The international system is often assumed to be anarchic, i.e. ruled by none. States are formally sovereign, there is no global policeman and war is frequent. At the same time, some states are clearly more powerful than others, some regions richer than others, some societies more developed than others, some cultures more dominant than others. Thus despite formal anarchy and the political equality among states and societies that it implies, there is nonetheless a pervasive international hierarchy born of unequal political -economic relations, domination and exploitation at the global level. This course seeks an understanding and explanation of imperialism-this hierarchy and the politics which build and sustain it-from a critical or radical perspective. Some key questions asked in the course include: Is the US the Roman Empire of the 21st century? Is free trade the path to wealth or dependency? What role do writers and intellectuals play in building an empire? Does Western consumerism facilitate imperialism? Is an environmentally friendly global capitalism possible? We will approach these and many other questions by way of various Marxist and Marx-inspired interpretations of global capitalism and the international political economy, including classical Marxism, dependency theory, world systems theory, Gramscian approaches, political ecology, feminism and post -colonial studies, studying the evolution of theories of imperialism as well as imperialism itself. Format: discussion. Requirements: discussion questions, short essays, final paper, class participation. Prerequisites: Political Science 202 or consent of instructor. Enrollment limit: 21 (expected: 19). Preference given to juniors and seniors. International Relations and Theory Subfields