Peqod :: Classes - Columbia University Catalog of Classes

Open to MPA-DP Only.
The term ‘sustainable development’ evokes a multiplicity of meanings and consequences: Leave no one behind, earth justice, one planet, inter-generational equity and green development, to name a few. There is no single body of academic work we can point the keen student to. Instead, we need to examine weaves of thought across social, economic, political, ecological and environmental spheres, to get a better sense of the emergent understandings of sustainable development.

Paradoxically, the interest in sustainable development has never been higher. At the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015, leaders of 193 countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Some months later, in December, the Paris Climate Agreement was adopted supporting the objectives of sustainable development to help establish an upper limit for human-induced global warming to ‘well-below 2-degree C’ and for ‘pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degree C’. The COVID-19 pandemic and measures to contain it has exposed the deep fault lines of inequality that run through societies; requiring profound reflection on the idea of ‘progress’ and on the kind of development that is needed.

Despite the thicket of ‘sustainable development’ meanings, national leaders in 2015 were responding to the immense social, economic and environmental challenges we are facing. With the world at around eight billion people and an annual economy (GDP-Purchasing Power Parity) of around US$147 trillion, human impacts on the environment have reached dangerous levels. By 2050 there will likely be around ten billion people, sharing in a highly unequal manner a global GDP that will likely be double the size of current GDP. By sustainable development, the leaders were emphasizing the need for economic prosperity to be achieved simultaneously with social inclusion and environmental sustainability, both in the now and the future.

The SDPP is an overview course
. It examines the intertwined nature of the economic, social and environmental strands of thoughts and ideas that loosely constitute the constellations of ‘sustainable development’. Further, the course investigates key challenges and transformational ideas/conceptions that are needed to advance sustainable development in the 21st Century. In the final third of the cours

Department: International and Public Affairs
TR 9 a.m.-10:50 a.m.
3 points

Details

INAF U6043

International Capital Markets

Priority Reg: IFEP Concentration.
By the end of this course, students will have an up-to-date picture of how institutional investors and financial intermediaries provide capital globally to start-up companies, established companies, households, and governments. You will be able to read the Financial Times or the Wall Street Journal, understand most of the terms, and pick out some of the folk wisdom that does not fit with economic theory. You will be ready to use risk management tools, including derivatives, options, futures, and asset-backed securities, if they arise on the job. Additionally, you will understand the economic role of hedge funds, collateralized loan obligations, SPACs, private equity, private credit, and securitization. You will gain insight into the important role of mathematical models and their limitations for practitioners in modern finance. The course will enable you to follow debates on Libor reform and the move in the U.S. to SOFR, regulation of hedge funds and banks, and international tax issues. You will understand the origins and transmission mechanisms of the financial crisis and be able to assess the policy responses around the world. Furthermore, you will appreciate how central banks are grappling with post-pandemic inflation and the implications for securities pricing.

We will not delve deeply into why a firm might prefer fixed or floating-rate debt or determining the desired mix between debt and equity, as these topics are covered in corporate finance classes. Nor will we discuss why consumers borrow or lend to smooth out consumption over their life cycle, which is a topic for microeconomics. Finally, we will leave government borrowing and monetary policy to macroeconomics and political science classes. However, we do need to keep abreast of monetary policy to anchor our understanding of interest rates and the yield curve. Our primary concern in this class is how participants in capital markets get things done.

Department: International and Public Affairs
T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
M 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
Instructor: Richard Robb
Info
3 points

Details

INAF U6045

Global Media: Policy Lab and Innovation

Global Media: Innov & Econ Dev

This course looks at media around the world and some of the difficulties that journalists face, as well as solutions. We will look at a bit of history and theory in order to understand the role the media plays and how it can be supported. We will focus on a few basic interrelated themes: media innovation, media sustainability, investigative reporting, and the more recent problem of online disinformation and how generative AI may upend journalism.

Guest lectures will be given by people at the cutting edge of media innovation and investigative journalism in both profit and non-profit organizations. Some of your work will be read by organizations working on media policy. We have a track record of helping them with our research.

Practical questions will be essential to this course: How do you build a media outlet that can be sustained financially? What is the evolving role of the donor community and media philanthropy? Who are the innovators in the quality media landscape around the world, and what does it take for them to succeed? What policies can be adopted by governments and donors to support public service media? We start from the position that media freedom of expression and safety of journalists are essential, and we will consider both the soft and hard pressures on journalists and the effect that financial upheaval and digital technology are having on free expression. We will also look at current threats to journalism, questions of viability and sustainability, and how AI could upend media ecosystems.

This course is more relevant and urgent than ever. Because of the rise of “democratators” around the world and the ongoing repression of the media, we will necessarily discuss the role of demagogues, the need for regulation of the tech giants, and how to support the media as a Fourth Estate. The financial crisis faced by the media has worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic, but this means the search for solutions has become more intense and the field is awash with big ideas and creative thinking. It’s an exciting time to think about why journalism matters and what policies will help preserve it.

Department: International and Public Affairs
W 11 a.m.-12:50 p.m.
3 points

Details

INAF U6046

Historical Approaches in the Social Scie

Historical Aprchs Scl Scn

Department: Sociology
R 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
Instructor: Peter Bearman
CULPA: 19 Wikipedia h-index: 54 Info
4 points

Details

SOCI GR6049

Art and Artists in Society: Theory and P

Department: Arts, School of the
R 2 p.m.-5 p.m.
Instructor: Carol Becker
Wikipedia Info
3 points

Details

ARTS AR6050

CAPSTONE: Conflict Analysis Models

Conflict analysis is central to understanding the context and content of any conflict. It is also critical for the person doing the conflict analysis to have a good understanding of who they are as a conflict resolution practitioner, including the frames with which they view the conflict analysis. Our worldviews, assumptions, values, and beliefs shape how we frame and create meaning from conflicts that we choose to examine, and how we understand the dynamics of those conflicts. Therefore, to conduct an impartial analysis of any conflict, and add value for the stakeholders involved, self-awareness is crucial.

This course is the foundation for developing the necessary mindset for conflict analysis. We want you to be able to enter any situation and ask the question, “What is really going on here?” and to use that inquiry to uncover underlying needs, issues, and assumptions. In this course, in addition to increasing your self-awareness as a conflict resolution practitioner, you will explore and become familiar with diverse conflict analysis approaches and tools, beginning with creating a conflict map to identify the actors, dynamics, and structures that are creating, escalating, and perpetuating the conflict. You will work with a variety of conflict analysis tools to examine the stakeholder perspectives and will be asked to identify issues that surfaced as a result of this analysis. You will define goals for your inquiry that correspond to the conflict issues you have identified and coalesce thematically around a specific purpose of appropriate scope for your capstone study. You will utilize the Coordinated Management of Meaning and Case Study frameworks to engage in desk-based qualitative inquiry using secondary sources. You will put theory into practice by interpreting the secondary data through the lens of applicable theory. The data will be further analyzed using CMM models and conflict analysis tools as a means of surfacing several needs to be addressed in your intervention design (in the next capstone course).

This course is the first of three (3) required courses of the capstone sequence.
In 6050, students will complete conflict analysis for their capstone case study.
In 6250, students will design an intervention that addresses the needs identified in their earlier analysis. In 6350, students will consider sustainability, as well as monitoring and evaluation strategies for their proposed intervention.

Department: Negotiation & Conflict Resolution
S 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Instructor: Amy E Sereday
Info
3 points

Details

NECR PS6050