Summer 2009 Courses
A course listing by concentration can be found here.
You can open the course booklet as a pdf. You can also access previous course offerings in the course archive. You can view a summarized schedule here and a course calendar here.
Required Courses
This course continues the exploration of global flows and turns to the contemporary challenges of development, inequality and globalization. It too engages the core processes, concepts, assumptions and explores alternative perspectives and paradigms that define progress, and alternative theories that explain why some countries and people are faring better than others. At the heart of current debates are such questions as: How should progress be defined and measured? What has been the impact of trade liberalization on inequality? Is development about economic growth, modernization or expansion of human freedoms and human rights? Drawing on multidisciplinary traditions, the course covers: (i) development in historical perspective from the 18th through the 21st century; (ii) alternative paradigms and theories of development; (iii) select policy topics; (iv) empirical examination of country trajectories using quantitative indicators. The course aims to introduce conceptual tools to analyze the problems and engage with debates around policies by use of data, case studies, and history.
Economics in International Affairs (NINT 5109), or its equivalent, is a pre-requisite for taking this course.
The aim of the course is two-fold: first, to familiarize students with the basic methodologies, theories, and practices of the social sciences, and second, to help students develop the ability to frame research questions. In general the course introduces students to fundamental issues, concepts, and techniques of social science research. The course examines various instruments (e.g., models, narratives) used in the social sciences, provides basic instruction on selected research methods, and discusses the design and implementation of research. The course will particularly focus on underlying principles of analysis and critical thinking. It also explores popular debates surrounding concept formation. In this latter area the course introduces students to continuities and discontinuities between the natural and social sciences, providing guidance through deductive nomological and/or contextual or indigenous models of explanation, and fact-value distinctions and neutrality issues in the social sciences. Finally, this course explores rival methods and concepts in the social science (including quantitative, qualitative, comparative, case study methods, and the increasingly abundant use of narratives in research).
Elective Courses
Tuesday 8.00pm - 9.50pm and Thursday 8.00pm - 9.50pm
This course is designed to help international affairs students to intelligently handle the fundamental issues of today's complicated world. Placing a strong emphasis on the media and its culture, the course will introduce patterns of global and local cultural changes in the post-Cold-War world and the assertion of national, ethnic and cultural identities. The study of journalistic methods, interests and ethics from various countries will teach students to approach international affairs issues from a sociological and anthropological perspective. Assigned to follow current events in newspapers and on the Internet, students will discover how the media defines and controls the content of its reporting, which in turn affects what people learn about their own lives as well as other places.
This course is the foundation class for the Media and Culture concentration.
The purpose of this course is to build familiarity with the core theory and empirical findings on the economic processes that underpin the development process. The course will cover theory and empirical literature on: (i) economics of growth; (ii) structural transformation; (iii) distribution and poverty; (iv) macroeconomic issues including trade, finance and globalisation; (v) demography and population growth; (vi) education and health; (v) sustainability and environment; (vi) ethical foundations. For each topic the course explores theoretical approaches, both mainstream and heterodox, along with their associated policy implications. In addition, the course will introduce basic empirical tools in order to apply the concepts to contemporary development issues.
Prerequisite: Economics in International Affairs I or the equivalent.
This course is the foundation class for the Development concentration.
Section A: Buenos Aires / Alberto Minujin
Section B: Hong Kong / Everita Silina
Section C: Senegal / Alia Nankoe
Section D: Rio de Janeiro / Peter Lucas
Section E: Ethiopia / Mark Johnson
Section F: IRC / Mark Johnson
Section G: Guatemala / Fabiola Berdiel
Section H: Kunming / Adriana Abdenur
Section I: Nepal / Ashok Gurung
Internship
*** Approval of advisor required before registering.
Students in good standing who have completed their first semester may register for up to three (3) credits through an approved internship. To qualify for credit, a student must work a minimum of 150 hours (10 hours/week during the regular semester or 20 hours per week during the summer session). Students may undertake non-for-credit internships at any time.
Students who wish to register for credit-bearing internships should take the following steps. First, identify the organization, secure the internship, and obtain written confirmation of the internship. Second, choose a faculty advisor and write a proposal that includes: a) the name and contact information for the organization; b) the name and contact information for an on-site supervisor; c) the period of the internship, including number of hours; d) the proposed tasks the intern will undertake; and e) the nature of a written report the student will submit to the faculty supervisor at the completion of the internship.
Third, submit the proposal to the advisor and the Program Director. Applications must be submitted with enough time for full evaluation prior to registration, no later than two weeks prior to the start of the registration period.
Upon approval by the Program, the students registers following the standard procedure using the internship course number. An additional signed Internship Approval Form is required by the Registration office and is available at the GPIA office. During the internship, students meet at least once with their faculty advisor to discuss progress. Upon successful completion of the internship, faculty advisors assign grades of P (pass) or F (fail), based jointly on the the written reports of the student and written evaluations of the student's performance made by the the internship supervisor.
Independent Study
After their first semester all students in good academic standing may register during pre-registration for one independent study. The student must start with a problem or specific area of interest to investigate in detail, and then design a project with the approval of an interested faculty member who serves as the course advisor. Permission of both the project course advisor and the Director is required before a student can register for independent study.
NOTE: Independent study can only be registered for during pre-registration. All students planning to register for independent study must submit an application in the form of a proposal that contains:
1. the specific subject or problem to be investigated
2. the proposed method for investigating the topic
3. a preliminary bibliography.
These materials must be submitted to and approved by the course advisor and the Program Director prior to registration. Applications must be submitted with enough time for full evaluation no later than two weeks prior to the start of the term registration period. Upon approval, the student registers following the standard procedure using the independent study course number provided by the program. Upon successful completion of the independent study project, the project supervisor assigns a letter grade.
Advanced Registration Option
Matriculated graduate students registered for fewer than the minimum number of credits necessary for full- or part-time status but who are engaged in approved "equivalent activities" may register for equivalency credit in order to maintain full or part-time status. This is intended for students who are completing their Master's Projects or for rare equivalency activities that are an integral part of the student's program and must be verified by an appropriate advisor or faculty member. Approval is not automatic.
Registration for equivalency credit takes place during the registration period. Students must obtain their advisor's and Director's approval. Full-time status for New School graduate students is defined as enrollment for nine degree credits per semester. Half-time status requires a minimum of six degree credits per semester. Some financial aid agencies and programs require that students register for twelve credits per academic semester; please check with Financial Aid. Also, international students with certain types of visas are required to register for full-time status (nine graduate credits per academic semester for graduate students). Please check with International Student Services.