Spring 2010 Courses
A course listing by concentration can be found here.
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.
This course engages the core assumptions, systems, and logics that give rise to the global and provides a historically and theoretically informed basis for the further study and practice of international affairs. The terms "global" and "globalization" are relative linguistic newcomers for signifying interrelated processes that span cultures and scales. Though all movement of peoples from the earliest times can be construed as having a global effect in the most literal sense, and empires have spanned distances and brought peoples into contact, the most common referent of the term globalization concerns late 20th and early 21st century socio-economic processes. Our task in this class is to explore the key trajectories of state and market formation from which our present era has emerged, replete with paradoxes and promises. We trace how the global today unfolds from the legacies of colonialism, the nation-state system, and capitalism and manifests itself in our changing relation to space and time. These legacies are our ineluctable inheritance, our daily reality, and the material we must work with and confront, especially for students and practitioners of international affairs.
Note: PDPM is the first of two courses that make up the Practice Option. PDPM is a prerequisite to the course Practicum in International Affairs/PIA (NINT 5166).
PDPM provides students with the opportunity to gain a systematic and comprehensive understanding of the key concepts and skills essential to effective program development and project management in international affairs. It will focus on skills that practitioners need to be effective in a range of professional contexts and will provide a forum for exploring the trends, tensions, ethical dilemmas, and opportunities facing practitioners in the field of international affairs.
By examining key aspects of a project-cycle and case studies from a wide range of fields, students will learn the techniques and tools used in formulating and managing projects and programs for desired impact. At the end of the course, students will have developed skills in the following areas of program development and project management - strategic design, needs assessment, implementation, proposal and report writing, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation, advocacy and dissemination. At the same time, the course will also give students the opportunity to develop insights into what it takes to be a "reflective practitioner" in an increasingly diverse global context.
Section B with Alia Nankoe serves as a pre-prequisite for the 2010 International Field Programs in Guatemala and Ethiopia; please see the IFP coordinator. This course is also open to non-IFP students.
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).
This course aims to introduce students to basic economic concepts necessary to analyse the workings of the economy and address some of the pressing development issues of today. It covers: (i) the economy -- its scope, its measurement, its institutional structures, its governance, and its evolution in a national and international context; (ii) markets and market failure - the functioning of markets and where markets either fail or do not exist; (iii) competing theories and paradigms - the determinants of economic activity, international trade and growth, and how these have informed modern policy debates at home and abroad. Throughout the course, we will address the various specific challenges that national governments and international organizations face at every turn, and evaluate the arguments and methods by which they have proposed to resolve them.
Economics in International Affairs is required for all students; students may be exempted on demonstration of prior coursework.
This course is required for students who have chosen to write a masters thesis as a final project. The thesis is more than a paper-it is a major independent project that requires the best application of your analytical, writing, and research skills. The successful completion of a thesis signals that you have mastered the art of scholarly research, can synthesize complex information, can write clearly and creatively, and can convince others of the power of your ideas through argument and not polemic. This course will help you write a thesis proposal and design your thesis. The course is heavily interactive - we will work primarily with materials provided by you, the students. Using secondary texts and your own work we will cover issues such as formulating a research problem, defining your concepts, situating yourself in the literature, finding, using and presenting data, and the writing process. If you follow the course carefully, by the end of the semester you should be in very good shape to write and complete your thesis. This course is the prerequisite for registering for Thesis Supervision.
Note: PIA is the second of two courses in the Practice Option. To be eligible to register for PIA, students must have completed Program Development and Project Management/PDPM (NINT 5004). In addition, PIA must be taken in the final semester of the program.
The Practicum in International Affairs (PIA) is a capstone course for students who have chosen the practice option that provides students with the opportunity to apply what they have learned from their course work, internships, summer programs, and past experience to consulting assignments with a wide range of organizations, as clients, in international affairs. Organized into teams of 4-6 people, as young professionals, students will work on discrete assignments of several months duration for client organizations from the not-for-profit, public and private sector, and multilateral agencies (e.g. UN).
PIA will be a faculty-supervised and client-driven learning process. To the extent possible, PIA will simulate the professional context, including its emphasis on deadlines and professional standards for work products, as well as the imperative to make decisions and recommendations based on imperfect information. It will recognize the importance of working closely with teammates and being responsive to clients in achieving the desired objectives of their assignments.
This course satisfies the GPIA Research Methods requirement.
This course covers basic statistical methods and how to apply them to policy analysis and management decision-making. Students develop an appreciation for statistics, become statistically literate, learn to use statistical techniques properly, gain confidence using SPSS software, and acquire the skills necessary to look at statistical analyses critically.
Elective Courses
During the last decade, progress in biotechnology has created a confidence and optimism in Western healthcare. However, most of these breakthroughs have done little to save the lives of 75% of the world's population who continue to die of treatable infectious diseases. Despite new treatments, vaccines, and genomic information about pathogens and their hosts, the access gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" grows wider each day. This course reviews the interplay between infectious diseases, culture, social and economic development, human rights, technology, and conflict using four infectious diseases that have escaped our efforts of elimination: cholera, AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. Other pathogens such as those associated with SARs and cervical cancer will be reviewed briefly and serve as representatives of new diseases to come. Students will learn the science and technology of disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment on a "need to know" basis and connect this knowledge to the regulation and protection of indigenous medical knowledge and resources, the development of synthetic antimicrobials, the move toward more appropriate prevention strategies, and the need for the an essential drugs campaign to prevent epidemics caused by multi-drug resistant pathogens. The readings will be span two major areas of research; determinants of health (biological and social) and responses to health problems (local and international). Because this field is fast-paced, readings and resources will be available on Bb and updated throughout the course.
