Commerce (the exchange of products, services, money, and information) has become increasingly common and international. To understand both aspects of modern commerce, imagine living only with items you grow and create yourself and consider the quantity of food, products and information that you use and consume that originated in another part of the globe. Such a thought experiment will likely conjure up a lifestyle quite different from the one most of us lead.
This globalization of commerce has also increased the exchange of cultures and norms, perhaps leading both to greater understanding of other ways of life and a certain homogenization of previously disparate ways of life. Additionally, the economic pressures of global commerce have driven many individuals to pursue opportunities in untraditional ways (e.g. factory or computer-based work instead of farming) and locations (e.g. migrating to urban centers). In these and other ways, global commerce and its pressures are transforming the world in which we live.
The impact of these transformations is the topic of discussion in this area of Global Issues. We will examine this impact by attempting to answer a single question: “Will Global Commerce Lead to World Peace and Prosperity?” As you will observe from the four lectures in this Area of the course, the question is complex and open to a wide range of interpretations. As with the other two Areas of Global Issues, answering it will afford us an opportunity to read, think and write critically about the character of our contemporary world.
Lecturer:
Dr. Reuben Domike
Lecture Title - Area Three:
"Global Commerce Contributes Positively to Peace and Prosperity"
Dates:
November 2 - November 8, 2011
Lecturer:
Dr. Christian Lacroix
Lecture Title - Area Three:
"Food For All"
Dates:
November 9 - November 15, 2011
Lecturer:
Dr. Doreley Coll
Lecture Title - Area Three:
"It's Business Baby! Sweat Shops, Child Labour, Human Trafficking, Narco Wars, Refugee Camps and Ecological Disasters: Welcome to the New World Order"
Dates:
November 16 - November 22, 2011
Lecturer:
Dr. Gil Germain
Lecture Title - Area Three:
"Cosmopolis: The Promise and the Peril"
Dates:
November 23 - November 29, 2011
