Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Analyzes some of the historical reasons for the great divergence in world economic development, and undertakes a cross-country, cross-regional perspective of world economic development using a historical approach to long-run economic growth. Breadth-Social Sciences.

COURSE DETAILS:

Global inequalities in wealth and poverty are defining features of the world today. Whether measured within or between countries of the global South and global North, inequalities of wealth, development, and carbon output all weigh heavily on prospects for continued human life on Earth. But how can we begin to define such inequalities, understand patterns of continuity and change in them over time, and explain what has caused these patterns to occur? What implications do these inequalities have for global climate change – arguably the most fundamental environmental and existential problem currently faced by humanity – and prospects for effectively addressing it? And what possible solutions are both desirable and practical for addressing such inequalities? This course adopts a historically-informed, social scientific lens to probe such questions regarding continuity and change in such inequalities of economic and social development since the early 20th century. It is required for students pursuing the “International development, economic, and environmental issues” concentration of SFU’s International Studies major. As such, we explore evidence and canonical theories regarding the concentration’s three main themes and the light they shed on such questions.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

By the end of the course, students: 

• gain a substantive introduction to contemporary patterns of global inequality in wealth, development, and carbon output; 
• gain familiarity with social scientific arguments about such patterns and their historical roots; 
• develop skills in synthesizing such arguments through writing; 
• develop skills in assessing such arguments through analytic writing 

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: