Teaching

China, the US, and Europe: The Global Politics of Green Growth

The Paris Agreement entered into force on 4 November 2016. Its aim is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. Implementation of the Paris Agreement requires economic and social transformation. The decarbonization of the global economy is, thus, no longer in question. As of 2021, major economies (the EU, Japan, South Korea, and the United States) have all announced their goals to reach net zero emissions by mid-century while China aims to reach carbon neutrality by 2060. Political will combined with the rapidly declining production costs for clean technologies such as renewables and the electrification of transport are pushing the transition to a net-zero future forward.

Ironically, the transition to a low carbon economy has led to the creation of a new global race over critical minerals, such as rare earths, lithium, and cobalt. This competition has already given rise to a series of fresh global political and economic realities, tensions, and disputes.

In this course, we will examine (i) how major industrial powers are decarbonizing their economies and deploying their new “green” industrial strategies to ensure they are Paris aligned; (ii) the nature of contemporary resource competition; (iii) the way policy decisions are influenced by political rhetoric and public opinion; (iv) the overall economic and political impact of climate change on global political re-alignments and relations between the developed and the developing world; and (v) questions of  social and economic justice, inclusion, and equity of decarbonization and digitalization.

Economic Development and Environmental Change in China
Can China strike a balance between economic development and environmental protection? This question, perhaps the most important question facing China (indeed the world) over the next few decades, pits economy and environment against one another. How did this adversarial relationship come about? Is it necessarily adversarial? Is it rooted in long-term trends in Chinese history, or in the most recent decades of double-digit economic growth? Are there solutions? Or are there better ways of asking the question? This course will look closely at the benefits and the costs of economic growth to society, ecology, and environment in China. The focus in on present dilemmas, examined through an historical perspective.

Introduction to Public Policy
Public policy affects our lives in profound ways even when we are not aware of them. What we eat, how we recycle, or when we disclose personal information on the internet are all examples of choices largely determined by public policies. This course is an introduction to public policy, why it is important, and how it involves simultaneous ethical, political, and problem-solving processes. The course introduces students to the ways in which a variety of actors and institutions at the national and transnational levels interactively contribute to public policy. The course is divided into two parts. The first part provides an overview of the basic concepts underlying the public policy process and the second part provides critical perspectives on public policy-making in theory and practice.

Public Policy Analysis: Case Studies for Effective Formation and Implementation
This course is an intermediate public policy class. Students will build on skills introduced at the intro level such as the drafting of public policy press releases; and how to best frame policy challenges to explain proposed solutions and defend policy decisions. In addition, students will be asked to compile full dossiers on specific public policy issues to allow for policy makers to knowledgeably make effective decisions. Students will learn wider theoretical frames and debates as well as crisis management. The course will cover a wide range of global policy challenges revolving around issues such as immigration, the climate crisis, food quality and security using current case studies. Finally, students will explore the politics of policy-making and learn how to maneuver in a competitive policy environment. Select speakers will share challenges and opportunities that they have encountered in the field based on the case studies that will be explored during the course.

Foundations of Modern Social Thought
The course examines major works of social thought from the beginning of modern era through the 1920s. Attention will be paid to social and intellectual context, conceptual frameworks and methods, and contributions to contemporary social analysis. Writers include Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Adam Smith, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Weber, and Durkheim.

City in Crisis: Refuge and Resilience
By 2030, sixty percent of the world’s population will be living in cities; in fact the majority will be living in megacities. This transformation of urban space is a result of migration from rural areas and across international borders and it presents unprecedented challenges for planners, policy makers, businesses, educators, citizens, migrants/refugees, and the environment. This course will explore the multifaceted challenges that confront cities around the world because, while many programs and policies are local, cities are interconnected and part of a global system. Through their readings students will question the notions of a contemporary city and examine how crisis and revitalization compliment each other, especially in the light of current population movements that will only increase with climate change and the ongoing violence of war. During a week long regional trip, Athens, Greece will serve as a case study of a vibrant historical capital now faced with an unprecedented economic crisis, high unemployment, a large number of refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and economic migrants from as far away as Myanmar. Students’ research will be enriched by a diverse group of faculty and experts who have approached resiliency through multiple disciplines and policy angles. Through readings from the social science literature, policy driven accounts, perspectives of social history, and select works of literature and film, the course will explore possibilities of refuge and resilience in a time of crisis.

Reading the Earth (CORE Humanities)
This course introduces students to a wide variety of cultural perspectives on the ways that nature is conceived in its relation to human agency, social organization, and political behavior. As we become increasingly caught up in a new and ever-changing dynamic of climate change that is transforming cultures and societies globally, understanding our relation to nature becomes a pressing global challenge. How are we to confront the environmental changes caused by industrialization and continuing technological change? How have our views of nature and of ourselves been transformed by urbanization and technological change? Does the global character of production inevitably lead to the dilution of individual and local identities together with previous conceptions of nature? Constructed around a series of discrete problems that will be contextualized historically and culturally, the course strives for a unifying, global perspective on the environmental crisis and will address a range of today’s most pressing eco-critical dilemmas.

