This course will provide an historical perspective for selected contemporary global issues. The aim of this course is to understand the variety of ways that the past has been brought into and understood in the present, rather than a comprehensive survey of a limited time and place. Students will also learn about the core concepts of history, culture and globalization which will be discussed in the context of the contemporary global issues that are the focus of each class. Each semester instructors will select pertinent 'global issues' for inclusion in this course (one topic per section).

1. Accumulation of knowledge: a. Historical rise and fall of power with geographic information; and b. Cultural influences by the power balance. 2. [Re-] Recognition of the present world (why and how the world is as it is). 3. Learning how to analyze historic changes academically. 4. Being able to apply an academic analysis to another example.