Courses
Fall 2007 Courses:
Sociology G632: Deciphering the Global: On Method and Interpretation
Sociology V2225: Globalization: Empirical and Theoretical Elements
CGT W4520: Issues of Secularism and Diversity in Global Thought
Sociology G632-DECIPHERING THE GLOBAL: ON METHOD AND INTERPRETATION.
With Professor Saskia Sassen
(suitable for students in sociology, anthropology, political science, geography, and SIPA)
Transnational processes such as economic globalization and cross-border migrations confront the social sciences with a series of theoretical and methodological challenges. This course examines these challenges through a focus on both macro level cross-border flows and micro processes which might take place at a global or at a sub-national level. Thus we go beyond the types of international economic analyzes that characterize much globalization research and we ask what it means to study globalization at multiple scales of analysis, down to the most detailed approaches requiring fieldwork. To this end, the course will examine how different processes of globalization a) are actually constituted at different scales and in a range of institutional settings; b) transform key aspects of major institutions, such as sovereignty and citizenship, and major processes, such as urbanization, immigration, and digitization; and c) are in turn shaped by these institutions and processes. Particular attention will go to analyzing the challenges for theorization and empirical specification.
LIMITED TO 15 STUDENTS. Approval by instructor required. Interested students should communicate with Professor Sassen via email
Sociology V2225-GLOBALIZATION: EMPIRICAL AND THEORETICAL ELEMENTS
With Professor Saskia Sassen
(suitable for students in sociology, anthropology, political science, geography and SIPA)
Transnational processes, such as economic globalization and cross-border migrations, confront the social sciences with a series of theoretical and methodological challenges. This course examines these challenges through a focus on both macro level cross-border flows and micro processes which might take place at a global or at a sub-national level. Thus we go beyond the types of international economic analyzes that characterize much globalization research and we ask what it means to study globalization at multiple scales of analysis, down to the most detailed approaches requiring fieldwork. To this end, the course will examine how different processes of globalization a) are actually constituted at different scales and in a range of institutional settings; b) transform key aspects of major institutions, such as sovereignty and citizenship, and major processes, such as urbanization, immigration, and digitization; and c) are in turn shaped by these institutions and processes. Particular attention will go to analyzing the challenges for theorization and empirical specification.
PILOT COURSES:
Globalization
Introduction:
This course - co-taught by Professors Kaviraj & Stiglitz - serves as an introduction to globalization, one of the most important phenomena confronting the world today. Globalization is affecting every aspect of society�including economics, politics, and culture. This course looks at the phenomena from a multiplicity of perspectives�as it is studied in different disciplines and as it is seen in different regions of the problem. We will look at globalization in all of its dimensions, including economic globalization, political globalization, the globalization of civil society, global knowledge, and our global environment. While the emphasis will be on contemporary debates, we will also look at globalization historically and the relevant historical genealogies of some of modern debates.
The course will look at economic globalization as well the impacts of globalization on culture and society more broadly. Particular attention will be devoted to the impact of globalization on developing countries. Weekly topics will include global governance and the international institutions, the global economic system, including trade, aid, debt and crises, the globalization of culture, identities, the impact of globalization on the state and democracy, and globalization and security.
Among the questions which we will address are the following: Why are there such markedly different perspectives on globalization, with some seeing it as providing the greatest opportunity for future prosperity and emphasizing the role that it has played in the spread of democratic ideas and ideals; while others emphasize its adverse impacts, such as the increase in inequality, environmental degradation, the loss of political autonomy, an increased frequency of crises, and a weakening of cultural identity? The course attempts to assess the validity of these various perspectives, as well as the reason that globalization has been seen in such contradictory light. We will attempt to understand how globalization has impacted societies in both the advanced industrial countries and in the developing world. While considerable attention will be paid to impacts on the economy, we will also address impacts on political processes, culture, and identity. The course attempts to enhance our understanding of some of the reasons that globalization has not lived up to the hopes of its advocates, including the relative roles of ideologies, economic, political, and social theories, and interests.
We will also discuss some of the important proposed reforms, to determine how they might affect globalization and its impacts. We will discuss alternative normative frameworks within which these reforms can be assessed.
CGTH W4510: Global Governance
University Wide Post-Graduate Seminar, Spring 2007
Sponsored by the Committee on Global Thought
Organizers: Katharina Pistor, Joseph Stiglitz
Description and Rationale:
The world is at a crossroad. As the famed coherence of the nation-state loses some of its viability to govern real-world problems in the face of global economic, technological and environmental factors, the people of the world must confront the possibility of imagining new structures and systems of governance. While the planet already has several institutional structures designed to meet some of these concerns (e.g., the UN and the WTO), these models are, at a minimum, constrained by their open reliance on the nation-state system, and thus they may not have the requisite strength or popular appeal to push forward an agenda proper to anything that could be called "government."
The modern era has been marked by a battle between the universal and the particular, and any system of governance must attend to this prickly matter of defending hard-won ideals concerning the universal rights of individual humans vs. the particular rights of groups to maintain distinction and control over their future. With this ongoing contest constantly in mind, this course aims to introduce students to a broad array of topics that will open the horizon for a debate and a new imagination about global governance as it is currently emerging and what an alternative future of "global governance" could look like. We will be probing the history of concepts and practices that have become central to standard notions of modernist governance, and thereby questioning their potential as models for global governance, how they are being challenged and/or eroded today, and also how they might need to be modified, defended or abandoned as the world comes to know the effects of "globalization" more and more.
The seminar is sponsored by the Committee on Global Thought and
co-taught by its chair, Joseph Stiglitz (economics), and one of its
founding members, Katharina Pistor (law). The subject areas, however,
will go well beyond these two disciplines. The seminar will therefore
turn to an international cohort of esteemed scholars. It will also draw
upon the intimate setting of a graduate level seminar with students
from a broad array of disciplines, including economics, political
sciences, sociology, anthropology, history, law, business, and
international affairs. Seminar sessions with outside speakers will be
open to the public. All other sessions will be for students admitted to
the class only.
