Department of Government & International Studies
POLS 7030
Globalization and the World Trade Organization
Prerequisites: Postgraduate standing
Duration/Frequency:
3 hours/Week
Language of Tuition:
English
Individual Study Time Required:
42 hours (3 X 14 weeks)
Credits/Units:
3
Number of Contact Hours:
42 (3 X 14 weeks)
Total Assumed Work Load:
6 hours/week
Course Description/Aims and Objectives:
This course is designed to focus on the historical origins, development,
institutions, practices and effects of globalization, with a particular emphasis on
international trade and the international organizations which developed to
regulate and negotiate it. The WTO will be placed in its historical and
development context with other international institutions, with a selection of case
studies to highlight particular areas of the WTO’s greatest accomplishments or
weaknesses so that one of the key components of modern globalization can be
fully understood in its dynamic international context. The effects of the WTO and
international trade on the national policy-maker will be examined, such as its
impact on Hong Kong and Mainland China.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) / Competencies:
Knowledge
By the end of this course, students should be able to
1. Describe the historical origins, development, institutions, practices and
effects of globalization; and
2. Recognize the effects of the WTO and international trade on the
national policy-maker.
Skills
By the end of this course, students should be able to
3. Compare the WTO with other international institutions by the historical
and development context; and
4. Identify the WTO’s greatest accomplishments and weaknesses.
1
Attitudes
By the end of this course, students should be able to
5. Evaluate the acquired knowledge and skills when conducting a
research in the daily reality settings.
Course Content:
I.
What is Globalization? Origins, actions, institutions and effects
A.
B.
II.
World systems and trade—origins to WWI
The 19th century gold standard and colonial “international” trade
World Wars I and II, lessons learned, international institutions
established
A.
B.
The Great Depression, the League of Nations and how it failed
The United Nations: Purposes, organization and challenges
1. Political aims and institutions under the UN
2. Economic aims and institutions under the UN
III.
One World—Two Models of economic development and
international trade Cold War, decolonization, and international trade
IV.
Free international trade and the solution to war: a frustrated dream,
conquest by other means, or a hard road to riches?
A. Theories of international trade (how things should work)
B. The effects of international trade (how things do, and don’t,
work)
V.
What is the WTO? Origins, structure, actions and effects
A.
What was needed and proposed versus the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) How the compromise (GATT)
worked, and didn’t work
B.
GATT, IMF, World Bank: the institutions of international trade.
Divisions of responsibility and disputes over roles
2
VI.
The establishment of the WTO, superceding the GATT
A.
New structures and procedures, fit with the IMF and World
Bank (also partly reorganized, especially post-1997 Asian
economic crisis)
B.
New powers and old issues—case studies in early success
and failure
The banana dispute: favors for old friends (case study)
Fair trade versus free trade: dumping disputes between
developed and developing nations (case study)
1.
2.
VII.
Trans-national corporations (TNCs), the UN and the WTO
A.
How corporations support and undermine international
organizations and regimes
B.
Company versus country: the limits of corporate power and
the limits of the state
1. China joins the WTO, disputes in the membership
negotiations (case study)
2. Amway: a TNC adjusts the business model to local
conditions (case study)
C.
VIII.
Regional blocs, regional business and the WTO (NAFTA, EU
and ASEAN)
Globalization in the twenty-first century
A.
B.
Communication, transportation, cultural interaction and
international standards
Globalization, internationalization and sovereignty: how the WTO
strengthens and weakens the local policy-maker
Teaching & Learning Activities (TLAs):
TLAs
1. Seminars
The seminars will focus on the historical origins,
development, institutions, practices and effects of
globalization, with a particular emphasis on international
3
ILOs
addressed
1 to 5
trade and the international organizations which developed to
regulate and negotiate it.
2. Debates
Students will present their national stance on the dispute,
with reasons for their view, and present their views on what
policies the WTO should adopt or change to settle the
dispute.
3 to 5
Assessment Methods (AMs):
AMs
Weighting
2 short essays on
assigned readings
(in class, 15-20
minutes)
20%
ILOs
addressed
1 to 5
6-7 page country
case study paper
(written, external)
40%
1 to 5
4
Description of
Assessment Tasks
Students are required to
submit 2 short essays
on assigned readings to
evaluate the acquired
knowledge and skills
when conducting a
research in the daily
reality settings.
