Next year, I will be delivering a module on the history of globalisation here at Coventry University. The module is aimed at first-year students in history and political science.The aim of this module is to introduce students to a range of social, economic and political themes in the history of globalisation. The module looks at global historical change from 1800 to the present. The emphasis is one three different types of globalisation: the globalisation of goods, the globalisation of ideas/culture, and the global migrations of peoples. The module will also discuss the history of global governance. The module will also introduce students to the ongoing scholarly debates about the history of globalisation. This module requires students to go further than mastering concrete historical facts about globalization and to engage with competing theories of globalisation.
Module Aims
The intended learning outcomes are that, on successful completion of this module, a student should be able to:
1. Demonstrate an awareness of the major events in the history of globalisation and the scholarly debate over when globalisation actually began.
2. Evaluate the political, economic, and technological foundations or causes of globalisation. A student should be able to discuss the debate among historians about what causes globalisation.
3. Discuss the impact of globalisation on diverse countries and on diverse economic groups with societies.
4. Become more familiar with research methods in History and be able to do a document analysis of a primary source.
5. Demonstrate a broad understanding of some theoretical debates in relation to globalisation.
Assessment
The intended learning outcomes will be assessed with: Coursework 1 (50% – 10 credits) will comprise a documentary analysis, or equivalent, of 1,000 words (15% – 3 credits) which will summatively assess intended learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5’ and Coursework 2 a 2,000-word essay, or equivalent (35% – 7 credits), which will summatively assess intended learning outcomes 1, 2, 3 and 5; a 2-hour unseen examination (50% – 10 credits) will summatively assess intended learning outcomes 1, 2 and 3. Re-assessment: Coursework component(s) and/or examination as appropriate.
Please note that no coursework will be marked until an identical electronic copy has also been submitted into the module web for a plagiarism check.
Coursework 1: Book Review Deadline: 4pm, Thursday, 27 October 2011. |
Rodrik, Dani. The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy. New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 2011. |
Book reviews will be approximately 1,000 words (roughly 3-4 pages) in length. Although the book review is not due until November, you should buy the book immediately, since it may take some time to come through the mail. A précis of a book merely provides a descriptive summary of the book’s contents. A proper book review, on the other hand, involves going beyond mere description and requires the input of one’s own reasoned opinions. An essential feature of a good book review is the reviewer’s ability to write concisely so that a comprehensive evaluation of the book can be obtained from a brief reading. So, do not write more, write more concisely. I shall penalize people who go over the set word limit. |
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A book review in a Level One Module should answer the following questions: -What is the book’s purpose? What is the author’s central thesis or argument?
-Does the author prove his or her thesis? What sorts of arguments does he or she use? -Who is the author? How might their personal or professional background have influenced this book in some way? -What sorts of sources did the author read in the course of researching and writing this book? HINT: Read the footnotes and the bibliography.
-How is the book organized? -Who would likely read such a book? |
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Coursework 2: Research Essay. 2,000-words. Deadline: 4pm, Thursday 16 February 2012. |
Your essay will be based on sources in the university library. A list of available topics is listed below. Your essay should be based on at least six scholarly sources. I shall elaborate on my expectation for the essay in lecture. |
1) How did the advent of telecommunications encourage the development of multilateral institutions of global governance? 2) What is the “gentlemanly capitalism thesis” and how does it advance our understanding of the British Empire’s role in global history? 3) How has neoliberalism changed the world since 1978? 4) How did people in Western Europe react to “Coca-colonization” after 1945? 5) How much progress has been made towards the creation of customs unions in Latin America? 6) How are the explanations for the Great Divergence provided by David Landes and Timur Kuran different from that offered by Ken Pomeranz? Which interpretation is most plausible? 7) Was the economic impact of British rule in India positive or negative? 8) What was the global ecological impact of the British Empire? 9) Why were Jeremy Bentham and J.A. Hobson opposed to British imperialism? How were their arguments similar? How were they different? 10) Europeans and Arabs used Africa as a source of slaves. What do the differences between the Atlantic and Arab slave trades say about the histories of globalisation and about the Great Divergence? |
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Sources for these essay topics are as follows:
The following is not a comprehensive list of the sources needed to research each essay topic. Instead, I have decided to list just a few sources related to the topic that can serve as a point of departure for your own research in the library. In identifying additional sources for your essay, you should pay careful attention to the footnotes in the sources listed below.
