Short Description: A Few Words that Changed the World brings together short …
Short Description: A Few Words that Changed the World brings together short texts - many less than one page long - that profoundly changed the world in which we live. In its initial form, the book's focus is on the growth and development of European empires, and the ways in which peoples responded to that expansion. Over time, we hope that this resource will grow to include other sources, such as songs, poems, and perhaps pieces of art.
Long Description: A word is dead When it is said, Some say.
I say it just Begins to live That day.
Emily Dickinson, A Word is Dead (1862)
Word Count: 33169
(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)
This seminar provides an overview of the field of international relations. Each …
This seminar provides an overview of the field of international relations. Each week, a different approach to explaining international relations will be examined. By surveying major concepts and theories in the field, the seminar will also assist graduate students in preparing for the comprehensive examination and further study in the department's more specialized offerings in international relations.
This course provides an introduction to the field of comparative politics. Readings …
This course provides an introduction to the field of comparative politics. Readings include both classic and recent materials. Discussions include research design and research methods, in addition to topics such as political culture, social cleavages, the state, and democratic institutions. The emphasis on each issue depends in part on the interests of the students.
This course focuses on the tools and programs available to economic development …
This course focuses on the tools and programs available to economic development practitioners to address capital needs for businesses and economic development projects. It provides an overview of private capital markets and financing sources to understand capital market imperfections that constrain economic development, business accounting, financial statement analysis, federal economic development programs, and public finance tools. The course covers policies and program models, including revolving loan funds, guarantee programs, venture capital funds, bank holding companies, community development loan funds and credit unions, micro-enterprise funds, and the Community Reinvestment Act. The objective of this course is to provide students with a comprehensive overview of economic development finance practice in the United States, and to develop a knowledge base and skills to either be a development finance practitioner, or apply economic development finance approaches to other fields of planning and community development.
In this class, food serves as both the subject and the object …
In this class, food serves as both the subject and the object of historical analysis. As a subject, food has been transformed over the last 100 years, largely as a result of ever more elaborate scientific and technological innovations. From a need to preserve surplus foods for leaner times grew an elaborate array of techniques – drying, freezing, canning, salting, etc – that changed not only what people ate, but how far they could/had to travel, the space in which they lived, their relations with neighbors and relatives, and most of all, their place in the economic order of things. The role of capitalism in supporting and extending food preservation and development was fundamental. As an object, food offers us a way into cultural, political, economic, and techno-scientific history. Long ignored by historians of science and technology, food offers a rich source for exploring, e.g., the creation and maintenance of mass-production techniques, industrial farming initiatives, the politics of consumption, vertical integration of business firms, globalization, changing race and gender identities, labor movements, and so forth. How is food different in these contexts, from other sorts of industrial goods? What does the trip from farm to table tell us about American culture and history?
How and why do we participate in public life? How do we …
How and why do we participate in public life? How do we get drawn into community and political affairs? In this course we examine the associations and networks that connect us to one another and structure our social and political interactions. Readings are drawn from a growing body of research suggesting that the social networks, community norms, and associational activities represented by the concepts of civil society and social capital can have important effects on the functioning of democracy, stability and change in political regimes, the capacity of states to carry out their objectives, and international politics.
This course explores the foundations of policy making in developing countries. The …
This course explores the foundations of policy making in developing countries. The goal is to spell out various policy options and to quantify the trade-offs between them. We will study the different facets of human development: education, health, gender, the family, land relations, risk, informal and formal norms and institutions. This is an empirical class. For each topic, we will study several concrete examples chosen from around the world. While studying each of these topics, we will ask: What determines the decisions of poor households in developing countries? What constraints are they subject to? Is there a scope for policy (by government, international organizations, or non-governmental organizations (NGOs))? What policies have been tried out? Have they been successful? MITx Online Version This course is part of the Micromaster’s Program in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy through MITx Online. The course is entirely free to audit, though learners have the option to pay a fee, which is based on the learner's ability to pay, to take the proctored exam, and earn a course certificate. To access the course, create an MITx Online account and enroll in the course 14.740x Foundations of Development Policy.
Urban governance comprises the various forces, institutions, and movements that guide economic …
Urban governance comprises the various forces, institutions, and movements that guide economic and physical development, the distribution of resources, social interactions, and other aspects of daily life in urban areas. This course examines governance from legal, political, social, and economic perspectives. In addition, we will discuss how these structures constrain collective decision making about particular urban issues (immigration, education…). Assignments will be nightly readings and a short paper relating an urban issue to the frameworks outlined in the class.
For years I’ve wanted to write a book about racism. But after …
For years I’ve wanted to write a book about racism. But after visiting Barnes and Nobles, both online and our actual bookstore here in Boise, Idaho; I realized there were already volumes of books and articles written on the subject of racism. I asked myself, could I write a book on racism that would be different than the books already available? So, I started to think about my twenty years of personal experiences, conducting courses, giving seminars, lectures, and writing articles about racism. In those seminars, lectures and articles, I always wanted to make sure my students, the attendees , and readers learned something specific; something they could take home and use immediately. After realizing what I’d been doing for all those years, I decided that teaching something very specific about racism would make my book different. In all my lectures, seminars, courses and articles, I always had a primary goal; teach people how to move from being a non-racist, to becoming an antiracist. Everything I spoke, taught and wrote was about helping people to see where they really stood regarding racism and how to take the necessary action to becoming a positive change agent.