Each member of the
class will select a
“country case study”
and prepare a short
paper (6-7 pages, with
current print references
and internet references)
on their national
perspective on the WTO
issue. The paper will
cover the interests
affected by the dispute
within the selected
nation and detail the
negotiating stance of
the nation concerning
the dispute. These
papers will be
distributed to all other
class members.
Round One/Debate
(oral, in class)
20%
3 to 5
Round
Two/Negotiations
and votes
20%
3 to 5
5
Students will present
their national stance on
the dispute, with
reasons for their view,
and present their views
on what policies the
WTO should adopt or
change to settle the
dispute.
The second round will
be negotiation over
specific proposals
concerning the disputed
issue, with students
responsible to
negotiate, within the
limits of their country
case study national
interests, toward a final
settlement as
determined by vote of
the country
representatives. These
negotiations will
proceed as national
representatives identify
other nations with
similar interests and
stances and seek to
build a majority of votes
in the final vote of
country representatives
on the issue.
References:
Aaronson Susan A., Taking Trade to the Streets: The Lost History of Public
Efforts to Shape Globalization. University of Michigan Press, 2002.
Armstrong David and Erik Goldstein (eds.), The End of Cold War Cambridge
University Press, 1991.
Barfield Claude E., Free Trade, Sovereignty, Democracy: The Future of the WTO.
American Enterprise Institute Press, 2001.
Bennet A. L., International Organizations, 5th ed. Englewood Cliffs: PrenticeHall, 1991.
Barber Benjamin R., Jihad vs. McWorld. New York: Ballantine, 1996.
Castles Stephen and Mark Miller, The Age of Migration: International Population
Movements in the Modern World. New York: Guilford Publications, 1993.
Chang Gordon G., The Coming Collapse of China. Random House, 2001.
Corbett Percy E., The Growth of World Law. Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1971.
Coyle Diane, Paradoxes of Prosperity. NY: Texere, 2001.
Crane George T., The Political Economy of China's Special Economic Zones.
Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Demko George J. and William B. Wood (eds.), Reordering the World:
Geopolitical Perspectives on the 21st Century. Boulder: Westview Press,
1994.
Drucker Peter F., Post-Capitalist Society. Butterworth, 1993.
Falk Richard A., Samuel S. Kim, and Saul H. Mendlovitz (eds.), The United
Nations and a Just World Order. Boulder: Wesview Press, 1991.
Fukayama Francis, The End of History and the Last Man. New York: Free
Press, 1992.
Gilpin Robert and Jean M Gilpin, Global Political Economy: Understanding the
International Economic Order. Princeton University Press, 2001.
Goodrich Leland M., Edvard Hambro, and Anne P. Simmons, United Nations
Charter: Commentary and Documents. New York: Columbia University
Press, 1969.
Goodrich Leland M., “From League of Nations to United Nations,” International
Organization 1, 3-21, Feb. 1947.
Gordon Philip H., The French Challenge: Adapting to Globalization. Brookings
Institution Press, 2001.
Greenfield Liah, Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity. Cambridge: Harvard
Univ. Press, 1992.
Harold James, End of Globalization: Lessons from the Great Depression. Harvard
Univ Press, 2002.
Held David, Globalization and Anti-globalization. Blackwell, 2002.
Hoekman Bernard and Michael Kostecki, The Political Economy of the World
Trading System: From GATT to WTO. Oxford University Press, 2001.
Hopkins A.G., Globalization in World History. Vintage, 2002.
Horsman Matthew and Andrew Marshall, After the Nation-state: Citizens,
Tribalism, and the New World Disorder. London: Harper-Collins, 1994.
6
Hovind Elvind (ed.), The Globalization of Liberalism. Palgrave, 2001.
Huntington Samuel S., “The Clash of Civilizations Debate”. Foreign Affairs, 1993
Inglehart Ronald, Modernization and Postmodernization. Princeton University Press,
1997.
Isaak R. A., International Political Economy: Managing World Economic Change.
Prentice-Hall, 1990.
Islam Shafiqul, “Moscow’s Rough Road to Capitalism”. Foreign Affairs, Vol. 72, No.
2, pp. 57-66, Spring 1993.
Jackson John H., The World Trade Organization. Cassell, 1998.
____________, The World Trading System 2nd ed. MIT Press, 1997.
Kennedy Paul, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. New York: Random
House, 1987.
Keohane Robert O., After Hegemony, Cooperation and Discord in the World
Political Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984.
