B391 Themes in World History: The World in the 20th Century (IU Online)
Diana Lin
Fall 2022

Office: Arts and Sciences building 2051, IU Northwest
(O)219 980 6981
Email: dchenlin@iun.edu
Website: https://dchenlin.pages.iu.edu

Objective:

This course explores some of the important themes in twentieth and twenty-first century world history, including the connections between politics, nationalism/imperialism and energy resources, (geo)politics and religion, the polarization of the North and the South, East and West, and the impact of global economy on all the above issues. Students are expected to develop a deeper understanding and a historical perspective of the main themes of the 20th century world through the course.

Course Outcomes:

• Familiarity with the important themes and trends in 20th century world history
• Ability to understand current world events from a variety of perspectives
• Ability to interpret world events through appropriate comparisons and connections with other historical events
• Ability to do historical research on world events through 1) scholarly sources such as Current History and Foreign Affairs, and other scholarly sources available through the search engines on campus, and 2) media sources that are generally accepted as balanced in reporting, e.g. the New York Times, Time magazine.
• Ability to write research essays that interpret certain world events guided by themes and trends and the interpretive frameworks discussed in class.

Required Readings:

All required readings are online articles accessible from the Canvas Syllabus.

 Learning Materials Available via Canvas:

• Canvas Syllabus with links to online readings, relevant videos, journals, newspapers and recorded lectures.

The following web sites provide relevant information on the areas of the world covered in this class.

BBC's The story of Africa. 
PBS Commanding Heights website
New York Times International News
China and Europe, 1500-2000 and beyond.
Current History where many of our online readings for this class are taken from.
Japan Focus

Suggested library resources: (under Resources A to Z): 
ABI-Inform, JSTOR, Project Muse

Requirements:

The following are requirements for this class:

• Two take-home papers including two paper drafts. Paper topics are available at the end of each lesson. You can also choose your own topic.
• Weekly VoiceThread assignments
  Each VoceThread assignment is based on the instructor's recorded discussion of a reading; you are to post two comments on the recorded lecture.
• Weekly discussion questions. Answers to the questions are to be posted on Canvas assignments, with links in the Canvas syllabus.
  • Each Discussion question should be answered in TWO ways: by posting your answer and posting TWO critique/commentaries on two other people's posting.
    1. Your grade for each question is based on both your posting and your comments.
    2. Your weekly answers and two responses to others' postings are due by 10:59pm central time on the following Sunday night, e.g. your answers to Discussion Question 1 for week 1is due at 10:59pm on Sunday Aug.28. The length of your essay should be 500 words each. Each response should be 50-75 words.
    3. Your answer and comments should follow the criteria in the discussion question grading rubric.

Method of grading: all grades are assigned in percentages, which will be tabulated at the end of the semester and converted to letter grades. The averages of your take-home papers and of your weekly writing assignments will be taken to represent the grades for your take-home paper and weekly writing assignment. The conversion is as follows: 93-100: A; 90-92.9: A-; 85-89.9: B+; 80-84.9: B; 75-79.9: B-; 70-74.9: C+; 65-69.9: C; 60-64.9: C-; 55-59.9: D+; 50-54.9: D; 45-49.9: D-; 44 and below: F.

Grade distribution is as follows:

Weekly discussions: 35 percent
Two take-home paper drafts: 15 percent
Two take-home papers (6-7 pages each): 35 percent VoiceThread assignments: 15 percent

All grades will be shown in your Online Gradebook, accessible via Canvas. 

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
Every attempt will be made to accommodate qualified students with disabilities (e.g. mental health, learning, chronic health, physical hearing, vision neurological, etc.).  You must have established your eligibility for support services through the Student Support Services Disability Services office, located in Hawthorn Hall, Rm. 237.  You may call 219-980-6941 for information or e-mail nwsss@iun.edu.  Note that services are confidential, may take time to put into place and are not retroactive; captions and alternate media for print materials may take three or more weeks to get produced.  Please contact your campus office as soon as possible if accommodations are needed.

Class Schedule:

Week 1 (Aug.22-28)

Lesson 1. The changing role of the state in economy and politics

Goals for week 1: A review of the power of the state in different parts of the world from the 1930s to the 1960s-70s, focusing on the expansion of state power globally.

Readings and requirements for week 1:

I. Introduction. 

II. The Great Depression, totalitainism in Italy and Germany, and government intervention in the economy in liberal democratic countries. Reading: History online:1. FDIC: Transcript of Speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt Regarding the Banking Crisis - March 12, 1933; 2.Franklin Roosevelt and the expansion of presidential power. Optional readings: Keynesian economic theory; Keynes, the sunny economist; Hayek's road to serfdom.

III. Growth of government power world-wide after World War II. Online Maps: African National Independence map. Map of India, India before Partition.Online readings: 1.The birth of the British welfare state; 2. Labor nationalizes the heights; 3.Developments in Africa and Asia after World War II; 4.Development economics after World War II; 5.Nationalization in third world countries. 6. Germany's "Ordoliberals".

Discussion question 1: From reading parts II and III (at least one reading from each part), can you find some patterns in the expansion of the role of the state in the world from the 1930s to after 1945? Your essay needs to cover at least two countries or regions, and include three examples.

Week 2 (Aug.29-Sept.4)

Readings part I. A global switch to free market economy and reduction of government intervention in society. Online readings: 1. Latin America and Dependencia Theory, 2.The birth of privatization; 3.Economic lessons (from Margaret Thatcher) by Antonio Martino (scroll half way down), Optional reading 1. Britain in further reform under David Cameron, optional reading 2..Nixon tries price controls, Optional reading 3. Reaganomics.

