This course is an an exploration of British culture and politics, focusing …
This course is an an exploration of British culture and politics, focusing on the changing role of the monarchy from the accession of the House of Hanover (later Windsor) in 1714 to the present. The dynasty has encountered a series of crises, in which the personal and the political have been inextricably combined: for example, George III's mental illness; the scandalous behavior of his son, George IV; Victoria's withdrawal from public life after the death of Prince Albert; the abdication of Edward VIII; and the public antagonism sparked by sympathy for Diana, Princess of Wales.
Politics and Path Dependency in South Africa’s Municipal Electricity Sector Long Description: …
Politics and Path Dependency in South Africa’s Municipal Electricity Sector
Long Description: The electricity supply crisis that gripped South Africa in 2007 impacted heavily on economic productivity, political stability, and every citizen.
To date, all attempts to understand how the country’s Electricity Supply Industry (ESI) has evolved focus narrowly on Eskom. This approach has become increasingly limited over the last 15 years as the national utility continues to spiral deeper into operational failure. Yet, commentators and analysts have paid little attention to Municipal Electricity Undertakings (MEUs) – the utilities responsible for distributing electricity at municipal level – which started operating two decades before Eskom was formed in 1923.
Through a detailed historical account, Running to Stand Still shows how MEUs have contributed to the country’s broader ESI. The book disentangles the complex linkages that have developed between Eskom, MEUs, and the three spheres of government. In doing so, it examines two fundamental but diametrically opposed government objectives. First, the ideal of having financially self-sufficient municipalities that in reality are over-burdened and have to rely heavily on revenue from electricity distribution to cross-subsidise their operations. And second, to have a national utility that generates electricity at the lowest cost to provide the country’s energy-intensive economy with a competitive advantage.
These path-dependent practices have endured for more than a century and have cemented institutional lock-in that blocks much-needed sectoral reform. This is aptly demonstrated through the case study of the country’s most powerful financial centre and largest MEU, Johannesburg, which is currently in a state of crisis.
Word Count: 71381
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Short Description: This is a series of 5 capstone lessons based on …
Short Description: This is a series of 5 capstone lessons based on 5 interviews. Topics of the lesson are: Sergei Khrushchev (about the historical legacy of his father, Nikita Khrushchev), Sergei Enikolopov (crime), Viktor Loshak (journalism), Evgenii Aksenov (business), and Aleksandr Asmolov (education).
Long Description: This is a series of 5 capstone lessons based on 5 interviews. Topics of the lesson are: Sergei Khrushchev (about the historical legacy of his father, Nikita Khrushchev), Sergei Enikolopov (crime), Viktor Loshak (journalism), Evgenii Aksenov (business), and Aleksandr Asmolov (education).
Authors: Nina Familiant, Shannon Donnally Quinn, Benjamin Rifkin
New version created by: Shannon Donnally Quinn with help from Lidia Gault
Word Count: 4544
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Short Description: This is a set of 4 lessons based on an …
Short Description: This is a set of 4 lessons based on an interview with political figure Irina Khakamada. The topics of the lessons are: The 2004 elections, Reforms, The struggle for power, The era of Putin.
Long Description: This is a set of 4 lessons based on an interview with political figure Irina Khakamada. The topics of the lessons are: The 2004 elections, Reforms, The struggle for power, The era of Putin.
Authors: Nina Familiant, Victoria Thorstensson, Shannon Donnally Quinn, Darya Vassina, Benjamin Rifkin, Dianna Murphy
New version created by: Shannon Donnally Quinn and Isabella Palange with help from Lidia Gault
Word Count: 7061
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How can we translate real-world challenges into future business opportunities? How can …
How can we translate real-world challenges into future business opportunities? How can individuals, organizations, and society learn and undergo change at the pace needed to stave off worsening problems? Today, organizations of all kinds—traditional manufacturing firms, those that extract resources, a huge variety of new start-ups, services, non-profits, and governmental organizations of all types, among many others—are tackling these very questions. For some, the massive challenges of moving towards sustainability offer real opportunities for new products and services, for reinventing old ones, or for solving problems in new ways. The course aims to provide participants with access and in-depth exposure to firms that are actively grappling with the sustainability-related issues through cases, readings and guest speakers.
The careers of MIT scientists and engineers are significantly determined by public …
The careers of MIT scientists and engineers are significantly determined by public policy decisions made in Washington by the government. However, their access to information on how this system works is limited. Meanwhile, we increasingly understand that science and technology-based innovation is deeply connected to society's economic growth and its ability to generate societal wellbeing, so the public role of science is growing. This course will examine the public policy behind and the government's role in the science and technology innovation system. Given the challenges to future federal science support, this seminar will aim to equip those planning careers in and around science and technology with a basic background for involvement in science policymaking. This course is offered during MIT's Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month. It features student-led discussion incorporated into the course structure as well as opportunities to interact with MIT students and faculty involved in aspects of science policy. The course has been offered since 2006 and has developed as a collaborative effort between the instructor and MIT students from the Science Policy Initiative.
