The New World Order

Fall, 2017

Gary S. Gregg

http://kzoo.edu/ggregg

In 1991 President George Bush (Sr.) announced the emergence of a “New World Order.” Soviet and Chinese “communism” had collapsed and almost overnight the world became a single capitalist system. “Globalization” then accelerated with light-speed communication through the internet, an intensified flow of goods around the planet, and the outsourcing of work to low-wage countries – accompanied by rapidly increasing inequality and concentration of wealth. Urbanization also accelerated, swelling the slums of the world’s “megacities.”

The seminar will study recent analyses of the New World Order in the context of theories of “modernization” and “globalization.” It will examine the ideology of “neoliberalism” that is its blueprint, the culture of the investment bankers who are its architects, and neo-Marxist critiques of the capitalist “Empire.” We will read about the New World as lived by workers in Galesburg, IL and Reynosa Mexico, slum-dwellers in Mumbai, and wives and children of the “masters of the universe” in Manhattan.

Students will write paragraph summaries of the readings, brief review-style essays, a short research paper, and a final essay on “The End of History.”

Readings

Books:

Steger & Roy: Neoliberalism (excerpts)

Wolf: Why Read Marx Today? (excerts)

Wallerstein: World System Theory (excerpts)

Ho: Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street

Broughton: Boom, Bust, Exodus

Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Martin: Primates of Wall Street

Articles: on electronic reserve, available through the Library reserve reading page or my WebSite

The Seminar

The course will run as a discussion-based seminar: at the beginning of class I will select one or two students to begin our discussion of each reading by providing a brief summary, critical comments, and questions. Please bring to class a paragraph summary of the reading to be discussed that day – which I will collect and read.

Assignments

Students will write a summary-and-critical-comments paragraph on each reading, five short papers that review or synthesize readings, and a final “End of History” paper developing their own analysis of the “New World Order.”

Paragraph reading summaries day of discussion

1. Huntington, Barber, Fukuyama: Critical Discussion 3 pgs. Week 2 Thur

2. Marxist views of the Capitalist World Order 3-4 pgs. Week 4 Tues

3. Liquidated: 1½ pg. review Week 6 Thur

4. Primates: 1½ pg. review                                                                            Week 7 Tues

5. Research: psychological effects of unemployment     Week 9 Thur

6. End of History? Day of Final

Syllabus

	Topic	Reading
	New World Order
Week 1 Mon	Dream of Development	Berman, “The Tragedy of Development”
Week 1 Wed		Huntington: “Clash of Civilizations”
Week 1 Fri		Barber: “Jihad vs. McWorld”
Week 2 Mon		Fukuyama: “End of History”
	Theory
Week 2 Wed		Stenger: Neoliberalism Ch. 1 & 6
Week 2 Thurs		Paper 1 due: Huntington, Barber, Fukuyama
Week 2 Fri	Key idea: 1. recognition	Kojeve: Introduction to the Reading of Hegel In Place of an Introduction
Week 3 Mon	Key idea 2: alienation	Wolf: Why Read Marx Today? Intro, Chapt. 1
Week 3 Wed	Key idea 3: exploitation	Wolf: Why Read Marx Today? Ch. 2 (pp. 48-82)
Week 3 Fri	Key idea 4: disembedding	Polanyi: Great Transformation excerpt 1 excerpt 2 Intro; pp, 3-5; Ch. 4; pp. 59-61; Ch. 6; Ch. 11; Ch 13 quotes;
Week 4 Mon	Development & Underdevelopment	Wallerstein: World Systems Analysis To Start, Ch. 1, 2 (pp. 23 – 26)
Week 4 Wed	Development & Underdevelopment	Wallerstein: World Systems Analysis Ch. 5 Sen: Development as Freedom Chapt. 2 & Chapt. 4
Week 4 Thurs		Paper 2 due: Marx
Week 4 Fri	New World Order	Hardt & Negri: Empire excerpt 1 excerpt 2 Preface, 1.1, 1.2 (optional), 2.6 (198-199), 3.5 (321-324)
	Topic	Reading
	Case Studies
Week 5 Mon		Ho, Liquidated Intro
Week 5 Wed		Ho, Liquidated Chapt. 1
Week 5 Fri	Fall Break Day Notes to Ref Librarians	Ho, Liquidated Chapt. 2
Week 6 Mon		Ho, Liquidated Ch. 3 (122-133, 167-168), Ch. 5 (213-230, 243-248), Ch. 6 (259-265), Ch. 7 (293-302, 318-324)
Week 6 Wed	Research Workshop	Martin, Primates Intro, Ch. 1 & 2
Week 6 Thurs		Paper 3 due: review of Liquidated
Week 6 Fri		Martin, Primates Ch. 3 & 4
Week 7 Mon		Martin, Primates Ch. 5 & 6, 8
Week 7 Wed		Broughton: Boom Prologue, Ch 1, Ch. 2 (44-46), Ch. 3
Week 7 Thurs		Paper 4 due: review of Primates
Week 7 Fri		Broughton: Boom Ch. 4 (61-62, 71-74), Ch. 5, Ch. 6, Ch. 9
Week 8 Mon		Broughton: Boom Ch. 11, 13, 14
Week 8 Wed		Broughton: Boom Ch. 15, 16, 17, Epilogue
Week 8 Fri		Boo, Beautiful Tomorrows Prologue, Part 1
Week 9 Mon		Boo, Beautiful Tomorrows Part 2
Week 9 Tues		Research paper due
Week 9 Wed		Boo, Beautiful Tomorrows Part 3, Part 4 Ch. 12
Week 9 Fri		Boo, Beautiful Tomorrows Part 4 Ch. 13-17, Author’s Note
Week 10 Mon		Finnegan, The Unwanted
Week 10 Wed		Standing, The Precariat
Week 10 Fri	TBA
Finals day		Paper 6 due: End of History?