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Courses: Fall 2008
Graduate
Energy Analysis and Policy
Greg Nemet, Professor for La Follette School of Public Affairs and 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. View SyllabusEnvironmental Strategy and SustainabilityThomas Eggert, Senior Lecturer, School of Business
Though Environmental Strategy and Sustainability is not solely a class about the development of corporate strategy, it is clear that future leadership in the sustainability area will come from, and indeed must come from, the private sector. As one of, if not THE, dominant social institutions of our time, corporations have the financial resources, the technology, the know-how and the global reach to successfully respond to the challenge of sustainability.
Over the next two decades, corporations will be challenged to create entirely new, environmentally-sustainable and socially-responsive strategies. Progressive companies are investigating the financial benefits of operating in a "sustainable" manner, and the most innovative are carving out market niches that reflect the basic tenets of sustainability. The goal of these businesses is to make a profit within the conditions of sustainability through innovation –whether that innovation is in product or service design, production, distribution or end-of-life issues.
No syllabus yet.
Law and Modernization in the Developing World
David M. Trubek, Professor of Law
John Ohnesorge, Associate Professor of Law
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, Latin America and the former Soviet Union, and explores ways that reform practices might avoid some of the pitfalls of the past.
Edward Friedman, Professor of Political ScienceRevolution is a contested concept. Some see revolution as the use of violence against an unjust political system in a quest for justice and dignity, as in Oscar Wilde'’s notion that "“A map of the world that does not include utopia is not worth even glancing at."” Others see revolution as Goya did, a self-wounding modern phenomena in which a dream of reason results in a nightmare, as with the inhumanities caused by Stalin, Pol Pot, et al. Given such conflicting experiences, what does the tradition of revolution have to teach today to those still committed to achieving social justice?
This course explores revolution from historical, comparative and theoretical perspectives so as to clarify the values, experiences and agendas that have produced such diverse interpretations of political revolution, but always keeping in mind human imaginings and quests for a just world. View Syllabus Trade, Competition and Governance in a Global EconomyMenzie Chinn, Professor of EconomicsThis course provides an introduction to international trade policy. Its purpose is to provide students with an understanding of international trade theory, rules, politics and institutions and the major policy issues facing the global trading system. The first part of the course presents a treatment of the theory of international trade. It explores the rationale for free trade, the distributional impact of trade, the impact of tariffs and quotas and the challenges presented by deeper international economic integration. The second part of the course deals with the World Trade Organization. It explores negotiation mechanisms and principles and the rules relating to market access, dispute settlement, fair trade, safeguards and trade-related intellectual property. (TRIPs). The third part considers major issues facing the trading system. These include regional trading arrangements, foreign investment, China’s entry into the WTO and the Doha Development Agenda. View course website
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Transnational Regulation: Safety of Globally Sourced Products
David M. Trubek, Professor of Law
Stephanie Tai, Assistant Professor of Law
Peter Carstensen, Professor of Law
This seminar will explore ways to increase the safety of products produced through global supply chains and imported into the United States and Europe. The issue of import safety emerged in several recent incidents involving China. Heparin, a blood thinner using imported ingredients from China, may have caused numerous deaths; contaminated dog food has killed pets, and toys with dangerous levels of lead paint had to be recalled at great cost. Such incidents show the need for better ways to ensure the safety of imports produced in global supply chains. The seminar will explore such measures as improved testing and self-regulation by firms, better and more effective regulation by both exporting and importing countries including the US and EU, expanded tort liability, and increased action at the global level by public entities like the WTO and private groups like the International Standards Organization. Emphasis will be placed on measures to ensure the safety of foodstuffs, bulk chemicals, and drugs entering the US and EU markets and special attention will be given to products originating in China and Brazil. WAGE would like to encourage students in LaFollette, Business, Engineering, Sociology and other fields to consider this WAGE-sponsored seminar. View syllabus
Undergraduate
America and the World since 1898
Jeremi Suri, Professor of History
This is a history course designed to enrich our understanding of America’s place in the world since the beginning of the twentieth century. We will define “foreign relations” broadly to explore the ways in which interactions with peoples and places identified as “foreign” transformed the nature of American society. The course will touch on issues of national power, territorial acquisition, market penetration, warfare, racial subjugation, class conflict, and gender subordination. We will study how America’s foreign relations helped determine what it means to be “American.” Situating the history of the United States in an international context we will learn how American debates about identity and power reflected and influenced events in distant venues.
Challenges of Democratization
Edward Friedman, Professor of Political Science
Half the nations of the world are democracies. How did that happen? When and why have people struggled for democracy? What are democracy’s advantages? What makes some democracies “more democratic” than others? How come half the governments remain authoritarian? How do people lose their democracy? Is it possible to promote democracy? Is the world becoming more or less democratic? Why? This course, covering the whole world, explores the questions listed above in historical, comparative and theoretical perspective, with an eye toward the future.
Economic Problems of Developing Areas
Laura Schechter, Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Applied Economics We will begin the class by defining development, poverty, and inequality and looking at some general trends in these measures. We will move on to look at human capital within which we will cover health and nutrition, education, and population and fertility. After the midterm we will move on to look at corruption and social capital. We will then study intra-household sharing and inequality within households. After that we will study risk coping mechanisms including traditional credit, microcredit, roscas, and microinsurance. We will end with a look at land and property rights. View SyllabusGlobal Challenges: Topics in International Studies
Scott Straus, Associate Professor of Political Science International Studies is a broad and interdisciplinary major, and this course is designed to reflect the interests encapsulated in the major. By and large, the course seeks to introduce students to major topics, questions, and challenges that confront the contemporary world. Any course that, in one semester, takes stock of the world will inevitably leave out critical topics, but nonetheless the course should provide an overview of a number of significant global problems that matter today and will likely matter for the future. The topics range from the rise of China, to the dynamics of civil war, to the impact of the global AIDS crisis. The course is organized into five major sections: politics; economics; violence; human rights and humanitarianism; and health and the environment.
The Growth and Development of Nations in the Global Economy
Bradford Barham, Professor of Agricultural and Applied Economics
This course uses economic theory, computer simulations, and historical data to better understand the factors that shape the wealth and well-being of nations and people in the world around us. We will connect the conceptual and theoretical discussion with real experience drawn from around the globe. This course is also designed to impart a basic statistical literacy. Problem sets will be used to develop and put into immediate practice statistical concepts by using real data to examine substantive issues under discussion in the lectures and readings.
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