Readings part II. East Asia's entry to global market economy. Online reading: "The visible hand the state and east asias economic growth," Optional reading 1: The future of China's party state," Optional reading 2. Japans slow motion transition

Discussion question 2: From parts I and II (at least one reading from each group), describe the pattern the world switched from a more state controlled to a more market oriented economy. In the Asian countries where the state continues to play an important role, does the market matter, if so, in what way?

Week 3 (Sept.5-11) 

Goals for week 3: Examine the rise of Communism in Eastern Europe after 1945, and the dismantling of Communism around 1990.

I. Communism and state control of society. Online readings: 1 .Soviet Economic Policies. Optional reading: 1. Cold War History , 2. The Berlin Air Lift 3. The Formation of the NATO and Warsaw Pacts 4. Czechoslovakia under Communism, 5. Romania's Road to Communism.

II. The downfall of Communism and Communist countries' road to a market economy. Online readings: 1. The Revolution of 1989 Reconsidered2.Russia's Economic Reform Muddle. Optional reading: Poland and Romania after Communism.

Discussion question 3: From groups I and II (at least one reading from each group), name two chief differences between state control in Communist countries and in liberal Western countries. Also, give at least two examples to explain whether the disintegration of Communism led to a smooth transition to capitalism in the former Communist countries.

Week 4 (Sept.12-18)

Lesson 2: The emergence of a global community and a multi-centered world: nationalisms, civilizational and religious movements and confrontations in an era of globalization.

Goals for weeks 4 & 5: Understanding the rise of Middle Eastern political power in the form of OPEC that rocked Western political hegemony in the 1970s against a background of British colonialism after WWI. If the world after 1945 became a multi-centered world (from a Western dominated world) as Huntington put it, OPEC would be one of the first new non-Western centers. Understanding the role of religion in contemporary society. Learn to synthesize and analyze the different interpretations of how religion affects modern societies along with a number of other factors.

Readings:

I. Nationalism and the Middle Eastern states. Online reading: Britain's Middle Eastern Policy after World War I. Optional reading: Israel's First Fifty Years.

II. The rise of OPEC to contend with American and European hegemony in the Middle East. Online reading: Energy Shock Oil and the Economy

Discussion question 4: From parts I and II (at least one reading from each part), how did the rise of OPEC rock Western hegemony in the Middle East? You should provide a historical background of European colonialism in the Middle East (at least two examples from part I), and provide a clear description of the political change that OPEC brought about in the world.

Week 5 (Sept.19-25)

Interpretations of cultural and religious conflicts. Readings:

I. Religion and civilizations in the new global order. Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations."

II. Nationalism and "ethnic cleansing:" the disintegration of Yugoslavia and other Eastern European states. Online readings: 1. Why Yugoslavia Fell Apart. Optional reading 1.Nationalism Redux. Optional reading 2: Eastern Europe's Painful Transition.

Discussion question 5:Reading parts I and II provide both clashes of culture and religion after communism in the case of Yugoslavia (Part II), and interpretations of such clashes (Part I). In fact, the article written by Huntington in Part I was inspired by events in Yugoslavia discussed in Part II. Draw on both parts to discuss the pros and cons of the theories about culture and religious clashes with examples from part II. (500 words)

Week 6 (Sept. 26-Oct.2)

 Goals for week 6: Explore the causes of cultural clushes beyond inter-cultural clashes.

Reading for week 6:

I. Are civilizational clashes avoidable in a global culture. "Jihad vs. McWorld," and"The Coming Anarchy."Optional readings: U.S. targets Somali pirates. A journey through Egypt after the revolution; How despots stay in power.; Why Egypt is not Turkey; Demise of the dictators; The Middle Eastern Revolutions in Historical Perspective

II. Understanding Islam and the Middle East. Online readings: "Radical Islam liberal Islam." Optional reading 1:"Fixing the Middle East's Economies;" Optional reading 2: Activism and Reform in Islam.

Discussion question 6: The authors provide different perspectives on cultural clashes. Authors Barber and Kaplan believe these clashes have much to do with factors other than culture but are reflected in culture, while Khan believes what are often perceived as cultural clashes between Islam and Christianity have much to do with internal dynamics of the Islamic religion are secondarily reflected in conflicts with Western culture. Which of these readings are more credible to you, please cite examples to back your argument. Name some factors that may help reduce cultural and religious conflicts. (500 words)
You also need to have a combination of two comments either to others' comments on your essay or on others' essays.

Week 7 (Oct.3-9)

Take-home essay 1 draft: Please read the following article, and address its argument that a global culture is possible because of the four global trends discussed by author Peter Berger. One of Berger's global trends, McWorld, was taken from Benjamin Barber's "Jihad vs. McWorld." But unlike Barber who believed Western pop culture and some local Islamic communities would come into conflict, Berger believes McWorld simply predominates and does not necessarily have a confrontational relationship with local cultures. Some kind of co-existence happens.
Paper topic: Based on our readings from Lessons 1 and 2, assess the arguments of Berger's positive views on the formation of global culture, with examples from the readings, and point out where Berger's ideas approach the truth and where, if any, of his ideas do not resemble reality and cannot be realized.

Peter Berger, "Four Faces of Global CulturePreview the document." Optional reading: Trump Era Populism: What the Davos Class Missed.

Week 8 (Oct.10-16) First take-home paper revision due.