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Courses |
Past CoursesGraduate Course Descriptions: Spring 2002 Globalization, Reform, and Development: Domestic
and Global Sources of Social Transformation Mondays, 6:30 - 8:30 Room TBA, 3 credits This seminar probes the wave of structural, political, economic, and social reforms adopted since 1980 nearly worldwide. These reforms are altering patterns of development and social organization in several continents, even if they remain incomplete and far from consensual. This wave of reform has been accompanied by large-scale technological and organizational changes associated with globalization. Resistance has come not only from traditional communities, but also from advocates of alternatives views on social change, often seeing themselves as transnational actors. Globalism poses a challenge to diverse state and society-centered models of reform and social change. This seminar explores the balance between global and national factors in the political sociology of reform and social transformation. The readings tend to emphasize Latin America and Western Hemisphere dynamics, though other regions and cases will be discussed. The course probes the development of global perspectives in theories of political sociology, the state, and development. It pays particular attention to macro social change, the role of social movements and NGOs in reform, business political behavior and policy, social policy, processes of democratization and the expansion of human rights, sustainable development, the place of ideas and intellectuals in shaping reform and development. Reforms, institution-building, social movements and many other aspects of social change take place in the framework of nation states, yet there is increasing evidence of transnational links among ideas, actors and institutions. One of the goals of this course is to introduce the emergence of transnational networks of actors and their impact on policy. Requirements:This is a seminar and class participation is very important. Attendance, class participation, and presentations account for 20% of the grade. There are two ways to fulfill writing requirements. Either way, papers serve as basis for class presentations. Option A calls for writing four short papers (5-7 papers) based on the weekly readings and spaced every three weeks or so. These papers focus on the readings for a given week, summarizing main issues and linking them to the main themes in the course. Each paper counts for 20% of the grade. Option B entails the writing of a research paper sketching an analysis (could take the form of a research proposal) of a major reform in a given country.
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