Economics of hegemony: rome, britain, and america
Download 27.97 Kb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Schedule
- Introduction: Sampling of the Big Ideas
- The Roman Empire Understood Politically
- Basics of the British Empire
- The Rise of the British Empire
- The British Empire as an Economic Venture
- Empirical and Library Research Training Class 11 The Decline of the British Empire
- Profiling the American Hegemony
- Development in Pax Americana
- The Empire in Question I
- The Proponents of Globalization I
- The Detractors of Globalization I
|
Harvard University Department of Economics Spring 2008 Economics 970 ECONOMICS OF HEGEMONY: ROME, BRITAIN, AND AMERICA Teaching Fellow: Abdur-Rahim Syed Contact: abdur-rahim_syed@ksg08.harvard.edu Section Times: TBD Location: TBD The political achievements and struggles of the world’s greatest empires have been well-documented. Less explored have been the economic underpinnings of empire. How do kingdoms and nations become empires, what sustains them as such, and why do they decline and disintegrate? This course seeks to answer such questions from an economic point of view. Through reading and analyzing economic studies on the subject, we will explore how economics has reinforced and perpetuated hegemony, and the role it played in the decline of Rome and Britain, and the economic future of the United States. The first part of the course will cover the Roman Empire (27 BC - 395 AD) and the British Empire (1607 AD – 1950 AD). Readings will cover an understanding of the economy, contemporary economic theories, and the interplay of the market economy with the political hegemony. Readings will drawn from classic sources like Adam Smith as well as more recent scholarship – most of the readings will be academic in nature, although some will be targeted towards the lay reader. The second part of the course will analyze the post-World War II American experience. After surveying the post-War economic context, the readings will then cover the current world economic context and the United States’ role therein. American economic foreign policy initiatives will be analyzed, and students will provide an econometric analysis of a policy initiative of their choosing. The last segment of the course will cover globalization. The readings in this part of the course will span academic studies, economic literature targeting the lay reader, and business school case studies. QUANTITATIVE LEVEL: 1 Course Requirements Class Participation (30%) Class participation is of paramount importance in this readings- and discussion-based course. The students are expected to know the material well in each class, and come prepared to discuss each topic. Furthermore, each student will lead discussion in one class of their choosing. They are expected to come prepared with a list of questions they want the class to discuss, and lead the discussion. One unexcused absence is allowed per student, other such absences will negatively affect the class participation grade; students are expected to get permission from the professor for excused absences. Response Paper (5%) This 2-pg paper is to familiarize the student with the grading, and to address writing issues early in the course. Short Response Papers (20%) These three one-page response papers seek to reinforce the students’ understanding of the Roman Empire and British Empire readings. These are due once a week, with Group 1 generally turning their papers in on Tuesday, and Group 2 on Thursday, in class. These will answer questions to be announced a week in advance of the deadline. Empirical Exercise (15%) This eight to ten page paper is to ease the students’ facility with real data, and to introduce them to quantitative analysis of American economic foreign policy initiatives. The students will choose their own foreign policy initiatives; sample topics will be provided. Prospectus for Final Paper (5%) This is a one-page summary of what the student seeks to research and analyze in the final paper. The prospectus should explain why the topic is important, lay out a basic framework of analysis, and place the research in context of existing literature on the topic. Final Paper (25%) The final paper will test the student’s understanding of the concepts discussed in the course. This is a twenty page research-based paper that should go beyond the material covered in the course. Course Materials Along with the course pack, please buy the following books: Jagdish Bhagwati, In Defense of Globalization, Oxford University Press, USA, 2005. Joseph Stiglitz, Globalization and Its Discontents, W. W. Norton & Company, 2003. The students will have to download, read, print, and bring to class readings that are available online. The schedule of readings provides URLs for these readings. Note on Plagiarism All papers are expected to be a student’s own work. Students are urged to take great care in distinguishing their own ideas and thoughts from information and analysis derived from sources, with proper citations delineating that which is gleaned or quoted from other sources. Plagiarism will be dealt with according to University guidelines. Schedule Class 1