Topic: How did the advent of telecommunications encourage the development of multilateral institutions of global governance? Sources: Gorman, Daniel. “Freedom of the Ether or the Electromagnetic Commons?: Globality, the Public Interest, and the Multilateral Radio Negotiations in the 1920s and 1930s” in Empires and Autonomy: Moments in the History of Globalization, Steven Streeter, John Weaver, William Coleman, eds. (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2009), 138-156; Headrick, Daniel. “Submarine Telegraph Cables: Business and Politics, 1838-1939″ in Business History Review (Fall 2001)
Topic: What is the “gentlemanly capitalism thesis” and how does it advance our understanding of the British Empire’s role in global history? Sources: Webster, Anthony. The Debate on the Rise of the British Empire. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006; Daunton, M. J. State and Market in Victorian Britain: War, Welfare and Capitalism. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press, 2008; Akita, Shigeru. Gentlemanly Capitalism, Imperialism, and Global History. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.
Topic: How has neoliberalism changed the world since 1978? Sources: Jeong, Seongjin. “The Korean Developmental State: From Dirigisme to Neoliberalism.” Historical Materialism 17, no. 3 (September 2009): 244-257; Harvey, David. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005; Duménil, Gérard, and Dominique Lévy. The Crisis of Neoliberalism. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2011; Silva, Eduardo. Challenging Neoliberalism in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009; Giroux, Henry A. “Beyond the biopolitics of disposability: rethinking neoliberalism in the New Gilded Age.” Social Identities 14, no. 5 (September 2008): 587-620.
Topic: How did people in Western Europe react to “Coca-colonization” after 1945? Sources: Judt, Tony. Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945. London: William Heinemann, 2005;Berghahn, Volker R. 2010. “The debate on ‘Americanization’ among economic and cultural historians.” In Cold War History, 107-130; Schroter, Harm G. 2008. “Economic culture and its transfer: an overview of the Americanisation of the European economy, 1900-2005.” European Review of History 15, no. 4: 331-344; Duignan, Peter, and Lewis H. Gann. The Rebirth of the West: The Americanization of the Democratic World, 1945-1958. Cambridge, Mass., USA: Blackwell, 1992; Lundestad, Geir. Empire by Integration: The United States and European Integration, 1945-1997. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998; Nixon, Sean. “Apostles of Americanization? J. Walter Thompson Company Ltd, Advertising and Anglo-American Relations 1945-67.” Contemporary British History 22, no. 4 (December 2008): 477-499; Hilger, Susanne. 2008. “‘Globalisation by Americanisation’: American companies and the internationalisation of German industry after the Second World War.” European Review of History 15, no. 4: 375-401; Gassert, Philipp. “The Anti-American as Americanizer: Revisiting the Anti-American Century in Germany.” German Politics & Society 27, no. 1 (April 30, 2009): 24-38.