This course will survey the field of International Relations (IR) through its key theoretical debates, from classical to contemporary times. We will cover how different theorists conceptualize the "international" as well as the "relational" in what constitutes our world politics today. Students should leave the course with a better understanding of why certain camps in IR think and act the way they do, as well as their own location within the discipline.
Children represent more than one third of the world¹s total population and nearly half of the population in the least developed countries (LDC). To protect them, in 1924, the League of Nations adopted the 'Declaration of the Rights of the Child' and in 1989 the 'Convention on the Rights of the Child' (CRC). The CRC has nearly universal ratification. Together with its Optional Protocols, the Convention ensures the rights of children¹s survival, development and protection. Governments, leaders and international
organizations are committed to these objectives. However, today ³Millions of children make their way through life impoverished, abandoned, uneducated, malnourished, discriminated against, neglected and vulnerable. For them, life is a daily struggle to survive² (UNICEF 2005). In the developing world most of the poor are children and most of the children are poor. They are massive victims of war, social and family violence. They are orphaned by HIV/AIDS, sexually exploited and raped. They do not have any way of protecting and exerting their basic rights. They are left uneducated, hungry and living in the streets. They are made to work, often in hazardous conditions, with no access to sanitation or health services. How can democracy and peace expand under these circumstances? What are the problems of development? What are the main relevant policies and programs that are currently being implemented and how effective are they? Are poverty reduction programs addressing children's needs? What are the possibilities and alternatives to implement the CRC and improve significantly children¹s situation?
The objective of the course is to analyze and discuss different programmatic approaches that are presently being implemented around the world. Human Rights and the Convention will be discussed and used as a paradigm and benchmark for analyzing programs. The present development agenda and trends will be debated in light of children¹s situation and the human rights-based
approach. Some UNICEF senior experts will provide their experience and vision as guest speakers in the course. The course will be a combination of lectures, debates and student-led presentations on 'child programs' case studies. Active participation and debate will be promoted. Students enrolled in this class will derive practical learning on children¹s issues, poverty and globalization, as well as on policies and programs to deal with these issues. This knowledge can be applied in their future work and careers in the public, nonprofit, or private sector.
This course will examine the propaganda symbolism of American ideology in the pre-post and Cold War periods. We will consider ways in which the patriotic American ideology, Americanism, have been represented in various media forms
Are we secure yet? Or does our increasing investment in security discourses result from a gnawing and growing sense of insecurity? Lives and livelihoods, elections, economies, industries, institutions and international relations revolve around issues of security. The concept is dramatic enough to warrant the use of military force and declare states of emergency, and malleable enough for political rhetoric and fashion marketing. This course will critically explore the concept of security as a central organizing principle of the modern social order and its contemporary trajectory.
This course concerns critical thinking about security-the active analysis, synthesis, and application of information in ways that interrogate and elucidate established ideas. This is not a course on security policy or threats per se, but about understanding security as a dynamic organizing category with (very) real world effects. Topics include the fundamental interrelation between security and social order, including classic political, sociological and psychological approaches that conceive of security as the underlying logic of modern society and the contemporary international system, critical assessments of conventional security frameworks, and current trajectories of security, such as technologies of control and surveillance, networked organizational forms, privatization and commodification, and the shifting nature of emergencies and intervention.
This course serves as a pre-prequisite for the 2010 International Field Program in Kosovo; please see the IFP coordinator. This course is also open to non-IFP students as an elective.
This course is the foundation class for the Conflict and Security concentration.
This course will introduce students to the fundamental principles of international law. We will examine the history of the contemporary international legal order, before examining the sources of international law, sovereignty and statehood, the United Nations collective security framework, and the law regulating the use of force and self-defence. In the process, we will consider such questions as, what kind of law is international law and what can we expect from it? How is the international legal order changing and what is the impact of emerging forms of complex governance on the system of international law? What is the relationship between international law and hegemony?
This seminar explores the structures, actors and processes of global governance through a focus on international organizations. The first part of the course introduces key debates in global governance and examines the origin and development of international organizations. The second part of the course investigates different theoretical and analytical approaches to studying global governance and international organizations - including rationalist, sociological, domestic and critical approaches - and the ways they give rise to different puzzles and research strategies. The third part of the course applies these theoretical perspectives to the study of the role of international organizations in areas related to global security and global political economy. We examine relevant international organizations (including the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, the World Trade Organization, and the IMF/World Bank), their strength vis-à-vis different actors (including states and non-governmental organizations), and different processes and outcomes in different issue areas. The final part of the course examines emerging issues of global governance, including the rise of private authority, the role of global civil society, the European Union as a "model" for global governance, and the role of the United States and international organizations. By the end of the course participants should gain a deeper analytical understanding of recent theoretical and empirical developments in the field of global governance and international organizations.
This course serves as a pre-prequisite for the 2010 International Field Program in Hong Kong; please see the IFP coordinator. This course is also open to non-IFP students as an elective.
This course is the foundation class for the Governance and Rights concentration.
We will immerse ourselves in "development" issues being debated in contemporary Latin America itself. How are we to understand the last three decades spanning right-wing coups and dictatorships, U.S. interventions, democratic resurgence, neo-liberalism, globalism, the new populism, the new resource nationalism, and etc.? As capitalist relations have alternately stagnated and expanded through booms and crises, in sync with specific political trends, what of this development trajectory is attributable to Latin-America's objective, material-economic "nature" and what to its historical ideological-political "nurture"? What has indigenous origins/responsibility and what has foreign origins/responsibility?
