GLOBALIZATION AND POLITICS (21714)

0. Dades de l'assignatura / Course details

Assignatura: Política i Globalització / Globalization and Politics

Codi de l'assignatura: 21714

Estudis: Grau en Ciències Polítiques i de l'Administració

Nombre de Crèdits: 4 crèdits ECTS (100 hores de dedicació)

Curs Acadèmic: 2013-2014

Trimestre: 3er

Llengua de Docència: Anglès

Professor: Abel Escribà i Folch

0. Presentació de l'assignatura / Outline of the course

Globalization is generally understood as the reduction in the barriers to and the intensification of the exchange of economic, political, and cultural relations across world countries. However, the term still generates confusion and there are diverging ideas about its content. Further, the consequences and implications of globalization are pervasive not only in media discussions but also in policy debates and academic research.

In this course, the different aspects and dimensions of globalization (economic and political) will be presented, analyzed and discussed. In particular, the course is aimed at providing the students with the conceptual and analytical tools necessary to comprehend the different 'faces' that globalization has and how they affect domestic politics and decisions.

In particular, the course will explore and expand the understating of the four main dimensions of globalization. First, we will deal with the most known dimension of globalization, the economic one, and discuss the domestic economic and political implications and consequences of trade and financial liberalization. We will also discuss the attempts to globalize development and reduce property by critically analyzing the main instrument used to do so, foreign aid. Second, we will turn to explore the political side of globalization paying attention to the diffusion and promotion of democracy around the globe and to the impact of globalization on conflict. The third part of the course will look at the expansion of the human rights regime, the globalization of justice and its potential political consequences. Finally, the last section will analyze the extension of the human rights system and the creation of the ICC, and will discuss the potential practical consequences on human rights violations and other governments' domestic responses.

0. Competències a assolir / Competences

Competències generals:	Competències específiques:
G1: Capacitat d'anàlisi i de síntesi G3: Comunicació oral i escrita G4: Coneixement d'un segona llengua G9: Capacitat de crítica i autocrítica G10: Treball en equip	E4: Reconèixer els fonaments de la política comparada E9: Reconèixer la dimensió històrica dels processos polítics i socials E15: Reconèixer la política internacional
Capacity for analysis and synthesis Oral and written communication skills Knowledge of a second language Capacity for critical thinking and self-criticism Teamwork	To get familiarized with the fundamentals of comparative politics Comprehending the historical dimension of political and social processes Understand international politics

0. Continguts / Contents

Bloc de Contingut 1: Understanding Globalization

•- The concept of 'globalization'

•- Is globalization new? Historical perspectives and evolution

•- The dimensions of globalization

Bloc de Contingut 2: The Globalization of Trade

•- The economic theory of trade integration

•- The distributional consequences of trade: inequality and power

•- The political consequences of trade: efficiency vs. compensation

•- Trade and development strategies: import substitution vs. export promotion

Bloc de Contingut 3: The Globalization of Financial Flows

•- The logic of financial globalization: motives for liberalizing

•- Exchange-rate policies: political and economic dimensions

•- The domestic economic consequences of financial integration and exchange-rate systems

•- Eroding State-capacity? Financial globalization and domestic policy: The Policy Trilemma

Bloc de Contingut 4: The Globalization of Development

•- World development patterns: divergence and convergence

•- The political economy of aid: the donors. Who gives aid and why?

•- The political economy of aid: the recipients. Africa's aid dependency and its political consequences

Bloc de Contingut 5: The Globalization of Politics and Democracy

•- The diffusion and promotion of democracy

•- The instruments of international pressure: conditional aid, sanctions, shaming campaigns, and military intervention

•- The effectiveness of hard politics: can third-countries destabilize dictatorships?

Bloc de Contingut 6: The Globalization of Human Rights and Justice

•- The international human rights regime

•- Economic globalization and human rights

•- Globalizing justice? The International Criminal Court

•- The political consequences of globalizing justice: more justice or more brutal and longer-lasting dictators?

Bloc de Contingut 7: The Globalization of Peace (or War)

•- The UN and peacekeeping operations

•- The links between economic globalization and conflict: the mechanisms

•- The impact of integration on the occurrence of civil war. Global warming and war

•- Trade and interstate wars: does globalization foster peace?

0. Seminaris / Seminars

Besides the lectures, this course includes three seminar sessions as well. In them, the students are expected to discuss, debate, and analyze some implication, case study or controversy concerning some of the topics analyzed in class.

In particular, the seminar sessions will take the form of debates and simulation exercises or, to put it differently, role games. Accordingly, students will be assigned different roles in the context of simulated international meetings and debates. Then, using the readings assigned, data and other resources to be gathered and analyzed by the students in advance, the students, organized in groups, will have to argue and defend the interests of the country/region/organization assigned and try to reach agreements (or not) with the other parts. Reading will be made available to the students.

There will be three seminars, which will deal with the following topics:

•A. Seminar 1: "Economic globalization, State Sovereignty, and the Welfare State"

In this first seminar, students will debate whether economic globalization reduces State capacity or not, and whether this is good or not. A group of students will thus defend a globaphobic view, while another will defend globaphilic one. The parts will have to discuss the potential effects of trade and capital globalization on State policies. Do they limit State capacity and autonomy? What can the State do? If so, is it necessarily bad? Is globalization undermining the welfare state? Is international capital ruling domestic economies?

•B. Seminar 2: "The distribution of foreign aid to the poorest countries"

In this seminar will simulate a meeting in the World Bank in which the parts will evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of foreign aid and, in case of giving it, discuss if it should be conditional on some (political or economic) reforms. Does aid promote development and reduce poverty? Is aid helping authoritarian governments retain power? Should rich countries give aid? If yes, what type of aid and how should it be distributed?

