Globalization: Past and Future

In this four-part mini-course, Professor Jeffrey Sachs argues that we have always lived in a global world. He takes students on a historical and anthropological tour of six distinct waves of globalization and outlines the key factors that drove innovation, technology dispersal and development during these epochs. The course tells the story of a global humanity and asks the question: What lessons can we pull from history to help understand the tumultuous changes underway today?

This course is for:

• Graduate students and advanced undergraduate students studying international development or relations, economics, sustainable development and other related topics
• Practitioners in the fields of policy, government relations, international trade, finance and related fields who are interested in the historical context of our current geopolitical environment and technological revolution

Module 1: Waves of Globalization in History

• Six Major Globalizations
• Prime Drivers
• The Eurasian Advantage
• The Classical World
• The Medieval Chinese Miracle

Module 2: Ocean-Based Globalization: 1500-1800

• Sea-Based Globalization
• Global Trade in Commodities
• Conquest, Slavery and Genocide in the Americas
• Imperial Competition
• The Beginning of Divergence of the West and Asia

Module 3: The Anglo-American World: 1800-2000

• James Watt Changes the World
• The Next Comers: US, Germany, Japan and the Rest
• High European Imperialism
• The European Immolation and Decolonization
• US-led Globalization

Module 4: The New Globalization

• The Eclipse of the North Atlantic
• Hitting Planetary Boundaries
• The Information Revolution
• The Quest for Sustainable Development
• Global Governance for Sustainable Development
• Shared Global Vision and Ethics