Syllabus: GLOA 101, Intro to Global Affairs

Summer 2026, Online Asynchronous

Update log

1 Instructor

  • Byunghwan ‘Ben’ Son (bson3@gmu.edu)
  • Office Hours
    • The class is online asynchronous. By design, there are no particular office hours. Instead, your email will be answered within 24 hours (except for the weekend). Please do not use the Message function within Canvas. All communications happen through GMU emails. For security reasons and in compliance with the University regulations, non-Mason emails will not be responded. Likewise, I don’t email you asking for any personal information. If you receive any such email, report it to Mason IT (click ‘Report a Security Incident’).
    • You can email me whenever you want, but my responses to the emails sent to me after 5 pm weekdays as well as any time during the weekend will be significantly slow.
    • For your own interest, you might want to try to use the normal working hours (9 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday). In your email, please indicate who you are and which class you’re in (i.e., GLOA 101).

2 Course Description

Three decades ago the terms “global” or “globalization” were rarely employed in academic or non-academic conversations. Today the terms are firmly etched in the popular imagination. This merits asking: in what sense has our world suddenly become “global”? What was our world before it became “global”? What is Globalization? How does Global Affairs help us understand Globalization and make sense of our changing world and engagements across the globe? In this course we will examine logics and architectures of contemporary global affairs and globalization – including agents, actors, institutions and social structures. We explore common questions including: what do we talk about when we talk about globalization and global affairs? The class serves as an introduction to the study of global affairs and aims at helping students establish analytical tools to understand global issues.

2.1 What you’re getting from this course

Taking this course fufils two Mason Core requirements (Global Understanding/Contexts and Justice Societies). What a deal! 😎

2.1.1 Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

  • Apply key terms of global studies to assess the study of global issues and our own position in these structures.
  • Articulate and analyze the multi-faceted cultural, political, economic, and environmental dimensions of globalization that shape, and are shaped by, interconnected global processes.
  • Reflect critically on everyday representations of global issues and challenges, articulate possible solutions, and common obstacles.
  • Apply an interdisciplinary lens to evaluate the representation of how global issues and potential solutions affect places and peoples unevenly/unequally across the world.
  • Engage in analysis and dialogue with classmates about how global aspects of justice, diversity, inclusion, and equity have defined the historical global relations and continue to operate in our vastly disparate contemporary global context.
  • Develop their own academic reading and writing skills: to identify in their own work and in that of others the elements of a strong academic analysis.

2.1.2 Global Understanding

This course also fulfills the global understanding requirement in the Mason Core (applies to those entered Mason before Fall 2024). It is designed to help you to meet at least three of the following learning outcomes at the completion of the course:

  1. Identify and articulate one’s own values and how those values influence one’s interactions and relationships with others, both locally and globally
  2. Demonstrate understanding of how the patterns and processes of globalization make visible the interconnections and differences among and within contemporary global societies
  3. Demonstrate development of intercultural competencies
  4. Explore individual and collective responsibilities within a global society through analytical, practical, or creative responses to problems or issues, using resources appropriate to the field (These goals are quoted from the Mason Core website)

2.1.3 Global Contexts

This course also fulfills the global context requirement in the Mason Core (applies to those entered Mason in or after Fall 2024). Upon completing a global context core course, students will be able to:

  1. Identify and explain how patterns of global connections across nations and/or cultures have shaped societies to create interdependence and inequality.
  2. Use a disciplinary lens to demonstrate knowledge of how at least one nation and/or culture participates in or is affected by global contexts.
  3. Apply an understanding of one’s own positionality within a globally interdependent and unequal world to analyze solutions to global problems.

2.1.4 Justice Societies

Upon completing a Just Societies Flag course, students will be able to:

  1. Define key terms related to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion as related to this course’s field/discipline and
  2. Use those key terms to engage meaningfully with peers about course issues.
  3. Articulate obstacles to justice and equity, and strategies for addressing them, in response to local, national, and/or global issues in the field/discipline.

3 Course Requirements

3.1 Canvas

(There will be a brief video posted in the first week as to learn you way around our course page in Canvas.)

The first and foremost thing you have to do whenever you come to the course page is to check the Modules menu. Pretty much all the things you’d need (e.g., lecture videos, links to the assignments, weeakly learning subjects) will be put up there. Other stuff in the page is also important and it is your responsibility to get yourself familiar with it.

You are required to get in to the course page at least four times a week. Given the way the assignments are structured, it would be really hard not too.

3.2 Required Textbook

You are asked to complete all the readings no later than the end (and preferably, the beginning) of each weekly module (see below for the Section 4). The importance of reading in higher education cannot be overstated. Much of the learning takes place while you’re completing the readings. Our class serves to affirm what you’ve already learned from the reading. These readings are NOT available in the University Bookstore. An e-book version of the textbook is available for free in the library. If you prefer a hard copy, you can purchase it online very easily. Either way, you’re responsible for securing the readings before the end of each module.

