The Global Political Economy: Power, Inequality, and Globalization

This course is nearly at capacity. We strongly recommend you consider at least one alternative course option for your application.

*Taught Online*  Since the 1970s, economic inequality has been on the rise. Today, the world’s richest 1% own 44% of the world’s total stock of wealth. The problem is especially acute in the US, where three individuals alone now own more than the bottom half of the country combined. This course draws on the work of economists, political scientists, historians, journalists, and activists to examine the origins and character of what some American observers have dubbed “the Second Gilded Age.” Part I explains why we should be concerned about inequality (and not just poverty), how certain attitudes, ideologies, and behaviors have helped to sustain it, and how it intersects with race and gender. Part II contends that inequality is neither natural nor inevitable but rather a function of the distribution of power among stakeholders in society. It argues that politics is key to understanding why the gap between the rich and poor continues to widen and concludes by considering some of the most promising proposals to have been advanced in recent years aimed at redressing the balance of the power and wealth between the few and the many.

See sample syllabus here.