The final exam will take place on Thursday, May 4th, at 2:00 p.m. in our usual classroom. You are expected to bring your take-home essay with you in printed form. If you do not, you will have to to write your essay in class, once you have completed the multiple-choice section of the exam. However, the same standard will be applied to take-home and in-class essays, so I do not recommend this option. Please bring a #2 pencil with a good eraser for the multiple-choice part of the exam.

Study Guide for In-Class Multiple Choice Final

Keep in mind that the answer will be right in front of you; the point is to understand the following terms and issues.

Globalization as a process and a project
Anti-globalization vs. alternative globalization
Neoliberalism and neoliberal globalization

World Bank
International Monetary Fund
World Trade Organization
NAFTA

Chua's basic argument about globalization and market-dominant minorities

The distinction between absolute, moderate and relative poverty.
Jeffrey Sachs: Be familiar with the geography of poverty (i.e. in what region the highest rates and absolute numbers of poor people are found; where poverty is declining and where it is rising).

Human Development Index (HDI): who developed it and why. What comparisons between per capita income and HDI tell us.

Why the state of Kerala is of such interest to scholars of development and globalization. How Equatorial Guinea (subject of the film, Drowning in Oil) is different. How this is related to HDI.

Be familiar with Pieterse's three paradigms of culture and globalization. Know: Samuel Huntington and his "clash of civilizations" thesis; George Ritzer's McDonaldization thesis; Pierterse's argument about hybridization.

Brooks and Wohlforth on US unilateralism:: choice vs. necessity; US primacy and why unilateralism is a great temptation for the US government. Why they urge the US to resist the temptation.
Chase: what he means by his title, "present at the destruction."

The European Union: how many countries are currently members. The ongoing process of EU "enlargement." How the EU differs from NAFTA, FTAA and other free-trade pacts. The different outcomes, documented by Anderson, between the EU and NAFTA. The EU unit of currency. The locations of the EU's major headquarters and of the European Parliament. What it means to call the EU an "alternative globalization project;" be familiar with the four points I make to support that argument. How the EU's total economy compares to the US economy in size. Jeremy Rifkin's basic argument in The European Dream.

Peter Singer's One World: The Ethics of Globalization:

His central thesis, laid out in Chapter 1. His argument about the ethical requirements of living in a global world.
John Rawls' theory of justice applied to a global context.
Coltan and its significance
The concept of global commodity chains: producer-driven vs. buyer-driven. The relevance of the video, Victims of Cheap Coffee
Seeds of Conflict video from Bill Moyers Now: Transgenic crops--what they are, their potential, and why they are controversial.
Precautionary principle
Kyoto Protocol: what it is designed to achieve. What major country has withdrawn its support.
Competing principles to reduce emissions: the historical principle vs. time-slice principles. Which option Singer supports
Emissions trading.
The four charges against the WTO, and how Singer judges them.
The product vs. process issue in the WTO
What the "compulsory licensing" issue is about
The uneasy alliance of left and right in critiquing the WTO
Understand the significance of the Nuremberg trials and the Convention Against Torture
Prosecuting crimes against humanity: universal jurisdiction vs. a universal court
International Court of Justice: what it is and where it sits
International Criminal Court: what major country has withdrawn its treaty signature
Singer's argument about the key role of the United Nations in humanitarian intervention
Change in international legal thinking: from the "right to intervene" to the "responsibility to protect"
Singer's main argument about "community" in Ch. 5
What country he claims is seen in much of the world as a "rogue superpower" and why

From the Virtual Tour: the approximate current population of the world

Take-Home Essay (Bring to the exam)

Choose one of the following questions and write a roughly 3 page essay responding to it. Be sure to respond to the several things the question asks and to draw on the full range of course readings and other materials to make your case. Keep in mind that I expect you to demonstrate in your essay your familiarity with and compehension of the relevant readings (Singer's One World is one major source for all of the essay questions below).

1. For much of humanity, the most important thing about globalization is its impact on inequality and development. What is the neoliberal position on this? What kind of evidence would neoliberals give to support their position? Now contrast this with the views of such writers as Chua, Sachs, Anderson, and Singer. What arguments do they make about the globalization's relationship to inequality and development? What kinds of evidence do they provide? In your conclusion, you should explain what you think on the basis of the debate and the resources in this course.

2. Near the beginning of this course, we read an essay by Amartya Sen in which he said: "Globalization deserves a reasoned defense, but it also requires reform." You now should be in a better position to understand what kinds of reforms Sen and other critics, such as Singer, have in mind and why they argue for them. Reviewing what you have learned write an essay explaining why such thinkers believe that globalization needs reform and give at least three concrete examples (e.g. about the World Bank and the World Trade Organization) of what kinds of reforms are needed. Do you agree? Explain.

3. Two major global initiatives in recent years have been the Kyoto Protocol and the International Criminal Court. Explain what these initiatives have consisted of and what problems they have been designed to address (Singer will be a major source here).. Then explain why the United States has withdrawn from both of these initiatives (you may want to do a little extra research on the official reasons), and explain and defend your own position about the U.S. stance.

4. Taking a cue from Peter Singer's book but looking at the subject from a more personal point of view, explain why it is so difficult to live an "ethical" life in an age of globalization. Identify at least three areas of your life where your choices are ethically problematic in terms of their global impact and discuss what you have learned in this course that can help in living a life that is at least more ethical in global terms. (Note: be sure to choose areas for which there have been relevant readings and discussions in this course. Your job is to apply what you've learned, not just to speculate.)

Note on the use of online resources: You are welcome to incorporate information from online resources in your essay, as long as it is properly cited. However, such information must supplement, not replace, main reliance on course readings, discussion, and other course materials.