Major Problems in North America Since the End of the Cold War

General:

Instructor: Mgr. Jiří Pondělíček

Office Hours: Wednesdays 12.30 pm - 2.30 pm (Room J3078)

Email: jiri.pondelicek@fsv.cuni.cz

Type: Lecture/Seminar

Conclusion: Exam

Requirements:

· Regular Attendance (i.e. one absence without an apology), 15%

· Weekly Readings, 15%

· Presentation (one text from the list below), 20%

· Final Paper (1500 to 2100 words paper on the topic of your choice), 50%

Course Plan:

October 3 Introduction, Course Plan, Requirements

The End of the Cold War and the Unipolar World

· Who won the Cold War?

· What does the victory mean?

· The world policeman, really a change?

October 10 The End of History, did the Liberal Democracy Become the Norm?

· Challenges to liberal democracy in NA and globally

· BRICS

· Rise of China

October 17 Unilateralism

· Operation Desert Storm

· Coalition Building

· NATO invasion of Afghanistan, U.S. led invasion of Iraq

October 24 NAFTA (U.S.)

· Is NAFTA a success story?

· Is it destroying jobs in the U.S.?

· Who benefits?

October 31 NAFTA (Canada and Mexico)

· FTA (ELA)

· Free trade impact on rural Mexico

· An uneven deal?

November 7 Race Relations (U.S.)

· Historical perspective: Los Angeles riots, Million Man March

· Police brutality and #BlackLivesMatter

· Race and criminal justice: how to overcome mass incarceration?

· How to empower the disempowered?

· President Obama and the black community

November 14 Race Relations (Canada, Mexico)

· Aboriginal Peoples

· Assembly of First Peoples (Canada)

· Zapatista Movement (Mexico)

November 21 Energy Policy

· Unconventional Oil and Gas

· Canadian Tar Sands

· US Shale Gas Revolution

· Environmental Issues (Keystone XL)

· https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/02/us/north-dakota-oil-pipeline-battle-whos-fighting-and-why.html?_r=1

November 28 Deindustrialization, Globalization

· Rust Belt

· Ontario

· Working class jobs

December 5 Income Inequality

· U.S.

· Canada

· Mexico

December 12 Populism

· Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders - party hijackers

· White working class identity

· Jacksonian tradition

December 19 U.S. - Canada - Mexico relations

· Current issues and opportunities

· Migration

· Security