New World (Dis)Order: The State and Society in an Age of Populism and Protest CAPA: Global Cities Program Spring 2023 Semester - London

This course will explore historic, recent, and contemporary trends in the political authority invested in the nation-state and its agencies, and contrast this with social and political forces expressing discontent with the status quo. Students will examine ideas for greater global governance and explore ideas on local autonomy and radical action on such matters as policing, systemic racism, carbon consumption, the rising use of surveillance technology, and the free-market assumptions that underpin Western societies. The course will also examine the phenomenon that has been labeled 'populism' and the discontent with the current form of globalization as well as the fragmentation of the West-centric global order in light of an increasingly multipolar world and the rising economic and political dynamism of China.