This course explores contemporary global issues, e.g., immigration, poverty, and sustainability, through open classroom discussion and debate. Students will learn debate skills and employ them throughout the course. The final project will be participation in an in-class team debate on a global issue.

Topic is International Diplomacy and Negotiation. Examines the complexities of international diplomacy and negotiations among states and other actors. The course focuses on three main subject areas: negotiation theory, applied negotiation, and practical considerations that affect negotiations. We will utilize theoretic, case-based, and active-learning approaches during the semester as we explore the topic in detail. Issues and topics include security, public health, economic development, human rights, and the environment. Students are required to participate in an online negotiation simulation exercise with other Universities, which has an additional $18 fee payable online.

Microfinance and the War on Poverty. Microfinance has been heralded as the spearhead of the war on global poverty. This vision is due to Dr. Yunus (Nobel prize 2006) and his efforts in Bangladesh. This course will examine Microfinance in Bangladesh, its successes and limitations, and its future potential, particularly since Microfinance involves not just economics but also social change, particularly for women. Microfinance is now a worldwide movement, so the Bangladesh story will be supplemented by experiences in Indonesia, India, Bolivia and South Korea, so as to encourage a global view of poverty.

The use of petroleum as a fuel has enabled a vast range of changes, many of which have greatly increased the standard of living for large segments of the world population. But the history of the petroleum use has a profoundly ambiguous and complex record. In this course, we will explore the political, social, and environmental impacts of worldwide petroleum use.

Food is an important medium of global processes and flows. This course will provide students with theories, concepts and methods to understand issues of global hunger, food security and food politics. Utilizing materials from various fields, the course will enable students to pursue more advanced research interests about food and globalization.

Ethics and the Debate of Reforming US Immigration Law Examines the debate about U.S. immigration reform from the perspective of moral philosophy. Designed to introduce students to: (1) philosophical thought about immigration, (2) current U.S. immigration law and policy, and (3) recent proposals for reform. Students will synthesize the three topics by intervening in the ongoing debate.

Critical Human Rights in Global Perspective. Human rights are not "natural," but historically located ideas through which political claims are made. In this course we explore a range of "rights," from children's rights to rights to health. We ask: in the post-Cold War, post-9/11, globalizing environment, how have ideas about human rights transformed, deformed, or reformed?

This is a gateway course into the Governance thematic area for Global Studies majors. The course will introduce important themes, problems and approaches to governance in the contemporary world. It will focus on the historical development of the international system as well as contemporary controversies regarding international governance structures and institutional frameworks. We will use case studies to explore the strengths and weaknesses of current governance approaches, and students will conduct independent research into existing structures.

This is a gateway course into the Development thematic area for Global Studies majors. The course will introduce important themes, problems and approaches to development in the contemporary world. It will focus on the meanings and histories of development, examine the patterns of global inequality, and analyze the economic, political and social facets of development. Case studies from different regions of the world will be used to explore the historical and structural roots of inequality and to assess the ground-level impacts of development policy.

Designed as an overview of comparative labor movements and labor relation systems. Develops a framework for understanding union formation and the development of industrial relations system in a variety of countries around the world. An emphasis will be placed on each country's interaction between unions and political organizations, national labor policies, the machinery for the resolution of workplace problems, the level of shop floor disturbances, bargaining coverage of employees, and the issues of workers' control. Also addresses how globalization has transformed the capacity of any nation's labor relations' system to respond to economic challenge and workplace conflicts. Examines the possibility of developing transnational union.