As discussed in class, each student has an option in terms of the final exam: either a multiple-choice exam which will be given in our regular classroom at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 3rd; or else a take-home essay exam which must be submitted via the WebCT assignments page by 2:00, Thursday May 3rd. If you are taking the multiple-choice exam , please bring a #2 pencil with a good eraser. You do not need to tell me in advance which option you are exercising, but at 2:00 p.m. on May 3rd you should either be taking the multiple-choice exam or else have already submitted your essay exam via WebCT.

Study Guide for In-Class Multiple Choice Final

Note: The multiple-choice final exam is selectively cumulative. I have tried to focus the exam on those ideas and facts that seem to me most important to carry forward from this course in being global citizens.

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

Because they continue to frame much of the debate over globalization, be familiar with the basic argument in the articles we started off with by Samuel Huntington, Thomas Friedman, and Benjamin Barber. Be familiar also with the typology David Held offers in terms of hyperglobalizers, skeptics, and transformationalists. Be able to relate these categories to the work of others.

Globalization as a process and a project
Anti-globalization vs. alternative globalization
Neoliberalism and neoliberal globalization
Be familiar with where Steger stands regarding the "claims" he lays out in Ch. 3 of his book.

Know the difference between the following organizations in terms of their basic functions:
World Bank
International Monetary Fund
World Trade Organization

NAFTA, including Chapter 11.

Rosenberg and Sen: you needn't recall details, but be familiar with their general position in the globalization debate.

Chua's basic argument about economic and political globalization in the context of market-dominant minorities

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).

Why the state of Kerala is of such interest to scholars of development and globalization.

Be familiar with Pieterse's three paradigms of culture and globalization. Be familiar with how they relate to Held's categories (referred to above).

The European Union: what it is; how many countries are currently members. 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 city where the EU's major headquarters are located. 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. Know what Muslim country wants to join the EU and would become the largest country within it.

Peter Singer's One World: The Ethics of Globalization (and related discussions) :

His central thesis, laid out in Chapter 1. His argument about the ethical requirements of living in a global world.
Coltan and its significance
The concept of global commodity chains
Seeds of Conflict video from Bill Moyers Now: Transgenic crops--what they are, their potential, and why they are controversial.
Precautionary principle
Global warming: what part of the world is mainly causing it and what part of the world is projected to bear its most harmful consequences
Kyoto Protocol: what it is designed to achieve. What major country has withdrawn its support.
Be familiar with the controversies over the WTO that Singer discusses
The product vs. process issue in the WTO
What the "compulsory licensing" issue is about
Understand the significance of the Nuremberg trials and the Convention Against Torture in the development of international criminal law
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.
Know also the names and ranks of the four most populous countries in the world. .

Take-Home Essay (Submit via WebCT)

Choose two of the following questions and write roughly 2-3 page essays responding to each. 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 we've read in this course, including Singer's One World.

Please include both essays in a single word-processing file, either in Word (doc) or text (txt or rtf) format. Do NOT submit any other kind of file. Submit your file via the Assignments Page at our WebCT course website. Do not forget to click on "submit" after you have uploaded the file. Your paper must be uploaded by 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 3rd. If you have trouble submitting your paper this way, bring it to Sherry Pisacano in the sociology office by 2:00 p.m.

1. 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 Rosenberg and 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.

2. A theme in this course, particularly emphasized by Singer, is that problems facing communities and nations have increasingly become global, and therefore require global solutions. Taking two of the problems listed below, explain how, on the basis of readings and other relevant course materials, this theme applies to each of them, and discuss the solutions that you feel are needed and what obstacles currently stand in their way.

3. Provide in your own words a summary of the three "schools of thought" about globalization that David Held discusses in his introduction to his Global Transformations book. Then discuss an example from something that we learned in this course that would seem to lend support to each of these positions. In the final section of your paper, discuss which of Held's categories you think is most supported by what we've learned in this course overall, and explain why.

4. The European Union has been cited by various observers (including your instructor) as a possible model for what an alternative form of globalization might look like. Discuss this proposition in terms of the following questions: Alternative to what? How is the EU different from NAFTA and similar free-trade pacts and the ideology that inspires them? What features of the EU do these observers find attractive? What might be learned from the EU experience in guiding an alternative globalization "project"? [Note: be sure to read all three of the readings for April 3-5 for discussing this subject, as well as considering my PowerPoint and any other relevant course materials.]

5. 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 or moralize.)

Note on the use of online resources: You may 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.

April 23, 2007