’s assignments. Late posts are disruptive to the rhythm of the course and prevent optimal learning for you and others. To be clear, however, you will miss points for missed week’s posts when these are assessed as a portfolio at the semester’s end.
The class requirements are very simple; yet require some elaboration to get just right. Online communication requires precision, thus please carefully read the posting assignments and guidelines below. Follow the format and all will go smoothly. I am here to help, of course!
Class postings are to be as follows: This component of the class is the most important. If you have read readings in their entirety, it shows and you will be rewarded accordingly. Posts revealing that assigned readings are not read in their entirety (easy to spot) are graded failing.
1) SUMMARY POST: provide asummaryno later than each Wed. midnight foreachofthe assigned reading groups. List what you think are its strengths and weaknesses. Tell us the thesis of the reading and its implications. It should be evident from your post that you gave the assignment a careful reading. In short, rather than just listing points the author made, you must tell us what the author's argument is(Word length 300-500 words). Make sure you post is labeled"summary"in the subject heading.
2) RESPONSE POST: write a criticalresponseto another student’s summary post from each reading group. Focus on the post’s strengths and shortcomings, introducing additional evidence from the assigned readings to critique the post you are responding to. This is a professional not personal exercise. Proper decorum will be maintained throughout. The point is to learn, hone, improve and deliver precision to our discussions. You are encouraged to be critical, but in a constructive way. These are due between Thursday and Saturday.(Minimum word length 100-250 words).Make sure you post is labeled"response"in the subject heading.
· Note: for all posts, word lengths listed above are required. My wish is to engage you in learning together, thus I will only comment on post substance, and not on whether your posts are long enough, etc. It is up to you to see that they are meeting the above outlined requirements. The best way to get word lengths right and also to ensure you do not lose posts while composing is to write them in Word (which has a “word count” feature) and then copy the finished text into the online course.
· Please note that late posts are not read. It is vital to make all class posts, and by syllabus drafted deadlines. Keeping on schedule will keep you on task towards a better grade for the course.
Course evaluation:
Percentage of total grade by project for undergraduate and graduate students
Exams:there is a mid-term and final exam. These are essay exams. Details forthcoming. Exams will be taken on the announced dates. Dates can only be changed due to illness with doctor’s note provided.
Research paper: there is a research paper due near the end of semester. The paper for undergraduates is 1500 words in length.Undergraduatestudent papers must not exceed 200 words over this minimum. Quantitatively, thegraduatestudent paper must be at least 6000 words, three times the length of the undergraduate paper. Qualitatively, the graduate student paper must display both a wider breadth of resources deployed, and with greater depth of analysis than the undergraduate paper. Graduate students are encouraged to stay close to the stated word length (not going significantly over).
Word lengths are all inclusive, including citations, etc.Citations are to be MLA footnote style (no parenthetical citations). Please also note that research papers are based on materials taken outside of class. Thus, you will be citing materials researched at a library and/or online (not course readings).
Graduate students will also hold individual planning meeting(s) with the professor to discuss and help ensure that a high-quality research paper results from the research paper assignment. By contrast, undergraduate students may have personal meetings or email correspondence to discuss research aims.
Participation:Posts must be regularly made as indicated above. Late posts are not evaluated.
Grading is done on a letter scale:
· Aequates to excellence. Student demonstrates full command over reading assignments, discussion and course work generally in both theme and detail.
· Bequates to above average command over course material and assignments.
· Cequates to having average command over assignments as demonstrated by showing knowledge over basic course themes.
· Dequates to loose control over course materials, with some knowledge of course concepts, but with insufficient command over themes and detail.
· Fequates to loose control over course material with insufficient command over theme and detail to pass most assignments or ultimately the course.
Course evaluation:
Percentage of total grade by project for undergraduate and graduate students
Undergraduate Graduate
Class postings / 25% / 20%Mid Term Essay Exam / 25% / 20%
Research Paper / 25% / 40%
Final Essay exam / 25% / 20%
University policies:http://www4.uwm.edu/secu/SyllabusLinks.pdf
Reading and posting schedule:
(Please note full citations are located at end of syllabus in the bibliography. The abbreviated citations directly below are designed to permit easy identification of scanned readings in the link provided by the library)
Themes: (readings listed are to be completed by the week listed for discussion that week, thus always begin readings the week before listed for discussion)
All readings are available online at the reading link provided in the course
--Introduction: Student introductions and discussion of course structure
Units:
1) An Afro-Eurasian World-System before Europe
Reading: Janet Abu-Lughod, Before European Hegemony (Oxford University Press).