Rome, Britain, and America Thucydides, “Pericles’ Funeral Oration,” 430 BC. Available at: http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/PERICLES.HTM Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden,” 1899. Available at: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/Kipling.html Thomas Friedman, “A Manifesto for the Fast World,” New York Times, March 28, 1999. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/04/25/reviews/friedman- mag.html
Introduction: Sampling of the Big Ideas Karl Marx, “Manifesto of the Communist Party,” 1848. Available at: http://www.newyouth.com/archives/classics/marxengels/ communistmanifesto.html#Introduction Milton Friedman, "The Relation Between Economic Freedom and Political Freedom,"
Available at: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/ipe/friedman.htm Due: 2-pg Response Paper on either reading. Class 3 The Roman Empire Understood Politically Wikipedia entry on Roman Empire Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_empire
Michael Crawford, “Rome and the Greek World: Economic Relationships,” The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 30, No. 1, February 1977, p. 42-52. Peter Temin, “A Market Economy in the Early Roman Empire,” The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 91, 2001, p. 169-181. Due: Group 1 Response Papers Class 5 The Decline of Rome I Mason Hammond, “Economic Stagnation in the Early Roman Empire,” The Journal of Economic History, Supplement: The Tasks of Economic History, Vol. 6, May 1946, p. 63-90. Due: Group 2 Response Papers Class 6 The Decline of Rome II Mortimer Chambers, The Fall of Rome; Can it Be Explained?, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963. (5 of 14 essays. ~40 pgs)
Wikipedia entry on the British Empire (recommended) Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_empire Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Bantam Classics, 2003, Book I: Chapters 1-3, 5. Available at: http://www.bibliomania.com/2/1/65/112/frameset.html George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant," 1936. Available at: http://www.george-orwell.org/Shooting_an_Elephant/0.html
Wikipedia entry on mercantilism Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercantilism Robert E. Prasch, "Neoliberalism and Empire: How Are They Related?" Review of Radical Political Economics, Summer 2005, v. 37, iss. 3, p. 281-87 John Gallagher, The Decline, Revival, and Fall of the British Empire, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1982, p. 1-18.
Nancy Koehn, The Power of Commerce: Economy and Governance in the First British Empire, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1994. p. 1-24, 61-104 Due: Group 2 Response Papers Class 10 Empirical and Library Research Training Class 11 The Decline of the British Empire Lance Davis and Robert Huttenback, Mammon and the Pursuit of Empire: the Economics of British Imperialism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988, p. 1-29, 58-87, 262-279. Avner Offer, "The British Empire, 1870-1914: A Waste of Money?," Economic History
Joseph Stiglitz, Globalization and Its Discontents, W. W. Norton & Company, 2003, p. 3-52.
Movie screening: “The Corporation” Due: Empirical Exercise Class 14 Development in Pax Americana Richard Vietor and Emily Thompson, “Singapore, Inc.” Harvard Business School Case, February 27, 2003.
Debora Spar and Elizabeth Stein, “Regarding NAFTA,” Harvard Business School Case, May 28, 1998. Laura Alfaro and Esteban Clavell, “Foreign Direct Investment,” Harvard Business School Case, April 13, 2005.
Joseph Stiglitz, Globalization and Its Discontents, W. W. Norton & Company, 2003, p. 89-132.
Joseph Stiglitz, Globalization and Its Discontents, W. W. Norton & Company, 2003, p. 133-165.
Jagdish Bhagwati, In Defense of Globalization, Oxford University Press, USA, 2005. Class 19 The Proponents of Globalization II Jagdish Bhagwati, In Defense of Globalization, Oxford University Press, USA, 2005. Class 20 The Detractors of Globalization I Susanne Soederberg, Global governance in Question: Empire, Class, and the New Common Sense in Managing North-South Relations, Pluto Press, Ann Arbor, 2006. Class 21 The Detractors of Globalization II Susanne Soederberg, Global governance in Question: Empire, Class, and the New Common Sense in Managing North-South Relations, Pluto Press, Ann Arbor, 2006. Class 22 Presentation of five Final Papers Class 23 Presentation of four Final Papers Final Papers Due Directory: docs docs -> Cuba I. Introduction docs -> I. introduction docs -> United states supreme court docs -> The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court By Jeffrey Toobin, Doubleday, New York, 2007 docs -> Sw 44: human trafficking, slavery & abolition in the modern world docs -> The Constitution of the United States: Is It Pro-Slavery or Anti-Slavery? docs -> Books on Leadership ed 7304 Readings Leadership in Educational Administration docs -> #17622 Relational Leadership: New Developments in Theory and Practice docs -> Leadership Development Programs and ecq-based Readings Download 27.97 Kb. Share with your friends:
|