Law and Literature (CORE Humanities)
Literature and law have been characterized as two of the most central narrative endeavors of culture, with legal narratives, moreover, wielding an essential component of state power.  When judges engage in the interpretation of an authoritative text they mete out punishment, separate families, and even condemn individuals to death. This course will look both at the multiform ways that law has been portrayed in literature and also how jurisprudence itself can be illuminated by understanding it not just as presenting a surface level of evidence, but also as a narrative whose language must be interpreted and that reflects deeper levels of established social and cultural norms.  We will thus examine, on the one hand, the extent to which literary texts help lawyers understand a larger human dimension that can revitalize their grasp of the ethical nuances of law.  On the other, we will test Dworkin’s claim that we can improve our understanding of the nature of law by comparing legal interpretation with modes of interpretation in other fields of knowledge, particularly literature.  Readings include classic works of literature by writers such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Qianfu, Marquez, Shakespeare, Soyinka, and Kafka along with the writings of contemporary theorists such as James Boyd White, Martha Nussbaum, Ronald Dworkin, and Richard Posner.

The European Union: Institutions, Policies, and External Affairs

This seminar will examine key issues that will shed light on the building of the European Union, its institutions and goals, its leadership and economic strength, its vision for a low carbon world, its international goals and interests. It will also explore the serious challenges posed by the persisting debt crisis that threatens not only the Eurozone but the political solidarity shown between member states over the last six decades. The course will examine, moreover,  the causes of the growing  divide between the United States and its European Allies and look at ways to rebuild the trust and bonds of friendship that have been crucial in building a freer, more democratic world.

The Himalayas: Geopolitics and Ecology of Melting Mountains

The Himalayas are home to 15,000 glaciers that provide a lifeline for more than 2.5 billion people. While these mountains span geographic boundaries across India, Nepal, China, Bhutan, and Pakistan, sovereign states have sought to territorialize the land, the water, the air, the ecosystems, and the people. The climate crisis has exacerbated regional tensions because as the Himalayas melt and their water sources diminish, a race to secure access to fresh water is quickly turning into competition. This course offers a fresh narrative frame for understanding the Himalayan water crisis. Glaciers, lakes, rivers, groundwater, and weather patterns constitute integral parts of the region’s intricate and holistic system of water generated, blocked, and moved through these mountains. The class will examine how the region’s complex water issues are not adequately captured by statist IR theorizations. It will emphasize the roles played by diverse local cultures, regional geopolitics, ecologies, and scientific analyses of earth systems to better understand what constitutes a lifeline for a third of humanity.
This JTERM has a regional trip to Nepal

Foodways for the Anthropocene

It is now globally accepted that we are living in the thick of the climate crisis era, named the “Anthropocene”. To tackle the problem, global efforts have focused primarily on reducing emissions through the decarbonization of transport and energy systems. This has not been enough.  As a result, our food systems are now in the spotlight. They account for 30% of emissions and are vulnerable to the adverse effects of the growing climate crisis. Because of this, COP 28 delivered a pledge to decarbonize food systems and build resilience to ensure global “food security.”

Ready or not, changes are afoot, and they will impact the ways we grow food and how we process and produce what we eat. The massive shift underway will prompt us to reflect on how our diets contribute to the climate crisis. It also raises questions about what it means to live in the Anthropocene and prompting us to examine in which ways this current epoch differs from what we have thus far experienced. Historically, our diets have never been static. They have changed multiple times because of empire, politics, religion, technological innovation, and economics starting with the invention of agriculture itself. Diets may need to change again because our planet is in crisis.

This course examines relationships among food, technology, and society, paying special attention to the impact of foodways on anthropogenic environmental change. Combining global perspectives from public policy, history, and environmental studies, the course explores the evolution and long-term security of food production, cooking technologies, and livelihood strategies. Course coverage aspires to be global and comparative, with some emphasis on trends in China, the Gulf, and the Americas. Units will address the history and evolution of food staples like soy, wheat, rice, corn, potatoes, and peanuts; the political economy of meat production; and the promise and perils of technocratic solutions to global food security, especially with regard to pesticides/fertilizers, industrialized farming, and energy use. Along with reading and discussion, students will grow, forage, and shop for food, cook and eat meals, and collaborate on the design and development of a podcast series for the final project. Ultimately, they will be asked to consider how their findings can impact their own dietary choices. They will also be asked to reflect on what kinds of comprehensive changes will become necessary in the ways we grow and consume food to avert the worst of a climate catastrophe.