This course introduces students to the rudiments of game theory as practiced …
This course introduces students to the rudiments of game theory as practiced in political science. It teaches students the basic elements of formal modeling and strategies for solving simple games. Readings draw from introductory texts on game theoretic modeling and applied articles in American politics, international relations, and comparative politics.
This course will provide students with an analytic framework to understand the …
This course will provide students with an analytic framework to understand the roles that gender, race, and class play in defining and determining access to leadership and power in the U.S., especially in the context of the workplace. We will explore women and men in leadership positions within the corporate, political and non-profit sectors, with attention to the roles of women of color and immigrant women within this context. We will also look at specific policies such as affirmative action, parental leave, child-care policy, and working-time policies and the role they play–or could play–in achieving parity. We will further investigate ways in which these policies address gender, racial, and class inequities, and think critically about mechanisms for change. The course will be highly interactive, and will combine texts, theater, videos and visual arts.
This course explores how gender shaped the historical experiences and cultural productions …
This course explores how gender shaped the historical experiences and cultural productions in the North American West during the time it was being explored, settled, and imagined. The North American West of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries provides a fascinating case study of the shifting meanings of gender, race, citizenship, and power in border societies. As the site of migration, settlement, and displacement, it spawned contests over land, labor disputes, inter-ethnic conflicts and peaceful relations, and many kinds of cultural productions. The Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies (GCWS) This course is part of the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies. The GCWS at MIT brings together scholars and teachers at nine degree-granting institutions in the Boston area who are devoted to graduate teaching and research in Women's Studies and to advancing interdisciplinary Women's Studies scholarship. Learn more about the GCWS.
This course uses theories of gender to explore sociopolitical, ethical and theological …
This course uses theories of gender to explore sociopolitical, ethical and theological perspectives on immigration policy, with a focus on the U.S. The course begins with an overview of global developments in the feminization of migration and ethical and policy dilemmas that are specific to the current era.
This course will focus on understanding aspects of modern technology displaying exponential …
This course will focus on understanding aspects of modern technology displaying exponential growth curves and the impact on global quality of life through a weekly updated class project integrating knowledge and providing practical tools for political and business decision-making concerning new aspects of bioengineering, personalized medicine, genetically modified organisms, and stem cells. Interplays of economic, ethical, ecological, and biophysical modeling will be explored through multi-disciplinary teams of students, and individual brief reports.
This class is designed to expose you to the cycles of disasters, …
This class is designed to expose you to the cycles of disasters, the roots of emergency planning in the U.S., how to understand and map vulnerabilities, and expose you to the disaster planning in different contexts, including in developing countries.
This class introduces scientific, economic, and ecological issues underlying the threat of …
This class introduces scientific, economic, and ecological issues underlying the threat of global climate change, and the institutions engaged in negotiating an international response. It also develops an integrated approach to analysis of climate change processes, and assessment of proposed policy measures, drawing on research and model development within the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change.
Detailed exploration of contemporary debates and controversies regarding global justice. Topics include: …
Detailed exploration of contemporary debates and controversies regarding global justice. Topics include: human rights theory, the moral significance of national and cultural boundaries, the currency of distributive justice, global inequality and poverty, environmental devastation, and violence against women and children.
This course examines the opportunities and risks firms face in today's global …
This course examines the opportunities and risks firms face in today's global world. The course provides conceptual tools for analyzing how governments and a variety of social and economic institutions influence competition among firms embedded in different national settings. Public policies and institutions that shape competitive outcomes are examined through cases and analytic readings on different companies and industries operating in both developed and emerging markets. In addition to traditional case/class discussions, this course will include some presentations by various guest speakers. The hope is that greater exposure to/interaction with these real-world practitioners will "bring to life" some of the issues discussed in the readings/cases. Whenever possible, informal dinners and/or coffees will be organized for small groups of students interested in meeting with our guest speakers.
This course examines opportunities and risks firms face in today's global market. …
This course examines opportunities and risks firms face in today's global market. It provides conceptual tools for analyzing how governments and social institutions influence economic competition among firms embedded in different national settings. Public policies and institutions that shape competitive outcomes are examined through cases and analytical readings on different companies and industries operating in both developed and emerging markets.
This seminar explores changes in the international economy and their effects on …
This seminar explores changes in the international economy and their effects on domestic politics, economy, and society. Is globalization really a new phenomenon? Is it irreversible? What are effects on wages and inequality, on social safety nets, on production, and innovation? How does it affect relations between developed countries and developing countries? How globalization affects democracy? These are some of the key issues that will be examined.
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