Topic: How much progress has been made towards the creation of customs unions in Latin America? Sources: Duina, Francesco G. The Social Construction of Free Trade: The European Union, NAFTA, and MERCOSUR. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2006; Cambridge Review of International Affairs 18, no. 3 (October 2005): 421-436; Gardini, Gian Luca. “Who Invented Mercosur?.” Diplomacy & Statecraft 18, no. 4 (December 2007): 805-830; Christensen, Steen Fryba. “The influence of nationalism in Mercosur and in South America — can the regional integration project survive?.” Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional 50, no. 1 (July 2007): 139-158; Duina, Francesco. “Varieties of Regional Integration: The EU, NAFTA and Mercosur.” Journal of European Integration 28, no. 3 (July 2006): 247-275; Drake, Paul W. Between Tyranny and Anarchy: A History of Democracy in Latin America, 1800-2006. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 2009
Topic: How are the explanations for the Great Divergence provided by David Landes and Timur Kuran different from that offered by Ken Pomeranz? Whose theory is most convincing? Sources: Pomeranz, Kenneth. The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000; Landes, David S. 2006. “Why Europe and the West? Why Not China?” The Journal of Economic Perspectives. 20, no. 2: 3-22;Horesh, Niv. “What Time Is the “Great Divergence”? And Why Economic Historians Think It Matters.” China Review International 16, no. 1 (March 2009): 18-32; Top of Form Vries, P. H. H. “Are Coal and Colonies Really Crucial? Kenneth Pomeranz and the Great Divergence(*).” Journal of World History 12, no. 2 (Fall2001 2001): 407; O’Brien, Patrick K. 2009. “The Needham Question Updated: A Historiographical Survey and Elaboration”. History of Technology. 29: 7; Kuran, Timur. 2004. “Why the Middle East Is Economically Underdeveloped: Historical Mechanisms of Institutional Stagnation”. Journal of Economic Perspectives. 18, no. 3: 71-90.
Bottom of Form
Topic: Was the economic impact of British rule in India positive or negative? Sources: Subrahmanyam, Gita. “Ruling continuities: Colonial rule, social forces and path dependence in British India and Africa.” Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 44, no. 1 (March 2006): 66-92; Desai, Manali. “Indirect British Rule, State Formation, and Welfarism in Kerala, India,1860–1957.” Social Science History 29, no. 3 (Fall2005 2005): 457-488; Rothermund, Dietmar. An Economic History of India From Pre-Colonial Times to 1991. London: Routledge, 1993;Davis, Mike. Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World. London: Verso, 2001; Washbrook, David. 2010. “Merchants, Markets, and Commerce in Early Modern South India.” Journal of the Economic & Social History of the Orient 53, no. 1/2: 266-289; Klein, Ira. “British Reforms, Commercial Agriculture, and Agrarian Distress in India.” Historian 70, no. 4 (Winter2008 2008): 732-752; Iyer L. 2010. “Direct Versus Indirect Colonial Rule in India: Long-Term Consequences”. Review of Economics and Statistics. 92, no. 4: 693-713.
Topic: What was the global ecological impact of the British Empire? Source: Beinart, William, and Lotte Hughes. Environment and Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007;
Topic: Why were Jeremy Bentham and J.A. Hobson opposed to British imperialism? How were their arguments similar? How were they different? Sources: Cain, Peter J. Hobson and Imperialism: Radicalism, New Liberalism, and Finance 1887 – 1938. Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press, 2002; Porter, Bernard. Critics of Empire: British Radicals and the Imperial Challenge. London: I. B. Tauris, 2008
Topic: Europeans and Arabs used Africa as a source of slaves. What do the differences between the Atlantic and Arab slave trades say about the histories of globalisation and about the Great Divergence? Sources: Black, Jeremy. The Slave Trade. London: Social Affairs Unit, 2006;Lydon, Ghislaine. “Islamic Legal Culture and Slave-Ownership Contests in Nineteenth-Century Sahara.” International Journal of African Historical Studies 40, no. 3 (October 2007): 391-439; Ewald, Janet J. “Crossers of the Sea: Slaves, Freedmen, and Other Migrants in the Northwestern Indian Ocean, c. 1750-1914.” American Historical Review 105, no. 1 (February 2000): 69; Carter, Marina. 2006. “Slavery and Unfree Labour in the Indian Ocean”. History Compass. 4, no. 5: 800-813; Campbell, Gwyn. 2003. “Introduction: Slavery and Other Forms of Unfree Labour in the Indian Ocean World”. Slavery & Abolition. 24, no. 2: 9-32;Amin, Samir. 1997. “Trans-Saharan Exchange and the Black Slave Trade”. Diogenes. no. 179: 31; Allen, Richard B. “Satisfying the “Want for Labouring People”: European Slave Trading in the Indian Ocean, 1500-1850.” Journal of World History 21, no. 1 (March 2010): 45-73.
