Why is Everything Falling Apart? From Global Problems to Global Action

The aim of this course is to provide students with the knowledge to understand major global problems and how social scientists theorize them. What societal structures are at the root of poverty and hunger? How do global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank operate? How do countries pursue economic development, and what constraints do they face? How do political ideologies make sense of the world? How do common people push for social change? Can we create a better global society? These are the key questions that this course seeks to answer. This course requires students to think critically about global problems and their historical and intersectional foundations.Topics include economic development, labor, the environment, gender, health, migration, politics, religion, food, and social movements.