How will glaring class, national/racial and gender inequalities be reduced, and the scientific-technical and productive capacity of societies raised to developed-world levels? Is this possible under purely capitalist free markets, under capitalism tempered by social-democratic controls, or is "21st century socialism" or another socialist direction necessary?
This course examines the intersection between art and world politics. We all know that art has been a crucial instrument of politics. This ranges from Beijing
In this graduate course, students will study the international human rights movement with an emphasis on the crucial role that media plays in representing and responding to critical human rights issues. In the last decade, the convergence of new media technologies with the human rights movement has had a profound impact. This transformation has enabled the globalization process of human rights activism through the rapid distribution of web-based news, research, and visual representation. Digitalization has also crossed over with traditional media (television, print, film, photography, and radio) enhancing both the production and the distribution of human rights reports. The emerging interactivity between producers and consumers of human rights information is also changing as people once considered as objects of human rights reports are becoming subjects who are now creating, manipulating, and challenging dominant paradigms of media representation. This growing diversity has had serious social and cultural implications on how human rights information is received, engaged, and transformed.
The contemporary mediascape of human rights has now become a sub-field of the larger movement involving researchers, educators, journalists, film makers, photographers, writers, visual artists, web designers, and many other types of media workers. This course will study human rights through the lens of the media in order to critically understand the changing nature of human rights representation and how to better prepare for becoming involved in representing human rights.
This course serves as a pre-prequisite for the 2010 International Field Program in Rio de Janeiro; please see the IFP coordinator. This course is also open to non-IFP students as an elective.
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 interconnections between conflict, development and peace are many and profound. One only needs to examine the current global context characterized by high levels of violent protracted conflict and inexcusable and rising levels of poverty and inequality - two phenomena that are often found together and that intermingle in complex ways. For many countries and regions in conflict and transition from war to peace in the Global South, the role of economics and development cannot be separated from understanding the causes of conflict and forms of peacebuilding that will endure. Where peace and conflict resolution efforts fail to address economic and social development issues - so often the roots of conflict - the result is the building of straw houses rather than the strong institutional foundations rooted in the human development needs of people, which are necessary for securing a lasting peace. From the other end of the spectrum, development policies and programs at all levels have historically generated
This course introduces the core literature of development economics. It centers around theories that explain the sources, process and consequences of economic growth that are particularly relevant to policy choices. The course covers: (i) theories of growth; (ii) inequality and poverty including gender dimensions; (iv) education, health and demographic transition; (v) macroeconomic policy management; (v) international economics including trade and investment; (vi) sustainability; (vii) ethical foundations. For each topic the course explores theoretical approaches, both mainstream and heterodox, along with their associated policy implications. The overall aim is to use the theories and empirical evidence for analysis of contemporary policy issues.
Development Economics and Comparative Development Experience (CDE) complement one another; CDE focuses on contemporary issues and is multidisciplinary while this course focuses on economics.
Prerequisite: Economics in International Affairs or the equivalent. This course may be taken simultaneously with or following CDE.This course is the foundation class for the Development concentration.
The goal of this course is to understand the unique position of the US within the global economy. Our working hypothesis will be the following: more than ever before, a condition of economic interdependence links the US to the rest of the world
Environmental degradation, abuses of labor, indigenous, and other human rights, and promotion of corruption are common vices attributed to global corporations operating in the developing world by their critics. Are such practices best combated and regulated through pressure tactics, certification and ethical consumerism, or other types of strategies? What roles do cross-border civil society activists, host and home country governments, and international organizations play in such regulatory efforts? How are we to assess efforts at promoting self-regulation of corporate behavior through voluntary codes of conduct and movements for "corporate social responsibility"?
This course will examine campaigns against corporate abuses in the global South in diverse issue settings and geographical contexts over recent decades. They will include banana plantations, garment sweatshops, and mining, and touch on regions such as Central America, East/Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Among the international regulatory instruments and bodies we will consider are the United Nations Global Compact, International Labor Organization, Fair Labor Association, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Kimberley Process (for conflict diamonds), and WHO International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes.
The course will be run as a discussion-oriented seminar, and students will be asked to write a final research paper as well as critical reviews of readings.
This course will give students the opportunity of analyzing and discussing the new and controversial political, economic and social situation in the region with focus on social programs and human rights circumstances. In the last few years, Latin America has gained an interesting momentum against the Washington Consensus. A growing group of countries, at least rhetorically, opposes the neo-liberal policies instituted during the 1990s and, instead, tries to implement policies favoring of social justice. There is a lively and expanding debate, with quite different points of view, regarding the seriousness, commitment, sustainability and implications of these policy changes. Latin America has had some of the highest social disparity indicators of the world. Many of these indicators have worsened during the 1990s. Somewhat paradoxically, Latin America also has a long history in implementing social policies. The objective of the course will be to analyze and discuss the social situation in Latin America and the orientation of social programs that are implemented at present as
Should societies confront the legacies of past human rights abuse or atrocity? If so, how? What policy options are open to successor regimes during a post-transition or post-conflict period? How do these policy options relate to broader goals, such as peace, stability, or democracy? This course seeks to answer these questions. The course begins with an exploration of why, or even if, societies should confront past human rights abuse and atrocity. Drawing on film and literature, as well as accounts by victims and arguments by victim movements, the course examines arguments about justice and democracy-building that have been advanced to support the field of transitional justice. The course then examines the main strategies that have emerged for an engagement with the past. These include: (1) prosecuting the offenders, from Germany's Adolf Eichmann, to Chile's General Pinochet, to Iraq's Saddam Hussein, including through international tribunals or "hybrid" (mixed) tribunals such as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia; (2) developing truth commissions (such as in Chile, South Africa, Peru, and Sierra Leone), or other (e.g. non-official) forms of truth-telling; (3) establishing reparations programs (including the possibility of reparations for slavery in the USA); (4) launching of larger-scale institutional reforms (such as police reform or security sector reform in countries such as Northern Ireland, East Germany, and Iraq); and (5) the building of memorials and recapturing public spaces to create social dialogue (in Argentina, Cambodia, East Timor). The theme of "reconciliation" will also be discussed throughout the course.
