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Courses: Fall 2009
Graduate
Agricultural and Applied Economics 729: The Microdynamics of Environment and Development
Bradford Barham, Agricultural and Applied Economics
Explores the intersection of environmental and development economics using advanced theoretical and empirical models to examine rural conservation and development, technology adoption and diffusion, and the dynamics of investment behavior in the presence of imperfect capital markets.
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Anthropology 917: Globalization and Transnational Cultures
Zhou Yongming, Department of Anthropology
Scholars in fields from literature to political science to anthropology have recently developed converging interests in the study of global culture and in the flows of people, ideas and commodities that characterize today’s world. This seminar will review the current state of anthropological studies of globalization and transnational cultures and examine various approaches taken to the subject. The readings will be divided into two major parts: works that focus on conceptualizing and theorizing the global culture and ethnographies that represent and explore the multiplicity and complexity of it. Rather than providing “answers,” this seminar will encourage students to critically examine the issues being discussed through reading, discussion and writing.
Anthropology/Economics/Geography/History/Political Science 983: Health, Disease, and Healing in Africa
Neil Kodesh, Department of History
Claire Wendland, Department of Anthropology
Over the past two decades or so, scholars have developed a complex literature on practices of health and healing in Africa. This course examines why the topic of health and healing occupies such a central role in our understanding of Africa’s pasts and present. It explores the creative and shifting ways in which Africans have sought to compose healthy communities through the expansion of therapeutic repertoires. Our readings will vary from straight forward to very challenging; they include works from a variety of disciplines, including medical anthropology, history, journalism, geography, and epidemiology. This is a seminar-style reading course and is cross-listed with Anthropology, Economics, Geography, History and Political Science. Please contact both Professor Kodesh (kodesh@wisc.edu) and Professor Wendland (cwendland@wisc.edu) for permission to enroll. Enrollment is limited to graduate students.
Geography 675/901 Seminar: Globalizing Higher Education and Research for the ‘Knowledge Economy’
Kris Olds, Department of Geography
Mixed seminar; undergrads register for Geog 675 Lec 002, grads for Geog 901 Sem 001.
The course, which is designed for both upper level undergraduate and graduate students (MA/MSc/PhD), is designed to examine an array of issues related to the globalization of higher education and research. It will be approached by examining a range of developmental dynamics related to the globalization process. GEOG 675/901 is designed to help students understand the evolving contexts which: (a) you are being educated in; (b) you might be working in in the future; and (c) are receiving enhanced levels of attention in academia, as well as in the public and private sectors in countries around the world. The course is resolutely interdisciplinary, and students from all colleges and schools in UW-Madison are welcome to enroll. The key thing is that you are interested in debates about the production and transformation of knowledge, of regions (at multiple scales), of networks, of disciplines/fields, of professions, of statecraft (i.e. how the state operates), as well as broader tendencies of geographies of inclusion and exclusion.
Course Website
History 434 : America and the World since 1898
Jeremi Suri, Department of History
Journalism and Mass Communication 829: Political Communication
(Cross-Listed with Political Science)
Dhavan Shah, School of Journalism and Mass Communication
This course examines the connection between mass media and politics. We will take a decidedly psychological perspective on these issues, placing the individual at the center of our inquiry. The course will focus on the complex interrelationships between consumption of various types of media content and the motives, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors of democratic citizens. This is not to say that we will ignore the normative, organizational, or extra-media factors that shape mass media content, or that we will fail to consider the sociological and economic processes at play. Still, a majority of our efforts will concern research at the intersection of communication, psychology, and political science conducted in Western democracies, mainly America.
The encapsulated aim of this course: To consider classics and controversies in the existing political communication literature and propose measurable concepts and testable theories that illuminate the relations between the consumption and content of the mass media in democratic societies and the political judgment, public opinion, and collective action of democratic citizens.
Law 871: International Trade Law
Erik Ibele, Neider & Boucher SC
This course introduces students to the legal, business and policy aspects of international trade, focusing on United States trade law within the context of the WTO-GATT Agreements. There are no prerequisites for this course and no background in economics, international relations or international law is assumed.
Course Website
Law 981: Law & Modernization in Developing WorldDavid Trubek, Law School
John Ohnesorge, Law School
The seminar will explore changing ideas about law's role in the process of economic development and the law reform and external development assistance practices these ideas have inspired. The idea that a "modern" legal system is central to economic development can be traced back to the 19th century. After World War II, this idea became the basis for organized assistance by bilateral and multilateral development assistance agencies. Today, bilateral agencies like USAID and international financial institutions like the World Bank devote substantial resources to "law and development" and the "rule of law". While billions are being spent, the enterprise rests upon a wealth of assumptions about the definition of law, the relationship of law to market activity, the role of the state in economic governance, the definition of modernity, and the efficacy of external intervention. Because both the assumptions and the policies and practices of the agencies based on them have changed over time, there have been several different approaches to "law and development" policy and practice. This seminar looks at changing legal and economic ideas and development assistance practices, surveys critiques of current models, looks at experience on the ground in areas such as Northeast Asia, China, and Latin America and explores ways that reform practices might avoid some of the pitfalls of the past. Readings will include Trubek and Santos, eds., The New Law and Economic Development: A Critical Appraisal (Cambridge 2006), economic development theory, and case studies of law reform and legal assistance in several parts of the world. The seminar is open to law students and graduate students in all UW-Madison departments, Students are expected to write several short response papers during the semester and a research paper of at least 20 pages at the end.
