Course description
Global trade, communication, travel, and governmental coalitions are reinventing the concept of “the nation,” leaving national borders increasingly unstable and amorphous. In keeping with Hampshire’s interdisciplinary structure and focus on contemporary questions, our faculty encourages students of international relations and globalization studies to look beyond the study of nation states to the broader context of cross-national and cross-cultural influence and power.
Students explore the relations of economic change to cultural adaptation and political movements both within specific countries of their choosing and as part of a global reorganization after the Cold War.
Students may pursue interests such as immigration, economics, population policy, agriculture, or global music within a study of international relations and globalization studies.
Sample First-Year Course
Political Economy of Fair Trade
This course will provide an introduction to a dynamic and important part of the international economy: Fair Trade. Fair Trade is a strategy for transforming international markets to support small-producer livelihoods, build cooperative-based rural economies, and ensure ecological sustainability in endangered agricultural regions. Fair Trade links socially conscious consumers to democratically organized small producers through third-party certifications and social enterprises. In this course, we will understand Fair Trade as an attempt to correct the inequities of the post-colonial, neo-liberal economy. We will examine the historical roots of Fair Trade, compare and contrast Fair Trade with conventional supply chains, and place Fair Trade in a broader context of rural development. We will then critically examine the system?s virtues and limitations as a non-governmental, consumer-driven intervention in the global commodity market. Students will have the opportunity to communicate with movement participants and develop hands-on projects.
Sample Courses at Hampshire
America & the World: The Global Debate Over U.S. Hegemony
Atomic History, Hiroshima to Iran
Biopower, Biopolitics & Bare Life
Border Matters: Mexico & the U.S.
China Rising: Reorienting the Twenty-first Century Conflict Resolution & Historical Analysis
Environmental Policy in a Time of Globalization
Evolution of International Regimes: From the League of Nations to Kyoto
Global Resource Politics
Interrogating Fear: Bioterror, the Environment & the Construction of Threats
Israel & Palestine: The Clash of Nationalisms
The National Security State: Covert
Operations in American Foreign Policy from the Cold War to the Present
North-South or South-South? International Economic Relations in the Age of Globalization
Oil & the Transformation of Arab Economies
Public Diplomacy
Women & Politics in Africa
World Trade & the WTO
Through the Consortium
Contemporary Europe (AC)
International Political Theory (UMass)
Middle East Politics (MHC)
Perspectives on War (SC)
Political Leadership in International Relations (MHC)
Seminar in Comparative Government (SC)
World Politics (AC)
Facilities and Resources
Students pursuing an interest in international relations and globalization can be certified through the Five College International Relations Certificate Program. To do so, students must complete courses on introductory world politics, global institutions or problems, the international financial/commercial system, the historical development of the international system since 1789, contemporary American foreign policy, and the Third World. Students must also become proficient in a foreign language through the completion of two years of study at the college level or the equivalent.
The Hampshire-based Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies (PAWSS) is a multidisciplinary educational program designed to stimulate student and faculty interest in the study of critical international issues. PAWSS is a highly diversified program entailing the development of new courses, the sponsorship of public lectures and symposia, the publication of specialized resource materials, and the support of student internships. PAWSS also plays a role in supporting the development of peace studies programs at colleges and universities throughout the United States.
The Global Migrations Program at Hampshire seeks to rethink old cold war paradigms of knowledge and citizenship in light of the unprecedented movements of persons across national and cultural borders that characterize our globalizing world. The program seeks to develop new curricular initiatives that are responsive to these transnational, multicultural movements and the local conflicts over identity, belonging, and citizenship to which they give rise. Students are able to study more traditional subjects within international relations, as well as courses designed to focus on migration and movement over discrete nations and cultures; courses that “emphasize ‘routes’ over ‘roots’.”
The Global Education Office (GEO) at Hampshire presents a variety of opportunities for students to incorporate a study-abroad experience into their Hampshire education. GEO also assists with locating and planning study abroad through other programs, fellowships, colleges, or individually designed field study programs.
