Dr.

Ivo Hernandez
Masterskurs: Globalization Research Today. Theory and History
Summer semester 2018

1. Content

The growing global networking and integration of geographic and economic areas, has in
recent years shown us the scope of Globalization as a discipline. Research on the topic
commonly deals with symptoms and causes detailed from different theoretical perspectives.
For some, globalization is seen as an ongoing process of integration of states and markets,
which produces a new socio-economic space. In this sense, the degree of globalization is
empirically measurable. For others, the process is less independent and has core guiding
forces and interests mostly from multinational companies and growing economic powers.
In the investigation of such a complex phenomenon, research should also address broader
definitions and historical approaches, because what may seem today as an ongoing process, is
at the same time the result of a multivariable development of the world’s legal and political
environment.

This course examines the intertwining forces at stake in the global system. Individual
countries or regions are exposed in their relation with the rest of the world. The course also
aims to analyze the political, economic and social trends behind the current globalization
process. We consider the challenges derived from the forced proximity in the so called
"Global Village" and the need for structures in the “Liquid Society”.

2. Organization

The Course has been designed as a Reading Course. Every session will work on topics
detailed in the course syllabus. It comprises group discussions with alternative uses of
Multimedia presentations (Power Point, Video). Reading materials will be provided or
suggested for each class. Evaluation will be made on the basis of a Class Presentation and an
Essay paper (Hausarbeit), of which the main theme should have been previously discussed
with the Lecturer in charge. It is mandatory to read all materials assigned before each class.

3. Basisliteratur

Michael W. Weinstein, ed., Globalization: What’s New, Columbia University Press, New York,
2005.
Ronald Findlay and Kevin H. O’Rourke, Power and Plenty: Trade, War, and the World Economy
in the Second Millennium, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford,
2007.
Barry Eichengreen, Globalizing Capital: A History of the International Monetary System, 2 nd ed.,
Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, 2008.
Peter Singer, One World: The Ethics of Globalization, 2 nd ed., Yale University Press, New Haven
and London, 2002.
Dani Rodrik, Has Globalization Gone Too Far? Institute for International Economics, Washington,
DC, 1997.