Political Science 861: The Challenges of Democratization.
Edward Friedman, Department of Political Science
It brings seminar members up to the frontiers of knowledge on analytic work focused on key topics: how transitions to democracy occur, whether democracy can be promoted by those who are not citizens of the country, the good and bad of diverse institutional arrangements in crafting democracy, the sources of depth or shallowness of different democracy and the causes of the quality of a really existing democracy, the advantages of democracy, and the challenges to democracy from anti-democratic forces.
Public Affairs 974: Policy Responses to the Great Recession
Menzie Chinn, La Follette School of Public Affairs
This course will examine the hypotheses underlying the origins and propagation of the Great Recession of 2007, and the policy responses that have occurred along a variety of dimensions. The candidate causes include lax monetary policy, the “saving glut”, deregulation, securitization and the widespread use of derivatives, the activities of the Government Sponsored Enterprises (“Fannie Mae” and “Freddie Mac”), among others.
The discussion of responses will include the conduct of monetary policy and fiscal policy, the appropriateness of financial regulatory policy, the harmonization of international financial policy and trade policy. Other policies not typically thought to be related to the workings of the macro economy (housing, energy, sectoral/industrial policy, e.g., automobiles) will also be examined. Course Website
Public Affairs 809: Introduction to Energy Analysis and Policy
Greg Nemet, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
In this course, students will develop an understanding of the dynamics of the global energy system, focusing on ways that public policy can affect these changes in socially beneficial directions. The perspective taken is that of a policy maker confronting decisions about the design and implementation of energy policy. Topics to be covered will span the full life cycle of energy production and use, including: material extraction, energy conversion, power generation, energy transportation, end use, and environmental impacts.
Undergraduate
Agricultural and Applied Economics 374: The Growth and Development of Nations in the Global Economy
Bradford Barham, Agricultural and Applied Economics
This course explores the roles of markets, states, and civil institutions, using economic theory, computer simulations, and historical experience to better understand the forces that shape the wealth and well-being of nations and people around the world. Course website
Geography 675/901 Seminar: Globalizing Higher Education and Research for the ‘Knowledge Economy’ Kris Olds, Department of Geography
Mixed seminar; undergrads register for Geog 675 Lec 002, grads for Geog 901 Sem 001.
The course, which is designed for both upper level undergraduate and graduate students (MA/MSc/PhD), is designed to examine an array of issues related to the globalization of higher education and research. It will be approached by examining a range of developmental dynamics related to the globalization process. GEOG 675/901 is designed to help students understand the evolving contexts which: (a) you are being educated in; (b) you might be working in in the future; and (c) are receiving enhanced levels of attention in academia, as well as in the public and private sectors in countries around the world. The course is resolutely interdisciplinary, and students from all colleges and schools in UW-Madison are welcome to enroll. The key thing is that you are interested in debates about the production and transformation of knowledge, of regions (at multiple scales), of networks, of disciplines/fields, of professions, of statecraft (i.e. how the state operates), as well as broader tendencies of geographies of inclusion and exclusion.
History 434 : America and the World since 1898
Jeremi Suri, Department of History
History 600: The Past and Future of American Grand Strategy
Jeremi Suri, Department of History
Interdisciplinary Engineering 102: Introduction to Society's Grand Challenges.
Paul Wilson, Department of Engineering Physics
Description and discussion of how engineering disciplines address specific engineering grand challenges in society. Focus on societal and multicultural issues encountered in engineering, as well as economic, ethical and political constraints on engineering solutions. Development of students' professional skills.
International Studies 101: Global Challenges: An Introduction to International Studies. Scott Straus, Departments of Political Science and International Studies
International Studies 101 is the introductory gateway course to the IS Major. The course is a survey of contemporary global issues, ranging from changes in international relations, to the rise of democratization, to the global financial crisis, to global poverty, to civil war, to counterinsurgency, to international human rights, and climate change. In keeping with the International Studies Major, the approach is multidisciplinary and divided into five major sections: politics, economics, security, human rights and humanitarianism, and health and environment.
Political Science 103: Introduction to International Politics
Lisa Martin, Department of Political Science
This is an introduction to theories of international politics. Substantively, it covers security issues, globalization, and global civil society issues.
Political Science 312: Politics of the World Economy
Edward Friedman, Department of Political Science
This course explores both how polities throughout history and all around the globe learn to rise and do well by plugging into international exchanges and also how and why other polities and regions can find the obstacles to wealth expansion daunting. The course begins with ancient civilizations and ends grappling with contemporary crises with an eye to the future.
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Sociology 125: Contemporary American Society
Joel Rogers, Department of Sociology
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