Globalization and the Future of Politics

Course Overview:

The series of processes commonly referred of “globalization” have been heralded as the future of politics for the past quarter century.  Globalization has been said to bring in prosperity, connectivity, inequality, and despair.   This course will take a critical view of how globalization has affected world politics and uses this as a baseline to look forward into the future.  It will be split up into two sections.  First we will look at the nature of the state and the way in which the processes that comprise globalization affect the nation-state, the dominant order of modern international relations.  Second, we will spend some time using these theories as a springboard to imagine the future and its effect on the present.  This course will culminate in students writing a 15-20 page paper that imagines a future based on course theories.  This is not a course designed to give students a series of fact about globalization but instead to ask them critical questions and allow them to come to their own answers on this topic.

Some of these questions will be:

•    What is the state? How important is it to politics in the early 21st century?

•    What is Globalization? Does globalization threaten the state? How?

•    What might this mean for politics in the 21st century and beyond?

•    How do/should we think about the future?

•    How important is the future in acting in the present?

•    Is “globalization” a useful way to imagine the future?

The major goals of this course are:

1.    Construct, recognize, and evaluate arguments about aspects of globalization and the future and form your own viewpoints on critical issues.

2.    Display a basic literacy in the conceptual and theoretical language used by those who study and deal with these issues, especially by linking specific arguments to broader traditions of thought.

3.    Engage opposing points of view in a rigorous but respectful way, which means disagreeing about matters of substance rather than matters of taste, looking for commonly-held facts and principles, and acknowledging the limits of argument alone to resolve all significant differences.

The course will be split up into two sections.  The first will be the “Substantive” part of this course.  Here we will look briefly at the state and then at a series of different processes that are a part of what might be called globalization and how they affect the state.  In the second part of the course we will look at some visions of the future from prognosticators and policy wonks as well as fictional representations.  Here we will concentrate on these visions as a “playground” not only for evaluating visions of the future but also for testing out the theories we discussion in the first section of the course.

Some knowledge of history, current events, and digital technology is necessary to do well; however, this course is not about science, policy, or current events, but instead about politics. The purpose is both to use the future as a way to examine and wrestle with thorny questions that will help us to get a better handle on our current situation.

I suggest that each student in the class keep up with current events of relevance; the best way to do this is to read the New York Times or Washington Post daily, or at the very least to watch a reputable nightly newscast, tune into CNN, or check up on a reputable blog (note REPUTABLE, try not to choose a partisan propaganda machine) for a while. (note: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart or Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, on their own, does not count as a “reputable nightly newscast”. But in conjunction with the newscasts that they are brilliantly satirizing, they’re quite acceptable sources of information—note the “in conjunction” qualification there.) This is important as it will become a part of our discussions.  I will not be afraid to change the discussion section of a class in order to meet with current events or the interests of the class as a whole.  Therefore, a better knowledge of such events will not only help your understanding of the class but it will also help your discussion grade (see below).

Contacting Me:

I will be holding office hours at the times listed above. If you cannot come to my office hours and you need to meet with me, please contact me and we will try to find another time to meet on the day of class.  I am only on campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays most weeks. I can be contacted via email at mshirk@umd.edu.  If nothing else we can set up a phone, skype, or gchat conversation if our schedules do not permit a face to face meeting, but this is a last resort and I will try my hardest to meet with you if so desired.

My email policy is that I will endeavor to respond to your emails within 24 hours unless otherwise stated during class (i.e. I am going to a conference and will not be able to answer emails…).  Most times I will respond within a few hours if not sooner.  However, do not expect this to be the case between Friday at 5pm and Sunday at 8pm.  I will try to answer email promptly during this time but I am making no guarantees as there will be weekends where I have limited computer access.

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is a serious offense at UMD, and can be ground for dismissal from the university. Plagiarism constitutes knowingly misrepresenting someone else’s work as your own. This does not just apply to things like buying a paper off the internet; knowingly appropriating another author’s quotes or ideas can also qualify as plagiarism. The University’s plagiarism policy can be found on the web site of the Office of Student Conduct at: http://www.inform.umd.edu/jpo/ . Please familiarize yourself with this policy, and ask any questions you may have in advance of submitting your work. Professors are required to bring all cases of suspected plagiarism to the attention of the OSC. Penalties include automatic course failure and an explanatory note on the student’s transcript indicating that he or she has violated the rules of academic integrity.

Assignments/Grading:

The grade breakdown is as follows:

25% Discussion Platforms

25% Classroom Participation

20% Midterm Essays

30% Research Paper

Discussion Platforms: 25%

You will be setting up an online platform with 5 other students (ideally) on which you will be posting relevant newspaper articles, blogs posts, studies, government press releases or documents, pictures, paintings, books (fiction and non), movies, etc. that relate to what has been discussed in class.  You will be rotating with members of your blog so that you should be doing a post roughly every two weeks as assigned for a total of 5 posts. Recommended platforms for this assignment include blogger, wordpress, and weebly.  Please do not choose a platform in which you (or I) are required to becoming ‘friends’ with each other (i.e. no Facebook please).

