17.905 Forms of Political Participation: Old and New (MIT)
How and why do we participate in public life? How do we get drawn into community and political affairs? In this course we examine the associations and networks that connect us to one another and structure our social and political interactions. Readings are drawn from a growing body of research suggesting that the social networks, community norms, and associational activities represented by the concepts of civil society and social capital can have important effects on the functioning of democracy
21H.405J The Ancient City (MIT)
This course focuses on the archaeology of the Greek and Roman city. It investigates the relationship between urban architecture and the political, social, and economic role of cities in the Greek and Roman world, by analyzing a range of archaeological and literary evidence relevant to the use of space in Greek and Roman cities (e.g. Athens, Paestum, Rome, Pompeii) and a range of theoretical frameworks for the study of ancient urbanism.
21H.311 The Renaissance, 1300-1600 (MIT)
The "Renaissance" as a phenomenon in European history is best understood as a series of social, political, and cultural responses to an intellectual trend which began in Italy in the fourteenth century. This intellectual tendency, known as humanism, or the studia humanitatis, was at the heart of developments in literature, the arts, the sciences, religion, and government for almost three hundred years. In this class, we will highlight the history of humanism, but we will also study rel
17.436 Territorial Conflict (MIT)
This graduate seminar introduces an emerging research program within International Relations on territorial conflict. While scholars have recognized that territory has been one of the most frequent issues over which states go to war, territorial conflicts have only recently become the subject of systematic study. This course will examine why territorial conflicts arise in the first place, why some of these conflicts escalate to high levels of violence and why other territorial disputes reach set
14.41 Public Economics (MIT)
This course examines the role of the public sector in the economy. The aim of the course is to provide an understanding of the reasons for government intervention in the economy, the extent of that intervention, and the response of private agents to the government's actions.
21F.704 Spanish IV (MIT)
Spanish IV aims at developing and improving student's oral and written communication through the continued study of the language, literature and culture of Spain, Latin America and Hispanic communities in the United States. It also seeks to improve students' ability to read and appreciate literary and non-literary texts in Spanish, deepening this way students' awareness and understanding of the cultural diversity of the Spanish-speaking world. The course is organized by themes based on contempor
SP.772 Internet Technology in Local and Global Communities (MIT)
This course is based on the work of the MIT-African Internet Technology Initiative (MIT-AITI). MIT-AITI is an innovative approach by MIT students to integrate computers and internet technology into the education of students in African schools. The program focuses upon programming principles, cutting-edge internet technology, free open-source systems, and even an entrepreneurship seminar to introduce students in Africa to the power of information technology in today's world.MIT-AITI achieves this
HST.930J Social Studies of Bioscience and Biotech (MIT)
In this course, social, ethical and clinical issues associated with the development of new biotechnologies and their integration into clinical practice is discussed. Basic scientists, clinicians, bioethicists, and social scientists present on the following four general topics: changing political economy of biotech research; problems associated with the adaption of new biotechnologies and findings from molecular biology for clinical settings; the ethical issues that emerge from clinical research
11.969 Workshop on Deliberative Democracy and Dispute Resolution (MIT)
The Workshop on Deliberative Democracy and Dispute Resolution, sponsored by the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and The Flora and William Hewlett Foundation, is a two-day conference that brings together dispute resolution professionals and political theorists in the field of deliberative democracy.
17.918 New Global Agenda: Exploring 21st Century Challenges through Innovations in Information Techn
This workshop is designed to introduce students to different perspectives on international politics in the 21st century. Students will explore how advances in information technology are changing international relations and global governance through opening new channels of communication, creating new methods of education, and new potentials for democratization. We will consider the positive and negative externalities associated with applications of such technologies. Students will be encouraged t
Domestic Violence, Shari'a, and Women's Rights: (with Lisa Hajjar)
This talk by Lisa Hajjar focuses on the issue of domestic violence in Muslim societies in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The analytical framework is comparative, emphasizing four factors and the interplay among them: shari?a (Islamic law), state power, intrafamily violence, and struggles over women?s rights.
Caplan on the Myth of the Rational Voter
Bryan Caplan, of George Mason University and blogger at EconLog, talks about his book, The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies. Caplan argues that democracies work well in giving voters what they want but unfortunately, what voters want isn't particularly wise, especially when it comes to economic policy. He outlines a series of systematic biases we often have on economic topics and explains why we have little or no incentive to improve our understanding of the world
Brady on Health Care Reform, Public Opinion, and Party Politics
David Brady of Stanford University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about American public opinion on changing the health care system. Brady discusses the impact of taxation on public opinion toward health care reform--if the poll includes a measure of the likely increase in taxes necessary to pay for expanding coverage, support for expanding coverage drops dramatically compared to generic polls that ignore costs. He also discusses the role of the party system and partisanship for the health
Munger on Many Things
Mike Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about many things. Listeners sent in questions for Mike and Russ to talk about and they chose ten of the most interesting questions with the idea of talking about each for six minutes. The topics are the scarcity of clean water, asset bubbles, the role of Fannie and Freddie in the financial crisis, can a business pass a tax on to its customers (or maybe even its workers), compassionate food, the study of economics, how to choos
Ritholtz on Bailouts, the Fed, and the Crisis
Barry Ritholtz, author of Bailout Nation: How Greed and Easy Money Corrupted Wall Street and Shook the World Economy, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the history of bailouts in recent times, beginning with Lockheed and Chrysler in the 1970s and continuing through the current financial crisis. In addition to the government role in aiding ailing companies, Ritholtz also looks at the role of the Fed in discouraging prudence through its efforts to keep asset prices and the stock market a
Sumner on Growth and Economic Policy
Scott Sumner of Bentley University and the blog, The Money Illusion, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the last 30 years of economic policy and macroeconomic success and failure. Sumner argues that there was a neoliberalism revolution beginning in the 1980s around the world, an era of deregulation, privatization and falling marginal tax rates. Sumner argues that the states that liberalized the most had the most successful economic results. Roberts argues that it is difficult to assess
Richard Epstein on Regulation
Richard Epstein of New York University and Stanford University's Hoover Institution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the current state of the economy, particularly the regulatory climate. Epstein argues the current level of regulation is producing unusually high costs. He digs more deeply into the pharmaceutical industry and discusses various regulations and alternative ways to encourage drug safety and innovation.
Israel and the Middle Eastern Mud - Part 1
Point of View Seminars on International Conflict February 12, 2008 Ian S. Lustick, Bess W. Heyman Chair in Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania POV Seminar Series hosted by Nadim Rouhana, ICAR Faculty
The Middle Class Bent at Radio 4? - Mark Damazer
Mark (born 15th April 1955) is the controller of Radio 4 and BBC 7 in the United Kingdom. He trained at ITN in 1980. He joined the BBC World Service as a current affairs producer in 1981. From 1982-4, he worked at ITV on TV-am, returning to BBC News in 1984. He joined Newsnight as an editor in January 1986. In August 1988, he became deputy editor of the Nine O’Clock News, becoming editor in 1990. In 1994, he became Editor of Television News Programmes, then Head of (what became) Current Affai
Is there a Crisis in World Journalism? Dr Suzanne Franks
Suzanne Franks is Director of Research at Kent University’s Centre for Journalism. At the start of her journalism career she worked with the BBC as a researcher on documentaries and then joined the Television Current Affairs department, producing programmes such as Newsnight, Watchdog, The Money Programme and Panorama. In the 1990s she started an independent production company, Sevenday Productions, which was awarded the first outside contract for the televising of Parliament. She was based in
