Please use these links to access the class notes for your class on Google Docs. Remember that these notes are here to help you organize your thinking and check your own notes. They should not be a substitute for your own notes!

Check back in the 2023-2024 School Year for notes this course!

Daily Plans

For your Daily Plans, which include links to all the materials used in class along with readings, click the links below.

Check back in the 2023-2024 School Year for Daily Plans for this course!

The following section will lay out the key ideas explored throughout this course.

Fall Term

Terrorism in the Contemporary World

Key Question: Why is terrorism a feature of our contemporary global scene? What historical developments, social climates and contemporary political considerations lead actors to choose this avenue for political action? How should understanding of these issues shape our response to terrorism?

Driving Questions:

• How can we usefully define terrorism?  What are the benefits and drawbacks of different definitions?
• Is it possible to identify who might choose to turn to terrorism as a tool?  If so, what can or should governments do with this information?
• What are the most useful solutions and/or response to terrorism?  How should we differentiate between response to terrorism?
• What terrorist organizations exist today and how should governments respond to them?

At the end of this course, students will…

• Understand…
  • That not all violence is terrorism.  Terrorism involves violence oriented toward serving some political end, although there is debate about this definition.
  • That terrorism exists across a spectrum of communities in the contemporary world.  It is not an “Islamic” issue.
  • That the decision to pursue terrorism can be shaped by economic, social, religious and political pressures.
  • That resources for combating terrorism are not unlimited and that policymakers must make choices about how and where to allocate them.
  • That terrorism may be a military problem, but military force is not the only method which scholars advocate for combatting terrorism.
• Be able to…
  • Engage in useful debate and discussion by turning to specific evidence.
  • Produce useful notes in a discussion-based class.
  • Define terrorism, determine when they consider a given action to meet the definition of terrorism and use this definition cogently in discussion, writing and other forms of expression.
  • Articulate key questions and problems related to terrorism and respond by conducting specific research into the historical and contemporary worlds.
  • Encounter new examples or case studies in global terrorism and respond to them using their toolbox of concepts from the course.
  • Articulate the significance of terrorism and cogently discuss possible solutions to this problem.

Major Concepts:

• Terrorism
• Terror
• Provocation
• Outbidding
• Revolution
• Nationalism
• Religious Terror
• Jihad
• Poverty and Terrorism
• Gender and Terrorism
• Proportionality
• Conventional and Unconventional Force
• Foreign Aid
• Liberty and Security

Winter Term

Development, Sustainability and Inequality

Key Question: How can our contemporary world continue to lift millions of people around the world out of poverty while protecting the biosphere? What kinds of processes of economic development can address global inequality and pressing environmental issues?

Driving Questions:

• What major economic and environmental problems does the Earth face in the contemporary world?  What are the current and possible effects of these problems?
• What should be the relative importance between economic and environmental issues as countries and international organizations set development goals?
• What kind of solutions should the world pursue in order to resolve economic and environmental problems?
• What are the key differences between the Global North and Global South? Historically? Economically?  Politically?
• What are the problems posed by international development?  What are some solutions that have been proposed to these problems?
• How are the structures of the global economy related to global inequality?  Is the global economy fair?
• Is there a role for private businesses in the project of development?  If so, what should it be?

At the end of this course, students will…

• Understand…
  • That issues of economics and inequality are tied to political systems, social systems, historical relationships and resource/environmental issues.
  • That the developing and developed world are differentiated by levels of economic, political and social development.
  • That the legacy of colonialism has played a role in the relationship between the Global North and Global South that exists today.
  • That a country’s trade policy influences its wealth and development, but there is little agreement about what kind of trade policy will help lift the Global South out of poverty.
  • That foreign aid is a solution to the problem of global inequality around which there is considerable debate.
  • That economic development can be private as well as public.  Multinational corporations and local small businesses each have roles in economic development.
  • That sustainable development involves a balance between protecting the biosphere and continuing economic development, but the relative balance between these two imperatives is a matter of debate.
  • That the Earth’s biosphere has a carrying capacity that cannot be exceeded without significant degradation of life on Earth.
  • That issues of sustainability and resource exploitation have profound consequences for global inequality.
• Be able to…
  • Engage in useful debate and discussion by turning to specific evidence.
  • Produce useful notes in a discussion-based class.
  • Write short essays that consider real world examples using specific evidence and are organized around clear structure with specific theses.
    Define the Global North and Global South as well as economic inequality and be able to cogently use these terms in discussion, writing and other forms of expression.
  • Articulate key questions and problems related to economic inequality/sustainability and begin to respond to these problems by conducting specific research into the historical and contemporary worlds.
  • Articulate the significance of global inequality and cogently discuss possible solutions to this problem.
  • Define sustainable development and cogently use this concept in discussion and writing.
  • Encounter new examples or case studies in the global economy and environment and respond to them using their toolbox of concepts from the course.

Major Concepts:

• North/South Gap
• Inequality
• Colonialism
• Development
• International Monetary Fund
• Foreign Aid
• Infrastructure
• Industry
• Free Trade
• Protectionism
• Globalization
• Regional Trade Agreements
• World Trade Organization
• Debt
• Foreign Direct Investment
• Multinational Corporations
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Gender and Development
• Sustainability
• Sustainable Development Goals
• Population Growth
• Consumption

Spring Term

Holding Up Half the Sky

Check back in the 2023-2024 School Year for details about this course!