Each post should include a link (you may have a picture act as a link if so desired) to the article/book/picture of choice.  Please summarize succinctly and then place in the larger context of class (1-2 paragraphs tops).  You are encouraged to be creative here.  You may mention something from another course or topic entirely so long as it relates in some way to that week’s material.  Think of “relation” in the broadest sense.  Items may relate to course material in the following ways: similar topic, similar concept/different topic, aesthetically, pop culture representation of course material, theoretical discussion, and many more.  If you have questions, feel free to ask.

You are also expected to comment on other’s posts and respond to comments on your own posts. The minimum is to comment on each post on your blog. Your grade will be determined by the quality of your posts as well as your comments.  After everyone’s third post, you will receive a ‘progress grade’, at the end of the course you will receive a final grade.

Please find the posting schedule below:

Posting Schedule

Date    Bloggers

Fri, Feb. 6    A team posts

Fri, Feb. 13    B team posts

Fri, Feb. 20    A team posts

Fri, Feb. 27    B team posts

Fri, Mar. 6    A team posts

Fri, Mar. 13    B team posts

Fri, Mar. 27    A team posts

Fri, Apr. 10    B team posts

Fri, Apr. 24    A team posts

Fri, May  1    B team posts

Midterm: 20%

At the end of the first section you will be required to take a midterm that reviews this material.  This midterm will consist of a series of essays. These essays are designed to get you to think about the readings and how they relate to each other.  While the discussion platforms are meant to be creative, these are meant to be more rigorous and analytical.  You will be given the prompts a few days before the deadline and will have to return them on the dates listed on the syllabus. More details will be provided a few weeks before the assignment.

Participation: 25%

Learning is a social enterprise.  One of the best ways to learn is to test your own ideas out by discussing them with other intelligent students in a collegial format, having your ideas tested and forcing you to rethink, strengthen, or even abandon them. With this in mind students are required not only to come to class prepared but also to participate vigorously in discussion.  A good discussion facilitates learning better than any set of readings or lectures that I may give.  The grading for participation is as follows:

A = Effective participation (insightful questions/comments; clearly does all reading; attends all classes)

B = Consistent participation (thoughtful questions/comments; clearly does some reading; attends all classes)

C = Occasional participation (only occasional involvement in discussions; regularly attends classes)

D = Observer (regularly attends class but does not get involved in class discussions)

F = Sporadic observer (attends class irregularly; no participation)

Class attendance will be noted.  You are allowed to miss one class without a valid excuse, but you must write your own note. After this you must come with a note from a doctor, or have a valid excuse (family emergency, funeral, job interview, etc.) for which you can provide documentation.  Each unexcused absence means 1 point (5%) taken off of your participation grade.

Research Paper: 25%

At the end of course you will be required to produce a 15-20 page paper.  This paper will be your own representation of the future.  It will include implicitly evaluating course theories, researching work done on the subjects you choose to focus on, as well as thinking creatively about how the next XXX years will play out.  As part of this project you will be required to a) meet with me to discuss your topics and visions and b) produce a rough draft that will be work-shopped with other students in the final few class periods.  More details to follow

Required Books:

Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash

Rosenblum, Mary. Horizons

Not all of these books have been ordered by the university book store.  In fact one of them is even out of print.  But never fear!  They are all available as e-books! If you do not have an e-reader such as a Kindle or a Nook, you can download an app for free that allows you to read e-books on whatever device you choose.  From here you can order the books.  None of the books are assigned until April so you have some time. If you have any questions, please contact me.

Other readings will either be available on ELMS, via links on the syllabus, or through the Library Research Port.  You will need your UMD username and passport to log in.  From here you can either search by journal name or on the right of the page by article or author’s name.  Articles can also be accessed through Google Scholar though many times you will need a subscription, so it is best to go through the university library.

As with many college courses, the reading load can be heavy at times.  Learning how to tackle large amounts of reading is likely to be important in both graduate education and any job that you wish you have. So I suggest that you follow the tips in the blog post that is linked below.  It is from a Swarthmore History Professor and it tells students how to handle large reading loads without getting too bogged down.  If this is not working, please let me know and I will try and work with you.  However, a) You need to tell me that there is a problem for me to know of its presence and b) do not think that this means that the readings are not mandatory.  They are.

http://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/permanent-features-advice-on-academia/how-to-read-in-college/

Daily Schedule:

This course meets twice a week for 75 minutes at a time. The standard class will include about 30 minutes for “lecture” broadly defined and 45 minutes for discussion.  However, there will be classes that will not be centered on a lecture so please be flexible.  Lectures are useful for conveying information and can substitute for readings but are not adept at getting you to think critically, therefore discussion, simulations, etc. are necessary and will be a part of the course.  This is why class participation is 20% of your grade.

Since many of you take notes on them and they can prove very useful for discussion, laptops and tablets are allowed in class (Please do not use a Smart Phone during class!).  However, this is a privilege.  If I see that you are on facebook, shopping, looking at your fantasy team or any other non-class activity I reserve the right to take this privilege away.  You are only in class 2.5 hours a week; you can probably go this long without connection to the wider world.  In fact, this can sometimes even be healthy. Trust me!