What is the meaning of security on an increasingly crowded planet, with humanity confronting unprecedented environmental and resource challenges? Traditional definitions and concepts increasingly fail to capture or explain the complex problems of the 21st century. With the help of specific examples and cases, this course will explore the connections between environment, resources, security, conflict, and peacemaking-factors that are heavily mediated by social and economic factors including poverty and inequality. The literature has widened beyond traditional national security precepts to include notions of global security as well as security within nations. Terms like "human security" and "environmental security" have become shorthand for a range of non-traditional security concerns-including incidents of violent conflict as well as broader issues of human safety, livelihoods, and wellbeing. Among other aspects, the course will focus on the following dimensions: 1) the impact of environmental degradation and depletion on conflict formation; 2) conflicts arising out of a context of contested resource wealth; 3) environmental impacts of armed conflicts and the war system; 4) opportunities for "environmental peacemaking" among different communities and countries based on a recognition of shared interests and vulnerabilities. The aim is to familiarize students with relevant issues and connections, and to enhance their ability to think in interdisciplinary ways.
This course is open for registration only to students who require it as a pre-requisite for the 2010 International Field Programs in Buenos Aires or Uganda.
The first meeting of this course will be Janurary 26th, 2010.
This course focuses on the assessment of the development impact of public policies and international assistance affecting slums, education, and micro-credit in developing countries. The course is intended to prepare students for the International Field Programs in which they will be working on programs and projects intended to improve living conditions in slums, strengthen educational programs, and/or assess the provision of micro-credit. These analytic tasks will be the core of student field work in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, and Mumbai during the summer of 2009. The course will therefore introduce students to some of the policy and analytic issues involved in these sectors as well as some of the relevant comparative analytic data and country experience. While the course will be required for students participating in these programs, students not intending to participate in these IFPs are also permitted to take the course. Students will be expected to develop research papers on the cities in which they will be working in 2009 as part of their preparatory process.
This course will offer students the opportunity to gain an understanding of key concepts and skills essential to become global consultants for small business enterprises, focusing on social innovation, empowerment, and community development through design. The course will prepare students to work with marginalized populations (women, indigenous groups, rural communities) by developing sustainable livelihood models through needs-based capacity building, product and project design and development, and by establishing networks of collaboration.
Students will examine and practice skills in the areas of sustainable development, social entrepreneurship, microcredit and microfinance, design of products as well as of community development models, business, marketing, media (as representation, communication, and intervention), and workshop facilitation in informal settings. We will also look at case studies exploring the possibilities of using market-based approaches involving innovative design and media as tools for development.
This unique, interdisciplinary course will bring together students from the Graduate Program in International Affairs, Milano The New School for Management, and Parsons The New School for Design under the premise that there is not a single expert but different knowledges that complement each other and can be exchanged through collaborations.
This course examines mnemonic practices on wars and conflicts. Conflicts - whether inter-state or civil wars - produce a wealth of memories that can be exalted and ritualized, but also ignored and repressed. The shape of these memories depends on the work of competing actors who are engaged in making sense of individual and collective responsibility for death and destruction. More often than not, these actors are also engaged in writing narratives for the nation states emerging from conflict; they try to impose a story line - theirs - as hegemonic, which becomes history. In the process, they sideline or erase other memories.
The use of hegemonic memories and narratives, but also their contestation, contributes in turn to shape further conflicts, justified in terms of competing claims by different groups or nations. This course aims to understand not only the dynamics of collective remembering, but also their impact of the national and international political scene.
Contemporary conflicts provide the opportunity to explore the process of memory construction as it develops through different narratives. The focus on mnemonic practices requires an examination of different materials and forms of representations, from public memorials and rituals to cultural productions both high and low (literature, cinema, and history textbooks) in different contexts. Attention will be paid to the Iraq war, the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, the Vietnam War, the "dirty little war" of Argentina, World War I and II, and the Algerian Liberation War.
This seminar course is broadly designed to introduce students to pertinent issues related to Nepali society and politics with a particular emphasis on contemporary challenges facing the historic on-going projects of establishing an inclusive democracy. Through a careful reading of ethnographic case studies and engagement with interdisciplinary scholarly works on Nepal, we will attempt to gain a broader understanding of complex questions related to re-structuring of a nation-state and political participation of marginalized people in the nation-building process. This is also a required course, an essential preparatory course, for students who plan to attend the International Field Program in Nepal in Summer 2010.
One of the most troubling aspects of "inclusive democracy" is that while the liberal sentiments and progressive movements to promote popular participation increasingly gain recognition in many societies, the claim that historically marginalized communities are systematically excluded from the nation-building process, at worst, or remain outside the state institutionalized and legitimized forms of regime, at best, is simply irrefutable. How can something thought to "resolve" the fundamental problems of under-represented groups end up having negative consequences in the lives of those very people? If inequality is seldom associated with democracy then what explains the increasing marginalization and disparity that exist as conditions to democratic aspirations? The contemporary social and political context of Nepal has much to contribute to a greater understanding of this perplexing phenomenon. We will explore the intricate relationship between "inclusive democracy" and nation-building process and address how (and in what specific ways) marginalization has historically intersected, and continues to do so, with ethnicity, caste, class, and gender within its nation-state borders.