“Studying a System in Formation” pp. 3-40
2) China’s Historic Global Soft Power and Dominance
Reading: Louise Levathes, When China Ruled the Seas (Oxford University Press: 1994).
Prologue pp. 19-22
“The Treasure Fleet” pp. 75- 86
“The Auspicious Appearance of the Celestial Animals” pp. 137-154
3) Alternating Hegemonies: Patterns in the Rise & Fall of Nations
Reading: Giovanni Arrighi & Beverly Silver, eds., Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System (University of Minnesota Press: 1999).
Beverly Silver & Eric Slater, “The Social Origins of World Hegemonies” pp. 151-216.
4) Creating Transatlantic World Economy: Sugar & Industrialization
Reading: Eric Williams, Capitalism & Slavery, (University of North Carolina Press, 1944; 1994).
“British Commerce and the Triangular Trade” pp. 51-84
“British Industry and the Triangular Trade” pp. 98-107
--Midterm Exam
5) Empire, Riches, and Catastrophe: Creating Modern Markets (or, the Coup de Grace delivered to India & China)
Reading: Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines & the Making of the Third World (Verso Press: 2001).
“Victoria’s Ghosts” pp. 26-60
“The Poor Eat Their Homes” pp. 61-90
6) Age of Extremes: the Quick Rise & Fall of 20th Century State Socialism
Reading: Eric Hobsbawm: Age of Extremes (Pantheon Press: 1994).
“Real Socialism” pp. 372-400
--Discussion and Planning Research Paper
7) Modern Economies: Free Trade/Developmental State
Reading: Alice Amsden, Rise of “The Rest”: Challenges to the West from Late-Industrializing Economies (Oxford University Press: 2001).
Ha-Joon Chang, Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (Bloomsbury Press: 2008).
Meredith Woo-Cumings, ed. The Developmental State (Cornell University Press: 1999).
Ha-Joon Chang, “The double life of Daniel Defoe: How did the rich countries become rich?” pp. 40-64.
Bruce Cummings, “Webs with No Spiders, Spiders with No Webs: The Genealogy of the Developmental State” pp. 61-92.
Optional: Alice Amsden, “Industrializing Late” pp. 1-28.
8) Democracy and the “Century of the Self”
Video: Adam Curtis, “Century of Self” (BBC: 2002).
Parts 1 & 2. Several versions available as free stream & download on web.
9) Entropy and Keynesian Bretton Woods Order (KWBO)
Reading: Eric Helleiner, States and the Reemergence of Global Finance: from Bretton Woods to the 1990s (Cornell University Press: 1994).
Michael Hudson, Super Imperialism (Pluto Press, New Edition, 2003).
Helleiner, “Introduction” pp. 1-28.
Hudson, “Power through bankruptcy, 1968-70” pp. 309-27.
Hudson, “Perfecting empire through monetary crisis, 1970-72” pp. 328-47.
10) Rise of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) Countries: Return to the old (or ‘same as it ever was…’)
Reading: Radhika Desai, Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire (Pluto Press: 2013)
Desai, “Conclusion: The Multipolar Moment” pp. 262-80
Final Exam
Units Descriptions:
1) An Afro-Eurasian World-System before Europe
We (especially US students) often begin our global studies with Europe’s connections to the Americas and Indian Ocean in the late 15th century. Implicit in this framing is an assumption that parts of Europe were the most developed part of the world at that time (it wasn’t) or that other parts of the world were not connected (they were).
Here we are introduced to the fact that there was a massive world-system connecting Afro-Eurasia. By ‘world-system’ with a ‘hyphen’ we are denoting an integrated system of connections and trade constituted of interacting parts collectively creating the whole. A ‘world-system’ references a collection of places, which through their connections are greater than their parts. A ‘world system’ (no hyphen) by contrast references the entire globe. Truly global systems are far more recent in origin.
With this unit’s reading, we look at the Afro-Eurasian world-system. This connected zone of trade existed many centuries before Columbus and linked together nearly the entire mass of Eurasia, stretching from China and India, across Central Asia and the Middle East, to Europe and East Africa. Trade routes were both overland caravans and seafaring. The richest parts were in Asia (East, South, Central, and West). The two most peripheral areas of the system were East Africa and Europe, for reasons of geography (distance and obstacles to the and most developed zones of Asian trade) and relative underdevelopment. East Africa, like several parts of Europe, was relatively underdeveloped compared to the economies of Asia, but because of easier access (Indian Ocean) was more integrated into the system than Europe. The Americas were not linked. Some parts of some remoter parts of West Africa were largely disconnected as well.