International Studies II
Class Meetings and Required Readings
Instructor: Thomas Ruddy, email: thomas@thomasruddy.org
Class meets on the following days in Winter Semester 2002/2003, and these readings are required:
| 2 hours, | Monday, Oct.28, 11 - 12:30 am: Tannwaldstr. T04 | Introduction, from Seattle to Davos: why globalization and trade are hot controversies, fact vs. opinion; in-class videos "Ralph Nader", "Plaza and Louvre Accords" and "Petrodollar Recycling" | |
| 2 hours, | Monday, Nov. 4, 11 - 12:30 am: | Exchange Rates - Samuelson/ Nordhaus: Economics, Chapter 34, p.673-682, HOMEWORK: p.687, Questions 2+5; Balaam, David N./ Michael Veseth: International Political Economy, Chapter 7; | |
| 2 hours, | Monday,Nov.11, 11 -12:30 am: | Balance of Payments (accounting), - Samuelson/ Nordhaus: Economics, Chapter 34, p.683-687; Balaam/ Veseth, Chapter 8; HOMEWORK, fun part: watch online videoclip (on a computer with RealPlayer installed, as at FHSO) entitled "Asian Crash 1998" after first reading synopsis and then clicking there on "Crash" and do 3 questions on handout headed "B.The Determination of ForEx"; with Samuelson/ Nordhaus: Economics, Chapter 36, p.729-731, 3 readings handouts on financial crises (Gilpin, Rupert and Lairson/Skidmore); and after-class full-length video "The Crash" | |
| 2 hours, | Monday, Nov.18, 11-12:30 am: | Comparative Advantage and Protectionism, I of II Samuelson/Nordhaus: Economics, Chapter 35; HOMEWORK per handout; video "European Subsidies for Agriculture; student presentation "Globalization" | |
| 2 hours, | Monday, Nov.25, 11-12:30 am: | Continuation of Comparative Advantage and Protectionism, II of II, lecture on The Great Competitiveness Debate; student presentation "Colonialization & Poverty; Is colonialization the reason for poverty in Asia?" Heinz Frauchiger, Richard Heeb, Mathias Petrig and Nicole Fankhauser | |
| 2 hours, | Monday, Dec.2, 11-12:30 am: | IPE and its Three Different Perspectives-- Balaam, David N./ Michael Veseth: International Political Economy, Chapters 1 and 3 (FHSO Library has 4 copies); student presentation WTO; pros & cons for further liberalization. | |
| 2 hours, | Monday, Dec. 9, 11-12:30 am: | International Trade and GATT/WTO, I of II -- a look at the most essential trends and recent trade data ("World trade slows sharply in 2001 amid the uncertain international situation"); Balaam/ Veseth, Chapter 6; Cohn, Theodore: Global Political Economy , p. 199-230; Hoekmann, Bernard/ Michel Kostecki: The Political Economy of the World Trading System in: MS, and the Prisoner's Dilemma in trade; Chapter 12 in Hines, Colin: Localization: A Global Manifesto, 2000 (FHSO-call letter Dj56); Committee on Trade and Environment (please read these links on the tuna/ dolphin case), 2001 conference on trade and environment ; Committee on Trade and Development . Balaam/ Veseth, Chapters on historical structuralism and mercantilism will be presented as part of student debate (in MS PowerPoint format) entitled "Mercantilism versus Marxism" presented by Marco Di Franco, Marta Gregori, Michael Wyss and Huang Wei | |
| 2 hours | Monday, Dec. 16, 11-12:30 am: | Continuation of International Trade and GATT/WTO, II of II -- The new round of trade talks that will be held in the coming years, mainly in 2004, as agreed upon last year at Doha, (with "stock-taking" at the next Ministerial Conference in 2003 in Mexico), and What "New" Issues Should Be Included? ("new" issues being Competition, Investment and Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights TRIPS)-- HOMEWORK from Dec. 9, due Dec. 16th, 2002: in MS doc format or in MS RTF format; please read the links below the table on this EU page; and on this WTO page about "new" issues; Isaak, Robert A.: Managing World Economic Change, Chapter 3: The World Trade System, p.88-105 + p.132-133 on the European Union, in MS. Student presentation on the World Bank and the IMF by Moses Ayuk, Marc Blaser, Henry Hovila, David Brown and Kate Silvester | |
| no classes | Christmas /New Year's! -- | ||