List of Lectures and Readings for Weekly Seminars
Autumn Term
Week |
lecture |
seminar readings |
1 |
What is Global History? |
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2 |
The Great Divergence |
seminar theme: the great divergence |
O’Brien, Patrick, 2010. “A conjuncture in global history or an Anglo-American construct: the British Industrial Revolution, 1700-1850,” 5Journal of Global History: 503-509.
van Zanden, Jan Luiten, 2008. “The road to the Industrial Revolution: hypotheses and conjectures about the medieval origins of the European Miracle,” 3 Journal of Global History: 337-359.
The long divergence : how Islamic law held back the Middle East http://youtu.be/0ZqiUc4MtKU |
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3 |
The Golden Age of the Dutch Economy |
Seminar Theme: Antecedents of Globalisation |
De Vries, Jan, “The Limits of Globalization in the Early Modern World” The Economic History Review, Vol. 63, No. 3, pp. 710-733.
Ronald Findlay and Mats Lundahl, “The First Globalization Episode: The Creation of the Mongol Empire, or the Economics of Chinggis Khan” http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/mongol.pdf |
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4 |
Empire and Globalisation |
Seminar Theme: Why were Large Empires Formed?
Adas, Michael, 2009. “Reconsidering the macro-narrative in global history: John Darwin’s After Tamerlane and the case for comparison,” Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(01), pages 163-173, March. |
Ferguson, Niall. “The Truth About Empire.” Harvard International Review 28 (2007): 74-77. |
Turchin, Peter, 2009. “A theory for formation of large empires,” 4 Journal of Global History: 191-217. |
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5 |
The Enlightened Economy |
seminar theme: knowledge and the great divergence |
O’Brien, Patrick K. 2009. “The Needham Question Updated: A Historiographical Survey and Elaboration” History of Technology. Hoffman, Philip T. 2011. “Prices, the Military Revolution, and Western Europe’s Comparative Advantage in Violence”. The Economic History Review. 64, no. s1. |
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6 |
Free Trade |
seminar theme: early mncs
Ann M. Carlos and Stephen Nicholas, “Giants of an Earlier Capitalism”: The Chartered Trading Companies as Modern Multinationals The Business History Review Vol. 62, No. 3 (Autumn, 1988), pp. 398-419 Ann M. Carlos and Jamie Brown Kruse, “The Decline of the Royal African Company: Fringe Firms and the Role of the Charter” The Economic History Review New Series, Vol. 49, No. 2 (May, 1996), pp. 291-313 |
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7 |
When WASPs Swarmed |
seminar theme: the anglo settler revolution Cain, Peter J. 2010. “The Economics and Ideologies of Anglo-American Settlerism, 1780-1939.” Victorian Studies 53, no. 1: 100-107.
Podcast: Environmental histories of settlement in Canada and New Zealand http://www.eh-resources.org/podcast/podcast2008.html
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8 |
Tentacles of Progress |
seminar theme: technology and empire |
Headrick, Daniel R. 2008. “Communication and Empire: Media, Markets, and Globalization, 1860-1930.” Business History Review 82, no. 1: 138-141. |
Bailes, Howard. “Technology and Imperialism: a Case Study of the Victorian Army in Africa” Victorian Studies 24, no. 1 (September 1980): 82 |
“Technology – a Global History” David Edgerton http://www.history.ac.uk/podcasts/global-history/2010-03-03-david-edgerton |
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9 |
Culture and Empire |
seminar theme: globalisation of tradition |
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Misra, Maria, 2008. “Colonial officers and gentlemen: the British Empire and the globalization of tradition,” Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(02), pages 135-161, July. |
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10 |
Apogee of Empire |
seminar theme: finances of empire |
Frankema, Ewout, 2010. “Raising revenue in the British empire, 1870-1940: how extractive were colonial taxes?,” Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(03), pages 447-477, November. |
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11 |
Empire and the Environment |