Class 1 (1/27): Meet and Greet

Read Syllabus back and front

Class 2 (1/29): What is the State? Sovereignty?

Robert Jackson, Sovereignty, Preface, Ch. 1 ELMS

Class 3 (2/3): State Development

Charles Tilly, “Warmaking and Statemaking as Organzied Crime,” ELMS

Rodney Bruce Hall, National Collective Identity, Ch. 3 ELMS

Class 4 (2/5): Alternatives

Dan Nexon and Ian Wright, “What’s at Stake in the American Empire Debate?” RESEARCH PORT

Jackson, Ch.2 ELMS

Class 5 (2/10): Globalization

Robertson, Globalization and Social Theory, Ch.1 Ebook on library website

Schwartz, “Globalization: The Long View”

http://people.virginia.edu/~hms2f/globalization.html

Class 5 (2/12): Is the World Flat?

Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat, Ch.1 ELMS

Pankaj Ghemawat, “Actually the World Isn’t Flat”, TED talk

Class (2/17): Future of the State

Willem Schinkel, “Digitas non-moritor?” ELMS

Stephen Kobrin, “The Architecture of Globalization”, ELMS

Class 8 (2/19): No Class

Professor will be at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association

Class 9 (2/24): Economic Change

Robert Keohane and Helen Milner, Internationalization and Domestic Politics, TBD ELMS

Naeem Inayatullah, “Beyond the Sovereignty Dilemma”, ELMS

Class 10 (2/26): Finance

Edward LiPuma and Benjamin Lee, Financial Derivates and the Globalization of Risk, Ch. 1, ELMS

Chrystia Freeland, “The Rise of the New Global Elite”

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/01/the-rise-of-the-new-global-elite/308343/

Class 11 (3/3): Transnational Politics

Thomas Risse, “Transnational Actors and World Politics”

http://www.untag-smd.ac.id/files/Perpustakaan_Digital_1/CORPORATE%20GOVERNANCE%20Corporate_Ethics_and_Corporate_Governance(2).pdf#page=238

Class 12: Snow!!!!

Class 13 (3/10): Transnational Crime and Piracy

Phil Williams, “Transnational Organized Crime and the State”, ELMS

Shannon Lee Dawdy, “What Pirates Are Back”, ELMS

Mohamed Abshir Waldo, “Two Piracies in Somalia”

http://wardheernews.com/Articles_09/Jan/Waldo/08_The_two_piracies_in_Somalia.html

Class 14 (3/12): Terrorism

Zygmunt Bauman, “The Demons of an Open Society.” ELMS

Jarrod Hayes, “Is the concept of Terrorism Still Useful?”

http://www.isn.ethz.ch/Digital-Library/Articles/Detail/?lng=en&id=187180

Class 16 (3/17): No Class – Spring Break

Class 17 (3/19): No Class – Spring Break

Class 15 (3/24): The Environment

Ken Conca, “Old States in New Bottles?”, ELMS, p. 12-23 of document

Timothy Burke, “The Trouble with Sustainability”

I: http://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2015/02/24/the-trouble-with-sustainability-i-the-clock-of-the-short-now/

II: http://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2015/02/26/the-trouble-with-sustainability-ii-a-dynamic-steady-state/

Class 18 (3/26): – Culture

Anthony Appiah, “The Case for Contamination”, ELMS

Wole Akande, “The Drawbacks of Cultural Globalization”

https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/162/27594.html

Francis Fukuyama, “Economic Globalization and Culture”

http://www.oocities.org/rpallais/Fukuyama.htm

Class 19 (3/31): Cyberspace and Social Media

(SKIM) Glenn Greenwald, No Place to Hide, Ch. 3, ELMS

Class 20 (4/2): Synopsis and Review Discussion

.

Class 21 (4/7): No Class

Midterm due Wednesday, April 8 at 11:59pm

Class 22 (4/9): The Future

William Gibson, “The Gernsback Continuum”

http://lib.ru/GIBSON/r_contin.txt

Recommended, an Interpretation:

http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda/149/2-Gernsback.html

Class 23 (4/14): The Singularity

Jamais Cascio, “Open the Future”

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/000404.html

Vernor Vinge, “What is the Singularity?”

http://mindstalk.net/vinge/vinge-sing.html

Class 24 (4/16): In Class – Future Scenarios Activity

Class 25 (4/21): Horizons

Rosenblum, All

Class 26 (4/23): In Class – Future Scenarios Activity

Class 27 (4/28): Snow Crash

Stephenson, All

Class 28 (4/30): Predicting the Future

Michael D. Ward and Nils Metternich, “Predicting the Future is Easier Than it Looks”

http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/11/16/predicting-the-future-is-easier-than-it-looks/

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, “A Prediction for the Future of Iran”, TED talk

Nassim Taleb, “The Black Swan”, Ch.1 ELMS

***Rough Drafts sent to Blogmates and Professor by Sunday 5/3 at 11:59pm, 8-10 pages***

Class 29 (5/5): Technology and the Future

In Class:

Neal Stephenson on getting big stuff done

Class 30 (5/7): Paper Workshops – A team

Class 31 (5/12): Paper Workshops – B team

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