Professor Hopkins
Political Science 47, Fall 2004
Global Policy and International Institutions: Hunger and Environmental Threats
This course provides a basic introduction to issues of food, famine and environmental problems arising from agriculture and poverty. It examines policies in both industrialized and less developed countries. Its purpose is to explore the food situation of individuals, families and nations and the consequences of this—upon people’s life, on the environment, and on resources. We will especially focus on implications of these for policy.
During the semester a major concern will be the factors shaping food security, such as a country’s farm policies, civil strife, technology, trade, weather, income distribution, macro economic policy choice, and the provision of collective goods (minimal guarantees, roads, markets). The effects of all the above factors on both outcomes for hunger and the environment are important [for example consider how agriculture causes water pollution and soil loss, how water is vital to growing crops and to our physical requirements; or consider how the rate of harm by chemicals used in agriculture is related to use of GM technology]. In this complex system we will attempt to understand the purposes and consequences of food-oriented policies viewing them as shaped and implemented by local, national and international policy-making bodies.
While the world now produces more food per person than ever before, enough to feed everyone adequately, an estimated 900 million people are hungry. This needless waste of human lives shocks many. Further, people who grow food or other agricultural crops -- farmers -- have become poorer in recent decades. In the US many have lost their farms; in Africa and Latin America farmers are frequently those most hungry. Often poor rural populations follow resource depleting strategies. We will examine various explanations to account for these outcomes and explore the justification (justice) of current policies.
Course Grading and Dates
There will be a final exam and a major "thesis" paper required. The final exam will be held just before Thanksgiving break. On Monday, November 24, there is an in-class exam; at its conclusion you will receive a take-home question due on November 26. A prospectus and bibliography for the paper will be due on Monday, November 3. An oral presentation of the paper's principal thesis (es) is to be given during the class periods following Thanksgiving break. The paper is due no later than the last day of the exam period.
The exam and paper (oral and written parts together) will count equally in the final grade. Class and “lab” performance will be weighed 20%. This will include one exercise to understand the basis for claims about who is hungry. Dates for completing major tasks are: prospectus: November 3; oral reports on December 1-10; “thesis” paper, December 22.
Books and Readings
We will use Blackboard for the course. Login and go to Int'l Policy:Hunger & Environment - F04. Seven books are proposed for the course. Six are available for purchase at the bookstore; three are recommended and one is suggested, two are quite optional. The three “text” type books are: 1] Phillips Foster and Howard Leathers, The World Food Problem (Lynne Rienner, 1999, 2nd edition). This is a comprehensive overview of the problem of undernutrition with a special focus on targeted policy interventions. 2] The second book is an essay on Prosperity and Violence (Norton, 2001) by Robert H. Bates. It offers some economic analysis of how state policy affects prosperity and hunger, and 3] the third book is International Agricultural Development edited by Carl Eicher and John Staatz (Third edition, Johns Hopkins Press, 1998). A suggested book is Famine Crimes by Alex de Waal (1997). Optional are: FAO, The State of Food and Agriculture: 2002 (Rome, 2002). It is available on Blackboard as #3 under course documents. This volume from the FAO contains an analysis of how pressures from population, economic growth and environment relate to one another and the environment). In the last section of the course we will consider globalization and intergovernmental and transnational organizations and networks. Readings are not yet determined. One might be Joseph Nye, Jr., The Paradox of American Power (Oxford, 2002). The above books are also on Library Reserve for PS47.
Most article readings will be on the Blackboard website. Under Readings you will find the four main topics on the syllabus, as well as four cases and the lab exercise. Eventually all assigned essays not in the three books recommended should be there. I will not be using the assignments section of the BB site. Under library resources, please help me add links useful for our course. For example, the site for the World Food Summit: http://www.fao.org/wfs/homepage.htm. There is also a web site for a book on violence and hunger--the monograph: To Cultivate Peace by Indra de Soysa and Nils Petter Gleditisch of the International Peace Research Institute of Oslo (1999).
Research paper
The paper you are expected to write should deal with some major policy issue. It may be confined to one country or organization or it may examine several. You should find a topic of substantive interest to you. Be sure there are library and/or data resources available to do a good paper. The thesis and scope of the proposed paper should be summarized in your prospectus, due in November. It is helpful to discuss your topic and approach with your instructor. Sample paper topics include the following: (1) Do feeding programs help end chronic hunger? (2) Does food aid help development (or is it a disincentive to development by lowering incentives to productive work or good policy)? (3) Has the green revolution been a success or failure? (4) Do food subsidies benefit or hurt particular goals, such as food security and environmentally friendly farming. (5) Does food production hurt the environment; if so, what can or should be done about it? (6) Is there a global right to food? And, if so, whose responsibility is it to provide this "entitlement"? (7) How successful are international programs aimed at protecting people’s access to food while encouraging “sustainable agriculture?” And (8) do conflict and democratic institutions explain the difference among countries in whether they feed people well and protect their environment? What does determine shortfalls in these “public” goods? You may wish to narrow such topics considerably. This is readily accomplished by focusing on one country or on a single aspect of the issues mentioned above.
Resources
In preparing your report, in addition to class readings, you will want to use the bibliography in various readings (e.g., Foster and Leathers). There are certain journals and sources of publications that will contain pertinent articles and/or information. These include World Bank publications, the UNDP’s Human Development Report 2001 and documents from the International Food Policy Research Institute and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Journals to peruse are:
Class/Special Activities
On most occasions, the first part of class will introduce a topic and provide background. The predominant method of reinforcing the readings is discussion. Completion of reading by the assigned date will facilitate class discussion. During the semester we will explore certain problems by means of films, “cases,” and an exploration in statistics of hunger. These occur during the Wednesday evening lab sessions. The case method of teaching is meant to encourage group efforts to understand a particular episode, drawing upon theories to explain and evaluate the case situation. Cases materials for four case studies are available on the Blackboard web page following the readings for four major parts of the course.
A Detailed copy of Syllabus and Weekly Assignments is available by clicking here. Suggested readings should be available in the library.