Reading:

Required readings for the course average over 150 pages a week. Most of the books are about items of current interest, of various degrees of readability. Assigned readings are of 3 kinds for this course:

  1. Four assigned books (available at the University Bookstore) plus other materials available on line. Sections of the books will be assigned (but you will read or at least be assigned to skim all of them) for discussions (usually Thursdays).
  2. Short, usually primary documents to be read for section on Tuesday or Thursdays.
  3. Daily reading of the New York Times (at least Monday through Friday).

All three kinds of readings will be evaluated and will strongly affect your final grade. Students will be expected to participate in section discussion on the basis of the assigned readings. Participation means more than attending and sitting in the room.

The following books have been ordered at the University Bookstore (in approximate order of assignment)

  • Jeffry Frieden, Global Capitalism.
  • William R. Keylor, A World of Nations, 2nd edition.
  • Bassam Tibi, The Challenge of Fundamentalism, updated edition.
  • Richard McGregor, The Party.

These books are also on 4 hour reserve in Odegaard Library. All other readings will either be uploaded to the course website or a web address will be provided on the syllabus.

Newspaper reading:

You are expected to read the New York Times on a regular basis, Monday (except for the two holidays) through Friday. The Times will be used in lecture, in sections, in quizzes and likely on the final. You have various options on the New York Times. The By George Newstand (in the basement of Odegaard Library) can arrange a subscription for you newsstand will make a presentation to you about subscribing for a special rate M-F for the course of the quarter on the first day of class. The Times is also available on-line at www.nytimes.com for free (they have just announced that not all features of the paper are available on line. But in some ways it is harder to find all stories on line than in the hardcopy version of the newspaper.) Hard copies of the Times are available in various UW libraries.

Lecture Schedule and Readings:

NOTE: LECTURE SCHEDULE IS LIKELY TO CHANGE AND IS ONLY APPROXIMATE. READINGS AND ASSIGNMENT DATES DO NOT CHANGE EVEN IF LECTURE SCHEDULE SLIDES.

Screencasts can be found on the CSS page.

Week 1

January 3: Introduction/Class mechanics Wednesday,

January 5: World Order and Disorder: Towards a framework

January 7: The World on the Eve of World War I.

Readings:

  1. The syllabus
  2. Frieden, pp. xv-xvii (preface), pp. 1-123.
  3. (U.S.) National Intelligence Council, Global Trends, 2025: A Transformed World. http://www.dni.gov/nic/PDF_2025/2025_Global_Trends_Final_Report.pdf pp. iv-xiii. (textbox and executive summary).

Week 2

January 10: World War I and its Aftermath: Rebuilding World Order Wednesday,

January 12: Depression and the Challengers to Capitalism

January 14: The Origins of World War II, the War, and its Settlement.

Readings:

  1. Frieden, pp. 127-250.
  2. The Covenant of the League of Nations. Read the introduction and articles 8, 10-17 and 22-23 very carefully. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/leagcov.asp

Week 3

January 17 Martin Luther King Day: Holiday, UW Closed, NO CLASS

January 19: The Legacies of the WWII: The UN and Bretton Woods.

January 21: The Origins and Early Development of the Cold War

Readings:

  1. Frieden, pp. 253-300.
  2. Keylor, pp. 1-45.
  3. Charter of the United Nations; read introductory note, preamble, chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 (articles 55 and 56 only), 11, 12, 14, and 17. Read article 2 and chapters 6 and 7 particularly carefully. http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/index.shtml

Week 4

January 24: The Cold War in Europe, 1949-1975

January 26: Decolonization, independence, and the appearance of the 3rd World

January 28: The Cold War in Asia: China, Korea, Vietnam (I)

Readings:

  1. Frieden, pp. 300-338
  2. Keylor, pp. 46-96, 183-193, 232-257, 290-315, and 413-426.
  3. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (entire) http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml

Week 5

January 31: The Cold War in Asia II

February 2: “Developmentalism”

February 4: The Cold War in Europe—Détente and New Cold War

Readings:

  1. Frieden, pp. 339-360, 363-391
  2. Keylor, pp. 97- 145, 257 - 285 and 355-381
  3. Mao Zedong, “Talk with the American Correspondent Anna Louise Strong,” http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-4/mswv4_13.htm or http://www.marx2mao.com/Mao/TALS46.html

Week 6

February 7: The Fall of Communism Wednesday,

February 9: Neoliberalism and Triumphalism Friday,

February 11: The Rise of Asia

Readings:

  1. Frieden, pp. 392-434
  2. Keylor, pp. 146-155; 193-222; 318-344, 382-394; and 426-438.
  3. Tibi, ix-xxx, 1-35
  4. Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History?” originally in The National Interest, Summer 1989 available at http://www.wesjones.com/eoh.htm

Week 7

February 14: The First Gulf War

February 16: The Asian Financial Crisis

February 18: The Uniting of Europe

Readings:

  1. Frieden, pp. 435-476.
  2. Keylor, pp. 146-179, 222-231; 285-289, 345-354, and 438-448
  3. European Union, Economic and Monetary Union: Legal and Political Texts, pp. 9-31 http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/legal_texts/pdf/compendium_en.pdf

Week 8

February 21: Presidents Day Holiday. UW Closed, NO CLASS

February 23 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan

February 25: The Global Financial Crisis and after

Readings:

  1. Keylor, pp. 395-412, 449-459
  2. Tibi, 36-178
  3. Simon Johnson, “The Quiet Coup,” The Atlantic, May 2009 available at http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/05/the-quiet-coup/7364/

Week 9

February 28: Yet another world?

March 2: Challenges to World Order I: China

March 4: Challenges to World Order II: Environment

Readings:

  1. Tibi, pp. 179-214
  2. McGregor, prologue and pp. 1-103.
  3. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 4th Synthesis Report, Summary for Policymakers http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/syr/en/spm.html

Week 10

March 7: Challenges to World Order III: Clashing Civilizations

March 9: Challenges to World Order IV: Weak Institutions

March 11: Conclusion: What is to be Done?

Readings:

  1. McGregor, pp. 104-273. Read the conclusion carefully.

  2. Reread (U.S.) National Intelligence Council, Global Trends, 2025: A Transformed World. http://www.dni.gov/nic/PDF_2025/2025_Global_Trends_Final_Report.pdf pp. iv-xiii. (textbox and executive summary).

Wednesday, March 16, 2:30-4:20 FINAL EXAMINATION

Closed Book, Closed Note