6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1021431CER for all students in the 1st semester at a (C) Bachelor - specialised level.

Semester
1st semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Possible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Enrollment Requirements
Students must have taken ‘Critical Thinking in Political Science’, before they can enroll in this course.
Taught in
English
Partnership Agreement
Under interuniversity agreement for degree program
Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool
Department
Political Science
External partners
Universiteit Gent
Educational team
Brecht De Smet (course titular)
External teachers
Brecht De Smet
Activities and contact hours
39 contact hours Lecture
111 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

This course is a historical and critical analysis of the making of contemporary globalization, starting from the expansion of European domination, the colonial system and the development of the capitalist world system and its impact in the Global South. Specific attention will be paid to the different structures and conflicts that constituted our contemporary form of globalization. These structures and conflicts will  be elaborated through particular case-studies. The course offers a theoretical framework to understand and situate contemporary developments and conflicts in the Global South and gives more insight into the interconnectedness of our world.

The course offers an overview of the history of globalization, the territorial and societal (intensive) expansion of capitalism in the Global South and of the different conflicts that are related and gave form to the political, economic and social processes of globalization. This course also offers the theoretical frameworks to analyze and understand these processes critically. Important subjects that will be treated are:

  • The pre-colonial and pre-capitalist civilizations
  • The emergence and constitution of the capitalist world-system
  • Mercantilism, Free-trade, Free-trade imperialism and late-imperialism
  • The scramble for Africa
  • Colonization, decolonization and violence
  • Struggles for independence and the developmental state in the Global South
  • The impact of the Cold War on the Third World
  • Nation-state formation, authoritarianism, patrimonialism and clientilism
  • Neoliberalism and structural adjustment
  • The end of the Cold War and the end of history?
  • 2008-2011: the beginning of a new phase in the World System?
Course material
Course text (Required) : History of Globalization, decolonization and colonization (Reader of articles and book chapters)
Additional info

The course will be divided in to Lectures (HOC) and seminar sessions (reading groups in which the required literature is discussed in group and a report of the discussion is required.

  • Lectures: The historical overview and its critical analysis will be provided via classical lectures.
  • Interactive lectures: mandatory readings will be discussed in class with the students, testing their understanding of the general concepts and the main insights discussed in the lectures
  • Group Work: students will be organized in reading groups, written reports of the discussion are required

Course Material:

  • Reader “History of Globalization, decolonization and colonization” (articles and book chapters)
  • Book: Every year the students will have to read a book on a relevant theme that will be treated in the course

References:

  • Amin, Samir. (1989) Eurocentrism, New York: Monthly Review Press.
  • Amin, Samir. (2003) Obsolescent capitalism, London: Zed Books.
  • Fanon, Frantz (1963) The Wretched of the Earth, New York: Grove Press
  • Harvey, David (2003) The new imperialism, New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Scott, James C. (1998) Seeing like a state. How certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed, New Haven: Yale University Press.
  • Wallerstein, Immanuel. (2011 [1983]) Historical capitalism, London: Verso.
  • Williams, Eric (1944) Capitalism and Slavery Richmond: The University of North Carolina Press
  • James, CLR (1963) The Black Jacobins, New York: Vintage Books
Learning Outcomes

General competences

  • To be able to explain the history and impact of globalization in the Global South since the period of colonization.
  • To have an insight in the structures and conflicts in the Global South
  • To be able to link the political developments, structures and conflicts in the Global South with those in the Western World.   
  • To be able to analyze and situate the general political, social and economic developments and evolutions in the Global South critically
  • To be able to situate contemporary political developments in the Global South historically
  • To be able to follow contemporary developments in the Global South independently and critically

 

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 50% of the final mark.
Other Exam determines 50% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Written Exam with a relative weight of 50 which comprises 50% of the final mark.

Within the Other Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Exam with a relative weight of 50 which comprises 50% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Not applicable.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Political Sciences