seminar theme: empire and environment
Owen, Roger, 2006. “The rapid growth of Egypt 1914, as an early example of the green revolutions of modern South Asia: some implications for the writing of global history,” Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(01), pages 81-99, March. |
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Tvedt, Terje. “Hydrology and Empire: The Nile, Water Imperialism and the Partition of Africa” The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 39.2 (2011). Podcast: Biological invasions, culture and biodiversity in South Africa http://www.eh-resources.org/podcast/podcast2009.html |
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Winter Term
Week |
lecture |
Readings For Seminar |
1 |
Backlash to Globalisation |
the british empire: a waste of money? |
Avner Offer, The British Empire, 1870-1914: A Waste of Money? The Economic History Review New Series, Vol. 46, No. 2 (May, 1993), pp. 215-238 |
Niall Ferguson, “British Imperialism Revisited: The Costs and Benefits of Anglobalization”. |
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2 |
Migrations |
seminar theme: migration |
McKeown, Adam, 2010. “Chinese emigration in global context, 1850-1940,” Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(01), pages 95-124, March. Gozzini, Giovanni, 2006. “The global system of international migrations, 1900 and 2000: a comparative approach,” Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(03), pages 321-341, November. |
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3 |
The First World War and Deglobalisation |
seminar theme: impact of the first world war |
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Tomlinson, Jim. “The Deglobalisation of Dundee, c. 1900–2000” Journal of Scottish Historical Studies 29, no. 2 (November 2009): 123-140. |
Ferguson, Niall. “Sinking Globalization.” Foreign Affairs 84, no. 2 (March 2005): 64-77. |
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4 |
Restarting Globalisation |
seminar theme: post-1944 economic institutions
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Alacevich, Michele, 2011. “The World Bank and the politics of productivity: the debate on economic growth, poverty, and living standards in the 1950s,” Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(01), pages 53-74, March. |
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5 |
The Rise of Regional Trading Blocks |
seminar theme: regional trading blocs |
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Hopkins, A. G. “The Historiography of Globalization and the Globalization of Regionalism.” Journal of the Economic & Social History of the Orient 53, no. 1/2 (March 2010): 19-36. Duina, Francesco. “Varieties of Regional Integration: The EU, NAFTA and Mercosur.” Journal of European Integration 28, no. 3 (July 2006): 247-275; |
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6 |
The Box That Changed the World |
seminar theme: impact of containerisation |
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Levinson, Marc. “Container Shipping and the Decline of New York, 1955–1975.” Business History Review 80 (2006): 49-80. |
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7 |
Managing MNCs |
seminar theme: Americanisation |
Schroter, Harm G. 2008. “Economic culture and its transfer: an overview of the Americanisation of the European economy, 1900-2005.” European Review of History 15, no. 4: 331-344; |
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8 |
The Rise of Hollywood to Global Dominance |
seminar theme: varieties of capitalism
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Wilkins, Mira. 2010. “Multinational Enterprises and the Varieties of Capitalism.” In Business History Review, 638-645. President & Fellows of Harvard College, 2010. |
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Berghahn, V. R. “Varieties of Capitalism in the “American Century.” In Business History Review, 661-663. President & Fellows of Harvard College, 2010. |
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9 |
The Bond Rating Agencies |
seminar theme: population policy |
Connelly, Matthew, 2006. “To inherit the Earth. Imagining world population, from the yellow peril to the population bomb,” Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(03), pages 299-319, November.