•C. Seminar 3: "Sanctions and military intervention against a repressive State"

In this seminar we will simulate a meeting of the UN Security Council aimed at discussing a potential military intervention and the adoption of sanctions against one repressive dictatorship (Iran or Syria, for example). Students will thus discuss the strategies to put pressure and even coerce dictatorships and their potential impact. Can democracies coerce dictatorships and help protecting human rights? Are military pro-democratic and humanitarian interventions legal and/or legitimate? Do they help target States? Do they really promote democracy or help peace-building? Are economic sanctions effective in making regimes concede?

0. Avaluació / Evaluation

Students' grade will be based on two basic assignments:

The first one is based on the seminar sessions which account for 45% of the final grade. This grade will be based on the students' active participation in the discussions held during the seminar and on a short paper/essay. In this essay, students are expected to explain, discuss and justify the position and arguments they are supposed to defend in the open discussions.

Secondly, there will be a final exam. The exam accounts for the other 55% of the final grade. In this the students will be asked to write some short and one (longer) essay response to a series of questions covering the topics of the course.

Those failing the seminar part of the course will be required to hand a review essay in July. Those who fail the exam will be required to take another exam in July. Only those who have attended and handed the assignments of two of the seminars and have taken the exam will be able to retest to pass the course in July.

0. Meotodologia/ Methodology

This course combines lectures with seminars. During the lectures the professor will present and discuss the topics to be developed, but also participation will be encouraged through questions open discussions. In the seminars, the students will have open debates using the materials and the essays compiled and prepared in advance in order to defend their positions.

0. Bibliografia i recursos didactics / Bibliography and other resources

•- Basic books:

Campbell, Patricia J., Aran McKinnon, and Christy R: Stevens. 2010. An Introduction to Global Studies. Wiley-Blackwell.

Ritzer, George. 2010. Globalization: A Basic Text. Wiley-Blackwell.

David Held, Anthony McGrew; David Goldblatt y Jonathan Perraton. 1999. Global Transformations. Politics, Economics and Culture. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Lechner, Franck J. and John Boli (eds.). 2003. The Globalization Reader. Boston: Blackwell.

Oatley, T. 2006. International Political Economy: Interests and Institutions in the Global Economy. New York: Pearson-Longman. [I recommend the 2012 5^th edition]

Frieden, J. 2006. Global Capitalism. Its Rise and Fall in the Twentieth Century. New York: WW Norton.

Frieden, J. A. and D. A. Lake. 2000. International Political Economy: Perspectives on Global Wealth and Power. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Krugman, Paul R., Maurice Obstfeld and Marc J. Melitz. 2012. International Economics: Theory and Policy. Pearson.

•- Further recommendations:

Stiglitz, Joseph. 2002. Globalization and Its Discontents. New York: Norton.

Rodrik, Dani. 1997. Has Globalization Gone Too Far?. Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics.

Rodrik, Dani. 2011. The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy. New York: W.W. Norton.

Easterly, William. 2001. The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Easterly, William. 2006. The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good. New York: Penguin Press.

Collier, Paul. 2007. The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It. Oxford University Press.

Carothers, Thomas. 1999. Aiding Democracy Abroad: The Learning Curve. Washington D.C.: The Brookings Instition Press.

Carey, Sabine C., Mark Gibney, and Steven C. Poe. 2010. The Politics of Human Rights: The Quest for Dignity. Cambridge University Press.

•- Data and other resources:

World Bank: World Development Indicators (WDI) and poverty data:

http://databank.worldbank.org/ddp/home.do?Step=12&id=4&CNO=2

http://povertydata.worldbank.org/poverty/home

IMF data:

http://www.imf.org/external/data.htm

OECD statistics:

http://stats.oecd.org/

WTO trade and tariffs statistics:

http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/statis_e.htm

Data on financial openness (Chinn & Ito Index)

http://web.pdx.edu/~ito/Chinn-Ito_website.htm

http://web.pdx.edu/~ito/trilemma_indexes.htm

Economic sanctions episodes:

http://www.piie.com/research/topics/sanctions/sanctions-timeline.cfm

Foreign aid statistics:

OECD: http://www.oecd.org/document/49/0,3746,en_2649_34447_46582641_1_1_1_1,00.html

World Bank's WDI:

http://databank.worldbank.org/ddp/home.do?Step=12&id=4&CNO=2

UN peace operations:

http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/

Uppsala Conflict Data Program

http://www.pcr.uu.se/research/UCDP/

CIRI Human Rights data project

http://ciri.binghamton.edu/

News and other information:

The Economist: http://www.economist.com/

Global Research: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=home

Mapping Globalization: https://qed.princeton.edu/index.php/MG

Yale Center for the Study of Globalization: http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/

0. Programació d'activitats / Weekly schedule

Week	In-class activities	Out-of-class activities	In class hours	Out-of-class hours
Week 1	Lecture	Read assigned texts, prepare seminars	3	6
Week 2	Lecture	Read assigned texts, prepare seminars	3	6
Week 3	Lecture	Read assigned texts, prepare seminars	3	6
Week 4	Seminar 1	Read assigned texts, prepare seminars	3	6
Week 5	Lecture	Read assigned texts, prepare seminars	3	6
Week 6	Seminar 2	Read assigned texts, prepare seminars	3	6
Week 7	Lecture	Read assigned texts, prepare seminars	3	6
Week 8	Lecture	Read assigned texts, prepare seminars	3	6
Week 9	Seminar 3	Read assigned texts, prepare seminars	3	6
Week 10	Lecture	Read assigned texts, prepare seminars	3	6
Hours			30	60
Study hours for final exam				10
Total hours			100