Keohane Robert O. and Helen V. Milner (eds.), Internationalization and
Domestic Politics. Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Kreuger Anne O. (ed.), The WTO as an International Organization. University of
Chicago Press, 2000.
Loader Brian D. (ed.), The Governance of Cyberspace Routledge, 1997.
Logan John R., The New Chinese City: Globalization and Market Reform.
Blackwell, 2001.
Luard Evan, Conflict and Peace in the Modern International System: A Study of
the Principles of International Order. Albany: University of New York Press,
1988.
__________, A History of the United Nations. New York: St. Martin’s Press,
1982.
Murphy Craig N., International Organization and Industrial Change: Global
Governance since 1850. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994.
North Douglas C., Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance.
Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Northledge F. S., The League of Nations: Its Life and Times 1920-1946. NY:
Holmes & Meier, 1986.
Nove Alec and Ian D. Thatcher (eds.), Markets and Socialism. Cambridge University
Press, 1994.
Olson William C. and A.J.R. Groom, International Relations Then & Now: Origins
and Trends in Interpretation. New York: Routledge, 1991.
Porter G. and J.W. Brown, Global Environmental Politics. Boulder: Westview
Press, 1991.
Ritzer George, The McDonaldization of Society. 2nd ed. London: Pine Forge
press. 1996.
Robertson Roland, Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture. London:
Sage Publications, 1992.
Rosenau James N., The United Nations in a Turbulent World. Boulder: Lynne
Reinner, 1992.
Rosser J. Barkley and Marina V. Rosser, Comparative Economics in a
Transforming World Economy. Chicago: Irwin, 1996.
7
Selden Mark, The Political Economy of Chinese Development. East Gate Books,
1992.
Sen Amartya, Development as Freedom. Oxford University Press, 1999.
Scherm Stefan A., Globalization and the New Regionalism. Blackwell, 2002.
Solinger Dorothy J., China's Transition from Socialism: Statist Legacies and Market
Reforms, 1980-1990. East Gate Books, 1993.
Starrs Roy (ed.), Nations under siege: Globalization and Nationalism in Asia.
Palgrave, 2002.
Stiglitz Joseph E., Globalization and its Discontents. W. W. Norton, 2002.
Studwell Joe, The China Dream. London: Profile Books, 2002.
Supachai Panitchpakdi and Mark Clifford, China and the WTO. NY: John Wiley,
2002.
Taylor Phillip, Nonstate Actors in International Politics: From Transregional to
Substate Organizations. Boulder: Westview Press, 1984.
Ticktin Hillel, Origins of the Crisis in the USSR: Essays on the Political Economy of a
Disintegrating System. Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Vernon Raymond, Sovereignty at Bay: The Multinational Spread of US Enterprises.
NY: Basic Books, 1971.
Van Brabant Jozef M., The Planned Economies and International Economic
Organizations. Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Wade Robert, “The Visible Hand: The State and East Asia’s Economic Growth”,
Current History, Vol. 92, No. 578, pp. 431-440, December 1993.
Wallerstein Immanuel, Geopolitics and Geoculture: Essays on the Changing World
System. Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, 1991.
Walters R. S., The Politics of Global Economic Relations, 4th ed. Prentice-Hall,
1991.
Wong R. Bin, China Transformed. Cornell University Press, 1997.
Wu David Y.H. (ed.), The Globalization of Chinese Food. University of Hawaii Press,
2002.
Websites:
General site for political science related information:
http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/polisci.html#pss
UN and links to affiliated organizations, IMF, WTO, World Bank, etc.
http://www.un.org
http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/
Globalization websites
http://unglobalcompact.org/gc/unweb.nsf/content/globalization.htm
(Comprehensive list of academic work on globalization, with comments)
http://www.ifg.org/
(Int’l Forum on Globalization—critical)
http://www.corpwatch.org/
(Corporate Watch, an anti-int’l corp. watchdog website)
http://www.alternet.org/issues/index.html?IssueAreaID=21
(Critics of globalization, esp. by corporations and states)
8
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issue_janfeb_2001/atkearney.html
(Foreign Policy magazine website. Very good and more balanced)
http://www.challengeglobalization.org/
(International development advocacy and information center)
http://www.prospect.org/issue_pages/globalization/
(Comprehensive information source from political and economic perspective.
Great links.)
9
Syllabus prepared by: Prof. Michael E. DeGolyer / September 2010
10