Frey, Marc, 2011. “Neo-Malthusianism and development: shifting interpretations of a contested paradigm,” Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(01), pages 75-97, March. |
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10 |
The Politics of Oil |
seminar theme: oil companies |
Bucheli, Marcelo. 2008. “The Ecology of Oil: Environment, Labor, and the Mexican Revolution, 1900-1938.” Business History Review 82, no. 4: 878-880. |
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11 |
Neo-liberalism |
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12 |
Conclusion |
seminar theme: history as a guide to the future
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Module Aims The intended learning outcomes are that, on successful completion of this module, a student should be able to: 1. Demonstrate an awareness of the major events in the history of globalisation and the scholarly debate over when globalisation actually began. 2. Evaluate the political, economic, and technological foundations or causes of globalisation. A student should be able to discuss the debate among historians about what causes globalisation. 3. Discuss the impact of globalisation on diverse countries and on diverse economic groups with societies. 4. Become more familiar with research methods in History and be able to do a document analysis of a primary source. 5. Demonstrate a broad understanding of some theoretical debates in relation to globalisation. The aim of this module is to introduce students to a range of social, economic and political themes in the history of globalisation. The module looks at global historical change from 1800 to the present. The emphasis is one three different types of globalisation: the globalisation of goods, the globalisation of ideas/culture, and the global migrations of peoples. The module will also discuss the history of global governance. The module will also introduce students to the ongoing scholarly debates about the history of globalisation. This module requires students to go further than mastering concrete historical facts about globalization. It asks them to think historically about their own lived experiences. The students should be able to evaluate debates over globalization and take a position in those debates by marshalling historical evidence. Ultimately, this class is designed to enable each student to see the historical and global connectedness of his or her own life.
Assessment The intended learning outcomes will be assessed with: Coursework 1 (50% – 10 credits) will comprise a documentary analysis, or equivalent, of 1,000 words (15% – 3 credits) which will summatively assess intended learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5’ and Coursework 2 a 2,000-word essay, or equivalent (35% – 7 credits), which will summatively assess intended learning outcomes 1, 2, 3 and 5; a 2-hour unseen examination (50% – 10 credits) will summatively assess intended learning outcomes 1, 2 and 3. Re-assessment: Coursework component(s) and/or examination as appropriate. Please note that no coursework will be marked until an identical electronic copy has also been submitted into the module web for a plagiarism check. order to pass the module.
Coursework 1: Book Review Deadline: 4pm, Thursday, 27 October 2011. |
Rodrik, Dani. The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy. New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 2011. |
Book reviews will be approximately 1,000 words (roughly 3-4 pages) in length. Although the book review is not due until November, you should buy the book immediately, since it may take some time to come through the mail. A précis of a book merely provides a descriptive summary of the book’s contents. A proper book review, on the other hand, involves going beyond mere description and requires the input of one’s own reasoned opinions. An essential feature of a good book review is the reviewer’s ability to write concisely so that a comprehensive evaluation of the book can be obtained from a brief reading. So, do not write more, write more concisely. I shall penalize people who go over the set word limit. |
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A book review in a Level One Module should answer the following questions: -What is the book’s purpose? What is the author’s central thesis or argument?
-Does the author prove his or her thesis? What sorts of arguments does he or she use? -Who is the author? How might their personal or professional background have influenced this book in some way? -What sorts of sources did the author read in the course of researching and writing this book? HINT: Read the footnotes and the bibliography.
-How is the book organized? -Who would likely read such a book? |
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Coursework 2: Research Essay. 2,000-words. Deadline: 4pm, Thursday 16 February 2012. |
Your essay will be based on sources in the university library. A list of available topics is listed below. Your essay should be based on at least six scholarly sources. I shall elaborate on my expectation for the essay in lecture. |
1) How did the advent of telecommunications encourage the development of multilateral institutions of global governance? 2) What is the “gentlemanly capitalism thesis” and how does it advance our understanding of the British Empire’s role in global history? 3) How has neoliberalism changed the world since 1978? 4) How did people in Western Europe react to “Coca-colonization” after 1945? 5) How much progress has been made towards the creation of customs unions in Latin America? 6) How are the explanations for the Great Divergence provided by David Landes and Timur Kuran different from that offered by Ken Pomeranz? Which interpretation is most plausible? 7) Was the economic impact of British rule in India positive or negative? 8) What was the global ecological impact of the British Empire? 9) Why were Jeremy Bentham and J.A. Hobson opposed to British imperialism? How were their arguments similar? How were they different? 10) Europeans and Arabs used Africa as a source of slaves. What do the differences between the Atlantic and Arab slave trades say about the histories of globalisation and about the Great Divergence? |
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Sources for these essay topics can be found at the end of the module guide.