The reading list/syllabus surveys a wide-ranging inter-disciplinary materials. The course is divided into 6-8 larger topics/themes for discussion: (i) making of Nepali nation-state: the narrative production of "unification" and silencing of multiple historie(s); (ii) society and the modern State development, democracy and social change; (iii) modernity, ethnic identity, and multiculturalism; (iv) the politics of social inclusion and exclusion; (v) the role of civil society, media, geo-political actors; (vi) people's war/Maoist insurgency; (vii) conceptualizing
Through the study of several historical cases spanning several decades and various continents, this course will examine the complexities involved in defining the concept of
This course provides an overview of the history and current status of sexual and reproductive health and rights using a global perspective. Students will be exposed to reproductive health within current development frameworks and will explore how multilateral organizations and donors have approached its global management. We will analyze the dichotomy between medical relief and sustainable development that arises when implementing reproductive health interventions. Students will be introduced to health research tools and methodologies in sexual and reproductive health through practical examples and applications. Contemporary issues of reproductive health including maternal mortality and morbidity, adolescent sexual health, family planning services, gender based violence, sexually transmitted diseases and stigmatization, and harmful practices will be explored. This is an analytical writing intensive
course.
This course serves as a pre-prequisite for the 2010 International Field Program in Ethiopia; please see the IFP coordinator. This course is also open to non-IFP students as an elective.
This course is the core foundational course for students interested in global or public health. Global health transitions often accompany shifts in economic and social development and are influenced by cultural, political, and biological factors. Epidemiology involves the study of disease patterns and the identification of social and biological determinants of health and disease. Epidemiological data are often used to inform the development of health policy that can both promote health and control or reduce disease. In the 21st century, as the G-8 evolves into the G-20 new health challenges will emerge. For example, this year will be the first in which cancer will be the leading cause of disease worldwide, and by 2050 an estimated 27 million cases of cancer are expected of which two-thirds will occur in developing countries.
This course provides an introduction to epidemiologic methods, with an emphasis on the practical use of epidemiology. Using specific cases studies, students will be introduced to basic concepts in epidemiology including different study designs, measures of disease frequency and association, as well as confounding variables and methodological biases. Some examples of case studies include: prevention of pandemic flu virus (H1N1); prevalence of childhood asthma in developing countries; women's health; smoking and lung cancer; controversy surrounding screening for breast and prostate cancers; and ethical issues of HIV clinical trials in Africa and Asia. Case studies will review methods and techniques used to quantify disease burden and other health indicators in a population, demonstrate how researchers identify etiologic factors and other correlates of disease, and propose how these data will influence public health interventions.
Genocide is the most heinous form of violence perpetrated by human beings. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, the world community vowed to
The modern state is of central interest to students of international relations, political and economic development, and comparative politics. This seminar will inquire in to the various states of Africa in their full diversity with a constant eye to two themes: 1) the specificity of the post-colonial African state as an historical formation and 2) the ways in which African states are instantiations of the contemporary global political economy. We will explore the historical trajectories of African states, their ways of interfacing with civil societies, and their insertion in the world economy. The following questions will be the basis of discussion: Under what historical circumstances did nation-states in Africa emerge? What are the core assumptions about the nature of the modern nation-state that inform our understandings or misunderstandings about contemporary African states? How can we best characterize the "post-colonial state"? Is it useful or even sensible to talk about "failed states" in Africa today? What kinds of political contexts for action are states in Africa producing today? We will ultimately consider whether states of Africa are fundamentally distinct from state formations elsewhere in the world.
Today, many documentarians consider themselves working within a well-defined human rights framework where images and film are used to raise awareness and critical consciousness about social injustice. On the far edge of this movement, however, there are photographers and filmmakers whose work calls attention to the traditional documentary ethics of bearing witness but whose images and modes of representation blur the lines between fact and fiction. This body of work is more open-ended to interpretation and multiple readings than traditional documentary representation. And while their themes are just as serious as straight documentarians, their work engages different audiences in a variety of venues.
The Poetics of Witnessing will focus on photographers and filmmakers whose work combines politics and aesthetics in innovative and radical ways. Beginning with a theoretical base of Roland Barthes's Camera Lucida and Susan Sontag's Regarding the Pain of Others, the course will study several underlying themes in visual poetics such loss, memory, longing, nostalgia, melancholy, the ephemeral nature of time. We will also study how poetical images move between the moral community and the ethical community. The many representational strategies of poetic witnessing will be grounded in the wider field of documentary practice and the class will highlight different kinds of visual poetics such as combining documentary images with literature, archival material with found photos, the personal essay film, ethnographic film poetics, multi-media installations, public projections, and visual memorials. By studying these various artists and movements, students will learn about alternative visual strategies to engage politically challenging themes which in turn open up different spaces for discussion and the potential for change.
The class will combine hands-on training in video production with an exploration of various kinds of short-form non-fiction video on the web. The goal of the course is for each student to develop, pitch, shoot and edit a 3-7 minute short form documentary in the duration of a semester.
