PECO 280 Capitalism I: Globalization and Development
Why are some countries rich and others poor? What accounts for the highly uneven nature of global economic development? This course provides an overview of the political economy of development, with a specific focus on the era of globalization. The course begins by examining the nature of capitalism as a mode of production and the origins of the modern world economy in the era of colonialism and European industrialization. Then, we turn our attention to the capitalist development models employed in the 1950s through the 1970s. Although we will analyze the central role of the United States in setting the institutional framework for postwar international development, our primary focus will be on the nations of the Third World. The majority of our course will be focus on the transformation of the postwar international economic framework and the rise of neoliberal globalization (1980s - present) - a development paradigm that has been linked to rising economic inequality and ecological crises in both the Global North and Global South. This course's signature assignment includes examining the effects of globalization in countries where Antioch students have opportunities for international co-op placements.