| 2 hours, | Monday, Jan. 6, 11-12:30 am: | Europe as a Regional Trading Bloc -- Balaam, David N./ Michael Veseth: International Political Economy Chapter 11, and Borchardt, Klaus-Dieter: The ABC of Community Law, 2000, pp.7-8, 18-20 (THE 'CONSTITUTION' OF THE EUROPEAN UNION), 24-30 (THE TASKS OF THE EU), 39-40 (THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE EU: THE COUNCIL), 43-47 (THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE EU: THE COMMISSION), 55 (THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK), 60-61 (THE LEGAL SOURCES OF COMMUNITY LAW), 65-66 (THE COMMUNITY'S RANGE OF TOOLS: REGULATIONS VS. DIRECTIVES), 78 (THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS: CO-DECISION PROCEDURE); student presentation on Free Trade Areas (FTA) such as the EU and China by Daniel Frei, Heikki Türno, Jussi Pärnänen and In Hee Kang | |
| 2 hours, | Monday, Jan. 13, 11-12:30 am: Room | HOMEWORK (Part I of II, trade blocs, as above): per
handout, homework helper: Interactive map of trade blocs
(click on the trade bloc names). Why care about trade
blocs? The EU, the trade bloc Mercosur and Chile have decided to
politically launch full-scale association negotiations between the two
regions." If you had been in Brussels on Feb.12, 2002, as a concerned
citizen in an NGO, you could have told politicians what you
thought about this relationship. As of Oct. 2002, the
Commission has approved the association, and adoption by the European
Council and the Chilean Congress are pending. Trade in Services (GATS), Part I of II (see also next box), The Jan./ Feb. 2002 issue of this journal and a conference forthcoming in Oct./Nov. 2003 combine the themes of our globalization and terrorism debates from last year with the GATS theme. 11th Nov. 2002: The Swiss Conference of Cantonal Directors of Education (EDK in German/CDIP) and the National Union of Swiss Students (VSS in German/UNES, from November 2002 through March 2003:) campaign and demonstrate in Zurich and Berne against application of GATS to education. HOMEWORK (Part II of II): write an essay explaining your views on whether, and if so how, education should be globalized; and if not, why not. Google has 27,000 hits in English on this issue; 7,000 if you search for the keyword combination GATS education commitment. Compare some of them to the other side of the coin, the WTO's debunking of a "scare story". |
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| 2 hours, | Monday, Jan. 20, 11-12:30 am: Room | Trade in Services (GATS), Part II of II, Telecommunications and the Internet Economy: the WTO, the ITU and the World Intellectual Property Organization, Geneva; Hoekmann, Bernard/ Carlos A.Primo Braga: Protection and Trade in Services. In: King, Philip: International Political Economy. Irwin McGrawHill, 2000.-- MS; "Trade in Services", Chapter 11 in: Trebilcock, Michael J./ Robert Howse: The Regulation of International Trade-- MS; video "U.S. Software and China"; See also the first and last sections of Sachs' essay on "N/S" equity and ecology below for a green perspective on the future of international development. Here is a current example of how democracy works in the real world: If dissatisfaction with GATS exists among civil society groups (like the National Union of Swiss Students) in the European Union, the European Commission announces that "the public consultation on WTO members' initial requests to the EC for improved market access for services has been extended to 31 January 2003"; therefore after informing themselves by reading this 62-page background document, concerned civil society experts can submit input here. |
It is highly recommended that -- depending on your political persuasion -- you avail yourselves of either the Guardian or the free copies of the Wall Street Journal provided by UBS in the library, or both to hear both sides of arguments. However if you read the editorials there, bear in mind that they are only opinion, not necessarily fact.
Bibliography and additional readings (Those works not mentioned above are only optional.)
Updated June 14, 2003