When creating non-fiction video for the web, budgets are much smaller than for television or film and filmmakers and video journalists must often work as a crew of one, handling camera, lighting and audio equipment simultaneously and skillfully all by themselves. Students will learn about focus, exposure, white balance and composition as well as how to record quality audio. Finally students will learn basic concepts of non-linear editing on video editing software.
Companies like Current TV, VICE and the New York Times all feature online videos. NGOs and small businesses are also increasing their use of short docs on their websites. Students will review a variety of online short-form documentaries to explore different visual and storytelling methods. We will have guest lecturers who work as independent producers and video journalists who will talk about pitching stories as well as their production and storytelling techniques.
Students will write a short pitch for their projects with a specific online distributor in mind, and shoot and edit a short piece as a final project. We will be reading The Shut Up and Shoot Documentary Guide: A Down & Dirty DV Production by Anthony Q. Arti.
As technology reduces transportation costs and lowers barriers to globalized production, international trade policy grows in importance for all countries, rich and poor alike. This course will build on students' understanding of trade theory to develop a historical and empirical perspective on the economics of international trade. The course will also examine trade's institutional context, in order to give the background necessary to participate in contemporary trade policy debates. The course begins by tracing the development of trade theory as well as the history of institutional frameworks. These explorations will give the background necessary for a discussion of policy concerns, including, for instance, agriculture, industrial policy, intellectual property rights and trade in services, as well other issues such as the gender implications of trade policy and the rise of multinational corporations. The course will also develop the empirical skills needed to assess competing claims. This is an economics course which will build on material covered in other GPIA economics courses.
NINT 5109 Economics in International Affairs (or its equivalent - please contact the instructor at lamoured@newschool.edu) is a prerequisite for this course.
Two decades into reforms, countries of Central/Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, collectively referred to as transition economies, commanding vast territories and population still remain the great important unknowns. The switch from planned to market economy, via ill-famed shock therapy, did not go without immense social dn economic distresses that still persist. This course investigates the transition path and tackles characteristic problems within the broad development scope. Some of the most urgent issues, amplified by the current global crisis, are lacking: industrial diversification magnified in some economies' overdependence on raw materials exports; fragile financial systems prone to crisis-like situations; increasing income inequality and problems of social and geographic exclusion; persistent outward migration and resulting 'brain drain'; worsening healthcare and educational standards; pivotal role of state in development and weathering current crisis.
Despite similarities among CEE and FSU states, specific circumstances necessitate a more in-depth and customized analysis based on unique country cases and country groupings. The course starts with an introduction to planned economy system of former socialist states. This is followed by analysis of free-market reforms of late 1980s-early 1990s. With this solid background in place, discussions of current trends and prospects of future development occupy the second half of the class. On the theoretical side abundant contrasting concepts coupled with country studies will serve as primary drivers for in-class discussions. Students will prepare and present group projects on a chosen topic.
Global civil society refers to non-state, non-commercial actors operating in the international realm. It encompasses NGOs, faith groups, human rights movements, and global environmentalism. Over the past 30 years, these sorts of actors and movements have reshaped the international policy-making arena, introducing new norms and challenging the authority of states and international institutions. Supporters of global civil society claim that it has made global governance more democratic and empowered previously marginalized populations. Detractors argue that civil society itself is unaccountable and lacks transparency. This course addresses this debate, and teaches the history of global civil society, its mechanism of influence, and the theories necessary for evaluating its impacts.
"Don't talk to terrorists" has been a mantra of post-9/11 politics, but it obscures a complex and age-old question that still flummoxes governments: How do you negotiate with your enemies, especially when your enemy is a non-state actor? This course will explore the rich and fascinating question of engaging with non-state actors, especially those designated as terrorists. We will approach the question through case studies, from which we will extract general principles. Cases we will look at include:
- US engagement with Iraqi insurgents, 2003-present
- Israeli engagement with Hamas and Hezbollah
- The Irish Republican Army
- Terror-listing: the odd case of the Iranian MKO
- Engagement failures: Tamil Tigers, Taliban
- Track-two diplomacy with Syria and Iran
- Indian counter-insurgency and diplomacy in Kashmir
Through the case studies, we'll examine a variety of outcomes when states engage with parties with whom they're at war, or whom they've designated as terrorist. We'll look at talks that have failed, or have led to ceasefires, prisoner exchanges, track-two diplomacy, and normalization of relations. We'll look at the particular difficulties facing negotiators between parties that do not have normalized relations and therefore have greater difficulty assessing mutual interests. We'll analyze the domestic political constraints that apply to such dealings.
We will also develop a framework for assessing the likely success of negotiations or engagement with combatants. Readings will address some basic political science paradigms, including the two-level game, decision-will theory, and a basic review of realism and internationalism. The course will proceed like an investigation or unfolding case study, through which the class will analyze the intersection of interest politics and idealist politics, and attempt problem-solving in a highly-charged and contemporary policy debate.
What is the actual "role of oil" in today's wars, confrontations and international relations? Oil has always had geostrategic importance, but how exactly does oil does oil drive geostrategy today? What was "the role of oil" in the Iraq War? In the U.S.-Iran confrontation? In U.S. policy to Venezuela, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and Africa?
Today, 95% of all world transport is based on oil distillates. Security of supply is an existential issue for all states. Yet, alternative
fuels and modes of transportation cannot replace our ubiquitous oil-centric infrastructure for decades, and a popular theory claims that a new era of oil "Resource Wars" has dawned. This view rests on the claim that global oil production has "peaked" and will lead to "an end of industrial society," to "massive population reductions" and "war" - even perhaps a "world war" among the Great Powers, most especially the U.S. and China. Others claim that competition for "dwindling oil resources" drove the Iraq War, explained as a simple "oil grab" by the U.S. and Britain for their oil companies. Especially prominent is the theory on the emergence of a new, "multi-polar world," where OPEC oil-producing states and the BRIC states (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are said to be uniting to "seriously challenge" U.S. supremacy in dollar-based trade (especially in oil markets) and in military affairs.
