PSCI 420
Senior Seminar in International Relations and Comparative Politics: The Power of the Purse in Intern
Last Offered n/a
Division II Writing Skills
This course is not offered in the current catalog

Class Details

US foreign policy faces money problems. First, it has to grapple with security issues having less to do with defense against powerful enemy states and more with matters of internal politics in relatively weak states, often nominal allies. Many prominent observers (Thomas Friedman on “petropolitics,” for example) have pointed to the critical role of public finance in determining the evolution and behavior of these states. Second, it faces the erosion of US financial hegemony, as deficits continue while foreigners already own about half of US Treasury debt (and their central banks hold most of that). These ideas connect to other, more general ones about the rise of the West, the origins of the nation-state, and the channels of international economic power. In this course we look at historical and contemporary connections between money and power, especially on the links between the ways states obtain revenue oil rents, taxation, foreign aid, and credit-and the ways they act and evolve.
The Class: Format: lecture, discussion, and seminar
Limit: 15
Expected: 15
Class#: 0
Grading:
Requirements/Evaluation: a 4-page commentary and two 2-page responses based on class readings, a short oral presentation, and a 20-page research paper
Prerequisites: senior standing in Political Science major or permission of instructor
Enrollment Preferences: senior Political Science majors in Comparative Politics and International Relations
Distributions: Division II Writing Skills
Attributes: PSCI Comparative Politics Courses
PSCI International Relations Courses

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