New Global Agenda: Exploring 21st Century Challeng

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New Global Agenda: Exploring 21st Century Challeng posted by member150_php on 2/16/2009

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Abstract/Syllabus

Courseware/Lectures

Test/Tutorials

New Global Agenda: Exploring 21st Century Challenges through Innovations in Information Technologies

January (IAP) 2006

Fiber optics used for global communication. (Image courtesy of NASA.)

Course Highlights

This course features detailed paper and project descriptions in the assignments section. This course is offered during the 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.

Course Description

This workshop is designed to introduce students to different perspectives on international politics in the 21st century. Students will explore how advances in information technology are changing international relations and global governance through opening new channels of communication, creating new methods of education, and new potentials for democratization. We will consider the positive and negative externalities associated with applications of such technologies. Students will be encouraged to look at alternative futures, and/or to frame solutions to problems that they define. The class will include guest lectures, discussions, and a final project and presentation.

Syllabus

Purpose

Requirements

Students are expected to come to all classes, participate, and complete all assignments. Students will be expected to cite works used and referenced in their work. If you do work with other students, please include their names.

Grading

Grading is based on two course assignments and a final project. Each represents one third of a student's course grade.

Calendar

LEC #	TOPICS	KEY DATES
Week 1: Introducing Technology in International Relations
1	Introductory Session and Trade-Networking Presentation Focus: Course overview. We will also discuss how countries are becoming more economically intertwined and what such interconnectedness might mean for international relations.
2	Examples of Technology Advances Focus: We will discuss recent technology advances and how they may affect international relations and policies.	Assignment 1 due
3	Global Agenda! Simulation Focus: We will discuss the development of a computer simulation designed to teach students about international relations. We will also brainstorm international relations technology and policy issues and discuss the final project.
Week 2: Technology in Government, and Vice Versa
4	Governing the Internet Focus: In the previous class we discuss how technology affects governments; in this class we talk about how governance structures should be formed to regulate technology. We will specifically discuss how one developing technology, the Internet, should be regulated.	Assignment 2 due
5	Technology for Government Accountability: Dangers and Opportunities Focus: We will discuss how advances in IT are changing government structures and its implications for international relations.
6	System Dynamics and International Relations Focus: We have discussed how interconnected the world is becoming. System dynamics can be a useful way for capturing the complexities of such changing international relations. Travis Franck will present the latest World-3 Model, a policy analysis tool that allows for simulation of alternative futures.
Week 3: Wrap-Up
7	Knowledge and Information for Sustainable Development Focus: Presentation and available opportunities through the Global System for Sustainable Development.
8	Presentations for Assignment 3	Final project due

Readings

LEC #	TOPICS	READINGS
Week 1: Introducing Technology in International Relations
1	Introductory Session and Trade-Networking Presentation Focus: Course overview. We will also discuss how countries are becoming more economically intertwined and what such interconnectedness might mean for international relations.
2	Examples of Technology Advances Focus: We will discuss recent technology advances and how they may affect international relations and policies.	Angell, Norman. The Great Illusion. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1912, chapters 1-2. Friedman, Thomas. "The Ten Forces That Flattened the World." Chapter 12 in The World is Flat. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. ISBN: 9780374292881.
3	Global Agenda! Simulation Focus: We will discuss the development of a computer simulation designed to teach students about international relations. We will also brainstorm international relations technology and policy issues and discuss the final project.	Global Agenda! Hughes, Barry. International Futures Web site and demonstrations.
Week 2: Technology in Government, and Vice Versa
4	Governing the Internet Focus: In the previous class we discuss how technology affects governments; in this class we talk about how governance structures should be formed to regulate technology. We will specifically discuss how one developing technology, the Internet, should be regulated.	Palfrey, John G., Jr. "The End of the Experiment: How ICANN's Foray into Global Internet Democracy Failed." The Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, no. 02 (January 2004). Siochru, Sean O., Bruce Girard, and Amy Mahan. Global Media Governance. New York, NY: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002, chapters 10-11. ISBN: 9780742515666. Talbot, David. "The Internet Is Broken." Technology Review (December 2005/January 2006): 62-69. World Summit on the Information Society.
5	Technology for Government Accountability: Dangers and Opportunities Focus: We will discuss how advances in IT are changing government structures and its implications for international relations.	Hague, Barry N., and Brian D. Loader, eds. "Digital Democracy: An Introduction." In Digital Democracy; Discourse and Decision Making in the Information Age. New York, NY: Routledge, 1999. ISBN: 9780415197380. Malina, Anna. "Perspectives on Citizen Democratisation and Alienation in the Virtual Public Sphere." In Digital Democracy; Discourse and Decision Making in the Information Age. Edited by Barry N. Hague and Brian D. Loader. New York, NY: Routledge, 1999. ISBN: 9780415197380.
6	System Dynamics and International Relations Focus: We have discussed how interconnected the world is becoming. System dynamics can be a useful way for capturing the complexities of such changing international relations. Travis Franck will present the latest World-3 Model, a policy analysis tool that allows for simulation of alternative futures.	Choucri, Nazli, Christi Electris, Daniel Goldsmith, Dinsha Mistree, Stuart E. Madnick, J. Bradley Morrison, Michael Siegel, and Margaret Sweitzer-Hamilton. "Understanding and Modeling State Stability: Exploiting System Dynamics." MIT Sloan Research Paper No. 4574-06TBD. (January 2006) Meadows, Donella, Jorgen Randers, and Dennis Meadows. Limits to Growth. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2004, preface. ISBN: 9781931498586. Meadows, Donella. The Global Citizen. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1991, pp. 15-17 and 28-33. ISBN: 9781559630580.
Week 3: Wrap-Up
7	Knowledge and Information for Sustainable Development Focus: Presentation and available opportunities through the Global System for Sustainable Development.	The GSSD Site will be the basis of the discussion. Please browse through it and get a sense of what it's for, and how it can be used.
8	Presentations for Assignment 3