Teaching
I teach a range of classes on topics related to globalization, political economy, social inequality and the study of organized business. You can see below the classes I currently teach or have recently taught. Syllabi are available on request.
Foundations of International Political Economy
ECON 397FP
This course provides a thorough foundation to concepts and research in the field of international political economy (IPE): the study of the dynamic interplay between international economics and politics. The course first reviews different theoretical approaches to analyzing and explaining governance in the contemporary international system and the basis for world order. IPE is a fundamentally interdisciplinary field and thus a key part of this part of the course is the intellectual history of the discipline, as it emerged to tackle big global problems by borrowing concepts from other disciplines. It then covers a wide variety of contemporary issue areas in IPE, including the politics of international trade, global inequality, how global governance institutions are contested, and international financial regulation.
The International Economy
ECON 121
This class provides an introduction to the operation of the international economic system. It emphasizes both contemporary dynamics of global economic functioning as well as the historical development of the global economic system as it has unfolded over time, and in particular in the last 300 years or so. Students become familiar with concepts from international economics as well as the various institutions that enable and govern international economic activity. The class covers variety of important concepts in open-economy international macroeconomics, such as comparative advantage, protectionism, exchange rate regimes, intellectual property rights, industrialization, international taxation, financial crises, banking and capital market regulation. The class is not a thorough primer on these concepts but rather engages with them in context using contemporary and historical examples of how economic processes have functioned, broken down, or simply just changed over time. A particular focus of the class is on the institutions that enable and govern economic activity – meaning institutions of law and property rights, national governmental policies, and the international organizations that govern the global economic processes.
Corporate Lobbying in the Global Economy
Polsci 388
Do corporations rule the world? How does globalization affect the power of business to shape public policies? This course centers on one of the most important yet under-appreciated aspects of contemporary political life: the governance of the global economy by private actors. It covers both theoretical and empirical perspectives on how, when, and why private actors are able to influence international institutions, global standards and regulations, and international negotiation processes. The course teaches students how to think critically about lobbying and influence in global public policy-making. Students learn how to identify and understand the different means that private sector groups use to shape different aspects of global governance. Through the use of multiple case studies, students learn how some of the most important facets of the global economy today are being shaped by private sector actors. Students learn not only how to analyze existing research, but how to design and construct research – to generate new knowledge.
Money and Power
Polsci 792MP
This course centers on the study of money and finance in contemporary politics. This is a graduate level course that emphasizes group-based learning in addition to the development of independent inquiry. The course aims to generate foundational knowledge within the study of the money and finance and to gain a close familiarity with a broad number of contemporary debates in the field. The course covers a variety of topics related to the role of money in contemporary politics. Among these are the relationship between money and the state, the creation of central banks, the role of money as an instrument in political lobbying, the discipline of international finance on policymaking, the governance of international and transnational institutions that shape the world of money, and the deepening role that money plays in affecting contemporary political culture.
Power, Privilege and Inequality on a Global Scale
Polsci 290What are the major political forces that have shaped our world? Why is the world so unequal? How are powerful groups in society able to maintain their position? While human inequality has often been explained in terms of a natural order, in social scientific terms inequality can be understood as a condition related to historical processes and access to political power. In this class, we will examine the theories, evidence and debates concerning human inequality on a global scale as well as its perpetuation. A particular focus is on how different forms of inherited privilege operate around the world and how elite social status is forged and maintained.
Political Inquiry
Polsci 791
This course provides an introduction to the logic of inquiry and research design in political science. This course centers on philosophy of science issues appropriate for the graduate training of social scientists and introduces graduate students to the wide range of approaches used by political scientists to study the world. This is a graduate level course that emphasizes group-based learning in addition to the development of guided but ultimately independent investigation. The course aims to generate foundational knowledge on perspectives and debates within the philosophy of science. Students sharpen their critical thinking about how knowledge about politics is pursued and developed, and develop their analytical reasoning, research and presentational skills associated with graduate-level training. Students become familiar with the diversity of approaches to the study of politics in terms of research design in particular.