Geopolitical Rivalry, Development, and Global Capitalism, 1900-1950

This course uses geopolitics, empire, and development as prisms to examine the economic history of the globe from the First World War to the dawn of the postcolonial age. We first first trace how states and populations the world over grappled with the economic effects stemming from the First World War itself and the breakdown of the prewar order. From we move into the interwar period and analyze the attempts by various actors in US, Europe and Asia to contest the economic realities of the 1920s/30s. Thereafter, we study total war economies and economic reform in the age of decolonization.