While the world has been moving increasingly towards greater inter-connectivity through trade, infrastructure, communications, and migration, criticism of ‘globalisation’ has been growing ever louder, with many blaming it for inequality, cultural marginalisation, and political disaffection.
In this wide-ranging course you will examine ‘globalisation’, exploring its origins and development, its features and criticisms, and its current manifestation as a world ‘system’ incorporating international commerce, NGOs, and the United Nations; you will look at some of the responses to globalisation, from populist political movements like Brexit and Trumpism to diverse transnational social movements such as Black Lives Matter and the Arab Spring of 2011; and you will investigate the development of identity consciousness in politics, from religious or ethnic nationalism to the politics of sexual identity. At this time of radical questioning of the premises and aims of ‘globalisation’, this course will engage with ethical and theoretical constructs to help us understand better the different dynamics we are examining. It is the perfect course for students seeking to understand some of the most significant political phenomena of our time.
Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) is a combined interdisciplinary area of study which has been taught at the University of Oxford since the early 20th century to equip students with the breadth of expertise required to understand and influence the world around us.
