Course Description
Summary
This course focuses on imperial expansion and anti-imperial movements for self-determination in the eighteenth through twentieth centuries. Conceptualizing differences and similarities between modern and earlier empires, we will explore questions such as: What is the relationship between imperialism and the spread of capitalism? What are the political and economic factors that make empires rise and fall? Turning to the imperial histories of major commodities such as sugar, coffee, tea, and oil, we will analyze concepts such as free trade, protectionism, and dependency, as we explore the causes of global inequality. Finally, we will look at the extent to which empire remains an important concept for understanding the global political economic order today. The course will be taught as a Socratic seminar.
