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, i.e. this hierarchy and the politics which build and sustain it, primarily from within the broad critical or (neo)Marxist tradition. The course is both historical-tracing the evolution of imperial policies from the late nineteenth century to the present, the political-economic effects of such policies, and the ever-evolving efforts of scholars influenced by Marx to understand and explain them-as well as contemporary-interested in the current fashion of both the right and the left to identify the United States as an imperial power for the twenty-first century. Key questions asked in the course include: Is the US the latest incarnation of the Roman Empire? Is 'free trade' a pathway to wealth or dependency? What role do writers and intellectuals play in building up an empire? Does Western consumerism facilitate imperialism? Are environmentally friendly practices in the Global North only possible as the result of exporting environmentally destructive practices to the Global South? Format: seminar. Requirements: weekly short critical papers, discussion questions, final research paper, class participation. Prerequisites: senior standing, Political Science major, two classes in International Relations, permission of instructor. Enrollment limit: 16 (expected: 16). International Relations and Political Theory Subfields