POLIS 2139 - The State of the World: Post Covid-19

The Covid-19 crisis has reignited questions about major global issues, such as: population numbers, food security, climate change, living standards, global heath, human rights, economic globalisation, and neoliberal capitalism. This course explores these and other related themes, including global political dynamics and policy responses, to provide a comprehensive picture of the post Covid-19 state of the world. The course takes its point of departure (and the inspiration for its title) from the annual reviews of the state of the world issued by international agencies and non-governmental organisations, such as the World Bank, the Worldwatch Institute, the World Health Organisation, Amnesty International, and many others. The course content is explored through the geopolitical distinction between the global North (the developed world) and the global South (the developing world), paying particular attention to the majority of the world’s population i.e. the people living in the global South. There are two overriding narratives that traverse the whole course. The first is the relation between economic development and environmental sustainability, and the global attempts to generate formulas for sustainable development. The second is the relation between the state (the public sector) and the market (the private sector), and the ways in which both can contribute to tackling the major issues regarding the state of the world. The central questions the course will explore include: Is there a global population problem? Is there enough food to feed the world? Is climate change the main global challenge? What are the major threats to global health? Is education the main solution to global problems? How can we achieve global human development? Does official development assistance (i.e. foreign aid) work? Can non-governmental organisations work where governments have failed? Is free trade (or fair trade) the solution to global poverty? How will the world emerge from the Covid-19 crisis?