In response, this course first reviews the availability and geo-distribution of oil and other energy resources. We then examine the
political economy of the international oil system that has emerged since OPEC nationalizations, during 25 years of North-South conflict and collusion, replacing the old neo-colonial oil system. Using this political-economic, historical analysis, we then carry out an in-depth analysis of the actual "role of oil" in major geostrategic conflicts and confrontations from WWII to present.
Regarding U.S. grand strategy, since the fall of the USSR the ability of the U.S. superpower to hold Western Europe and Japan under its nuclear umbrella has diminished. We examine whether and how the U.S. role as protector and hegemon of today´s globalized oil-market and oil-security system has grown in importance - especially its dominance of the Persian Gulf Region and the world's oceans - as a pillar of its global hyperpower status.
The goal of the International Field Program Spring Seminar is to prepare you for your summer field and academic experience such that you arrive feeling organized and confident, and you leave feeling you made the most of the experience. We will try to familiarize you with the context in which you will be living and working; discuss the country's history, culture and politics; and review your proposed work on the ground. The seminars will include skills workshops, simulations, speakers, films and readings.
Successful completion of the IFP Spring Seminar is a prerequisite to participate in the IFP Summer Session. This will be determined by:
- Attendance at all seminars.
- Reading all material.
- Active participation in discussions.
- Attendance at and participation in skills workshops, simulations, and IFP events.
- Completion of Country Briefing, Terms of Reference for internship and Research Proposal for summer.
*** Approval of advisor required before registering
Students who are writing a thesis must register for Thesis Supervision under the name of their thesis supervisor. In the same semester, they must also register for Maintaining Status if all other course work has been completed.
This course provides an introduction to the policy and practice of education in developing countries. Students will become familiar with a wide range of issues and skills necessary to understand and participate in the debates revolving around the state of education in varied countries and regions of the world: Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and Asia. Students will gain a broad understanding of the economic, social, and political dimensions of education and development. The course begins with an introduction to the role of education in economic, social, and human development. Next, we consider the current level of educational achievement across the globe, the prevailing "diagnoses" of the most important problems, the most prominent goals for improvement (e.g., the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education), the politics of educational reform, and the most prominent and promising strategies for improving educational achievement and social and human development outcomes.
We pay particular attention to issues of educational governance. Throughout the course, we will concentrate on specific case studies and comparative information largely drawn from less-developed countries-recognizing that there is huge variety within this group. In addition, since many less-developed countries are now looking to the developed world for models of education reform and improvement, we will consider some of the most prominent reform models from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and how they are being adopted by less-developed countries. We will discuss the various actors in the provision and reform of education in the developing world: governments (nationals and sub-national); international multi-lateral organizations (The World Bank, the regional development banks, UNESCO, UNDP, OECD, etc); inter-national and local NGOs and civil society; communities, parents, schools, teachers and children; labor unions; etc. The focus of the course will be on primary and secondary schooling but we will consider higher education as necessary as well as the impact of labor markets. And while the course focuses on education per se, it is built on a philosophy that broader human development requires that educational issues be considered together with health, social protection, and other sectors.
This course critically explores urban development patterns alongside the evolution of industrial production and environmental protection practices that have lead to environmental injustices. Particularly, we examine the social relations of production and power that contribute to the manifestation of unjust conditions in the urban environment. Finally we consider the most critical question: What can be done to correct these inequalities? Emphasis is placed on the public policy, planning, and community based solutions to the problems of environmental injustice. We use local cases and guest lectures to enrich class readings and discussions.
This course examines the dramatic transformation under way in the field of environmental policy-making, critically reviewing regulatory programs and institutions for environmental protection in the United States, particularly those that affect cities. Through readings and case studies, students focus on how environmental issues become the subject of policy-making and the methods policy-makers use to address difficult environmental challenges. We evaluate recent shifts from traditional command-and control regulations to alternative methods of conservation and environmental protection, including market-based approaches to pollution control, information regulation, risk-based decision-making, citizen participation, voluntary efforts at pollution control, and efforts to reduce risks in poor and minority communities. This course is a survey of the field and prepares students for more advanced courses in environmental policy analysis and environmental management.
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This course provides students with an understanding of how geographic information systems can be applied to planning and policy research and practice. Students are introduced to the basic concepts, structures, and functions of geographic information systems and their applications. Although there are no prerequisites, students are expected to have basic computer operating skills and be familiar with spreadsheet software such as Excel.
Wednesday 8.00pm - 9.50pm
Room: 2 W. 13th St., 1204
Media Studies: Ideas overviews the major schools of academic thought that have had an influence on the field of Media Studies, as they pertain to three central themes: Media and Power, Media and Technology, and Media and Aesthetics. The historical and philosophical roots of the discipline are emphasized through a wide variety of readings, discussions, and academic writing assignments.