This class examines the role of science in the US environmental policy-making …
This class examines the role of science in the US environmental policy-making process. It investigates the methods scientists use to learn about the natural world, the way scientific knowledge accumulates, the treatment of science by advocates and the media, and the role of science in legislative, administrative and judicial decision making. It also considers how other political systems use science in an effort to put the US approach in comparative perspective.
This course examines the science of natural catastrophes such as earthquakes and …
This course examines the science of natural catastrophes such as earthquakes and hurricanes and explores the relationships between the science of and policy toward such hazards. It presents the causes and effects of these phenomena, discusses their predictability, and examines how this knowledge influences policy making. This course includes intensive practice in the writing and presentation of scientific research and summaries for policy makers.
Required for all Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences majors in the Environmental …
Required for all Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences majors in the Environmental Science track, this course is an introduction to current research in the field. Stresses integration of central scientific concepts in environmental policy making and the chemistry, biology, and geology environmental science tracks. Revisits selected core themes for students who have already acquired a basic understanding of environmental science concepts. The topic for this term is geoengineering.
The goal of this course is to explore and develop plans of …
The goal of this course is to explore and develop plans of action for improving the job and career opportunities for today and tomorrow's workforce. If we take the right actions we can shape the future of work in ways that meet the needs of workers, families, and their economies and societies. To do so we first have to understand how the world of work is changing, how firms can compete and prosper and support good jobs and careers, and how to update the policies and practices governing the world of work.
This volume builds on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research to showcase …
This volume builds on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research to showcase a wide range of IR teaching and learning frameworks. Contributors explore their signature pedagogies relevant to the study and practice of teaching IR by detailing how pedagogical practices and their underlying assumptions influence how we teach and impart knowledge. Authors critically engage with their approaches by exploring the following questions: What concrete and practical acts of teaching and learning do we employ? What implicit and explicit assumptions do we impart to students about the world of politics? What values and beliefs about professional attitudes and dispositions do we foster and in preparing students for a wide range of possible careers? Authors, as such, provide educators, students, and practitioners’ pedagogical insights and practical ways for developing their own teaching and learning approaches.
This course explores the issue of human trafficking for forced labour and …
This course explores the issue of human trafficking for forced labour and sexual slavery, focusing on its representation in recent scholarly accounts and advocacy as well as in other media. Ethnographic and fictional readings along with media analysis help to develop a contextualized and comparative understanding of the phenomena in both past and present contexts. It examines the wide range of factors and agents that enable these practices, such as technology, cultural practices, social and economic conditions, and the role of governments and international organizations. The course also discusses the analytical, moral and methodological questions of researching, writing, and representing trafficking and slavery.
This course examines the nature of attitudes, beliefs, and values, and the …
This course examines the nature of attitudes, beliefs, and values, and the influences which indiviudals' attitudes have upon their behavior. Various theories of attitude organization and attitude change are discussed, and the development of social attitudes is explored by examining the differential impact of the family, the educational system, the mass media, and the general social environment. The changing content of public opinion over time and its relationship to the political system are also discussed.
This course seeks to provide students with a general understanding of the …
This course seeks to provide students with a general understanding of the form of collective action known as the social movement. Our task will be guided by the close examination of several twentieth century social movements in the United States. We will read about the U.S. civil rights, the unemployed workers', welfare rights, pro-choice / pro-life and gay rights movements. We will compare and contrast certain of these movements with their counterparts in other countries. For all, we will identify the reasons for their successes and failures.
The wars in Iraq and Syria have changed the course of international …
The wars in Iraq and Syria have changed the course of international relations in the 21st century. During these conflicts, hundreds of thousands have died and millions have been displaced. After 13 years, these conflicts continue with no end in sight. The central question of this course is: How do political science theories and methods help us understand the course of these wars? In this course, you will answer this question by integrating three elements: theory, data/description, and application of theory to data/description. The primary goal of this course is to bolster students' skills in using various social science methods to explain important variations in violent conflict.
In this course, social, ethical and clinical issues associated with the development …
In this course, social, ethical and clinical issues associated with the development of new biotechnologies and their integration into clinical practice is discussed. Basic scientists, clinicians, bioethicists, and social scientists present on the following four general topics: changing political economy of biotech research; problems associated with the adaption of new biotechnologies and findings from molecular biology for clinical settings; the ethical issues that emerge from clinical research and clinical use of new technologies; and the broader social ethics of access and inequality.
This subject presents a survey of social theory from the 17th century …
This subject presents a survey of social theory from the 17th century to the present. It focuses on the historical contexts out of which theory arises, the utility and limitations of older theories for present conditions, and the creation of new theory out of contemporary circumstances.
This course covers major theorists and theoretical schools since the late 19th …
This course covers major theorists and theoretical schools since the late 19th century. Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Bourdieu, Levi-Strauss, Geertz, Foucault, Gramsci, and others.
This course is a graduate reading seminar, in which historical and contemporary …
This course is a graduate reading seminar, in which historical and contemporary studies are used to explore the interaction of technology with social and political values. Emphasis is on how technological devices, structures, and systems influence the organization of society and the behavior of its members. Examples are drawn from the technologies of war, transportation, communication, production, and reproduction.
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