The world is undergoing unprecedented flux and transformation. Some argue we are in the midst of a passage to a qualitatively different world. How do we understand this, historically and in the present? What is the future of the nation-state in the face of the hypermobility of capital, the re-emergence of nationalism, the increasing disparity and similarity between the "first" and "third" worlds, and the United States' attempts to assert global military dominance? Is the public sphere disappearing in the face of privatization and neoliberal policy? These are big questions; every person on earth has a stake in the answers.

In the fall quarter, we will focus on a study of the evolution of historical capitalism and the international political economy to understand the process by which over the past 500 years Europeans (and later Euro-Americans) created capitalism and the nation-state, rewrote the world map through colonialism and imperialism, established the rules of the international system, and initiated the process by which the rest of the world generally became poor and powerless.

In the winter quarter, we will focus on the present and assess the rapidly changing global political economy and recent geostrategic developments. We will explore the relationship between transnational corporations and multilateral institutions, investigate the neoliberal agenda as expressed through public policies in the first world and structural adjustment programs in the third world, and explore changing structures of power through an examination of state-market and regional trading-bloc relationships. We will look directly at the rise of revolutionary (often religious) nationalism, strategies for de-linking from the capitalist world-system, and the nature of global social movements and change. Students will write frequently, engage in a major research project and analyze world developments through the daily New York Times and one foreign newspaper.