The first films ever made were "actualities," and for over one hundred years the documentary has proven a hardy, dynamic, and evolving genre. Contemporary documentary producers borrow from that rich past while forging new styles informed by today's social, political, technological, and aesthetic concerns. This course explores innovative and often controversial documentary work-in film, video, audio and on the web-produced around the world in the last ten years. Screenings and discussions explore the documentary as personal essay, autobiography, diary, investigative journalism, political propaganda, vérité narrative, interactive experiment, and social advocacy. The course examines ongoing debates over the uses of archival footage, ethical responsibility, staging and reenactments, narration versus non-narration, self-reflexivity, experimental forms, the revival of cinema vérité, and the much contested terrain of truth and reality in the documentary. It also examines the legacy of pioneers such as Vertov, Flaherty, and Grierson along with innovators and iconoclasts such Errol Morris and Michael Moore. Guest appearances by critics and documentary producers are featured.
The object of this course is to examine the notions of medium and mediation from different perspectives. For this purpose, the course covers three main areas. First, it surveys theories and theoretical approaches to media that, directly or indirectly, have contributed to the definition of the field, such as medium theory, information theory, semiotics, cultural studies, mediology, and others. Second, it critically examines today's media industry, its institutional apparatus, its forms of production and distribution, and its economic and political power. Third, it relates some media-specific historical and technological changes, such as reproduction, recording, transmission, and networking, to the transformation of social experience. Finally, the course suggests that it is from the combination of these levels of analysis that one can understand the experience of mediation and the mediation of experience.
This course serves as a continuation and development of the courses such as Foundations of Media Theory and Media and Social Theory, the courses which are offered usually during fall semester. This course aims to provide students with the broader applications of media theory into various - yet distinct - dimensions of American society with a particular focus on culture and politics. It also aims to help students elaborate theoretical topics for master's theses and prepare for an advanced seminar such as Media and Critical Theory. The course explores the impact of various forms of media (newspapers, radio, TV, the Internet) on the transformation of American modernity via critical perspectives made by significant philosophers, anthropologists, literary critics, and media theorists. The course will provide students with a comprehensive introduction to the key contributions of a number of writers to the critical understanding of the complex interplay between a particular medium and distinct forms of 'American' experience. During the course, we will reexamine some of the key issues and concepts in social theories (such as hyperreality, network society, mediated public space, urban spectacle, etc) as particularly applied to American media phenomena, including newspapers and the origin of American democracy; radio and propaganda; televised sports events and social identity; the Internet and mediated politics; online games and everyday life, and so on.
This course, open to all graduate students from across the university with an interest in documentary, will focus on the core concepts and skills of producing and editing video and audio for documentary. Students learn professional and do-it-yourself methodologies, techniques and production processes in both media, delving further into the technical and formal aspects of non-fiction production and postproduction. Particular attention is paid to how form shapes content, and vice versa, when framing a particular documentary subject. Exploring audio, microphone techniques, studio and field recording, editing and mixing skills are taught. Exploring video, instruction includes lighting, framing, camera movement, recording and digital editing techniques. The combination of the two media provides a production context for final documentary project and prepares students with the means and knowledge to make time-based work in more advanced courses.
This course, open to all graduate students from across the University who have video footage for a documentary project, will allow students to utilize computer-driven digital editing stations and current non-linear editing software (Final Cut Pro) to edit a short video documentary. Editors will work on short assignments (5 to 15 minutes), with the option to complete a short documentary project begun in another course. Students learn how to organize large amounts of documentary footage, cut interviews, add B-roll, incorporate narration, tell a story visually, among other topics, while learning the principles of random access digital editing (theory of nonlinear editing, capturing video and audio, organizing and accessing rough footage, editing sync and non-sync material, assembling and trimming sequences, editing and mixing audio, adding effects, creating titles, color correction, and outputting work).
There has been a surge in interest in design-based activism and the global exchange of students, scholars as well as social science and design practitioners around the world, yet little discussion about what background and skills these travelers and professionals bring to the field. Global Exchange is designed to identify and study theories, methods, and tools from anthropology, media studies, and architecture that would enhance the analysis of complex problematic urban conditions and enrich potential urban design practices to address these problems. The course is primarily directed towards developing tools for collaborative urban design activism. Participatory tools include remote and on-the-ground participant observation, ethnographies and design processes rooted in specific sites and conditions that are driven by citizen interaction, feedback and agency. Urban design is seen as a discipline which engages citizens in shaping long-term architectural design and urban planning schemes through immediate interventions in the form of play, installations, probes, and implementable prototypes. New forms of activism and advocacy are sought that utilize networked technology, advertising campaigns, performances and alterations to urban environs, which organize citizens and draw media attention to issues of concern beyond traditional demonstration or protest formats.
To register for this class students should contact Antoinette Curl of School for Constructed Environments, Parsons, at curla@newschool.edu.
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
*** Approval of advisor required before registering.
Matriculated graduate students registered for fewer less 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. There is no tuition charge associated with Equivalency credit, and no grade is given.
Registration for equivalency credit takes place during the normal registration period. Students must obtain their advisor's and the Director's approval. Full-time status for New School graduate students is defined as enrollment in 9 degree credits per semester. Half-time status requires a minimum of 6 degree credits per semester. Some financial aid agencies and programs require that students register for 12 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 (9 graduate credits per academic semester for graduate students). Please check with an International Student Services Advisor at the International Student Services office.
All matriculated students must register to maintain status for all fall and spring semesters in which they do not take courses (does not apply to summer semester), unless they are on a leave of absence. Students registering to maintain status pay the Maintenance of Status fee, as well as the University Services and Divisional Fees, each semester. Students who maintain status are considered active students, even though they are not enrolled in courses. They retain access to academic advising, library resources, and University email. Students who do not register to maintain status by the Add deadline (February 5, 2010) will need permission to do so. Students who fail to register for the Spring 2010 semester, and who have not been granted a leave of absence, must petition to re-enroll to continue their studies.