  • Smallman, Shawn C., and Kimberley Brown. 2020. Introduction to International and Global Studies. 3rd ed, Revised and Expanded. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. (Referred to as ‘SB’ in Section 4)
    • Additional articles are assigned. These will be made available in Canvas.

3.3 Video Creation

This course asks you create quite a few videos. The preferred ways of making videos in this course are through online video-sharing platforms such as YouTube or Vimeo . Kaltura Media in Canvas is also a strong option. You can take these very simple steps:

  • Record a video using your cellphone (simplest) or other video device. There are numerous videos in YouTube (e.g., like this one) which can help you record, you know,a YouTube video.
    • Upload the video to a platform such as or . If you used Kaltura, you can directly post it to our course page.
    • You can make the video indiscoverable to random people of the internet if you want (e.g., ‘unlisted’ option in YouTube)
    • Just copy a link to this video.
    • Finally, post to Canvas a link to your video.

There’s no extra point for a fancy-looking video (But IF you’re into it, here’s an easy first step). Nor will there be any punishment for a crude one (as far as clarity is there). But you have to show your face for identification. It’s okay if you wear sunglasses and masks.

Alternatively, you can use Kaltura, which is embedded in Canvas. Follow these step-by-step procedures here. You can also upload your video or record new video from a mobile device and upload it directly to Canvas in this course using Kaltura.

NEVER directly upload a whole video file (such as .mp4, or .mov). There are security and efficiency reasons not to do so. Files submitted in this kind of format will not be graded.

3.4 Assignments and Final Exam

3.4.1 My Views on Globalization (, ‘MVG’ in Section 4)

The first MVG is not graded and worth zero % of your class grade. If not submitted, however, there will be reduction in grades in accordance with the late submission policy. The second MVG, due in W5 (11:59PM, Tuesday), is worth 5 % of your class grade.

To complete My View of Globalization, you will be asked to create and submit a short video. In making these videos, you should keep in mind:

  • The length should not be longer than five minutes.
  • Discuss your own opinion and/or experience of globalization with specific examples. You can talk about your personal experience or a subject you read/heard/watched.
  • There is no specific format as long as you can demonstrate that it is your original work.
  • Avoid offering a generic discussion. The more specific your story, the better.
  • Incorporate one or two of our class readings into your discussion. Choose it from the readings assigned up to the point. So MVG #1 might only be related to the first week’s reading, but MVG #2 could be talked about any of the readings.

3.4.2 Critical Review (, ‘CR’ in Section 4)

  • Each CR is worth 8 % of your class grade (5 CRs \(\times\) 8 % = 40 %).
  • Deadline: Wednesday midnight (11:59 PM) unless otherwise specified.

Case Review is to critique/correct/expand/supplement a short essay written by a large language model (LLM) such as ChatGPT or Gemini. You will be given several such essays and asked to choose one (and only one), to which you will offer your comments (hence ‘review’). These comments include:

  • to criticize specific parts of the essay.
  • to correct any wrong information presented in the essay.
  • to offer an example(s) for what the essay discusses.
  • to provide things that could be added.

An example as well as a video instruction can be found in Canvas (‘Modules > Module #1’ – available on the first day). The assignment entails quite a bit more reading of your own than the required reading materials for each weekly module. To prevent you from wandering around in a complete wilderness, there will be a list of further reading each week. These are not required readings, but if you don’t want to start from scratch, they should be helpful. Instead of reading it line-by-line, pay attention to their reference sections to see any helpful sources.

Here are things you have to keep in mind while completing this assignment.

  • Use the ‘Track Change’ (what is Track Change?) of Microsoft Word. As a Mason student, you have free access to MS Office, including Word (see the instruction if you don’t have the program already). When submitting the file, be sure to keep the Track Change ‘on’ and choose ‘All Markups’ option.
  • Do NOT submit a separate paper/essay. Instead, each part of your review should clearly identify which part of the AI-generated essay it is talking about. This can be easily done by using the ‘comment’ function of the Word.
  • The comments can be your opinions. But include citations and references if your comment involves other sources. Use author-year style for citation. Either Harvard or APA is acceptable. This is where the optional readings (see Section 4) may come in handy.
  • No footnote citations.
  • Do not submit a Page file. Only an MS Word (again, you have free access to this!) file is acceptable.
  • Be constructive and polite as if you are giving your feedback to your colleagues.
  • At least six different comments (the more, the better) need to be made. A good review would include some–if possible, all–of these:
    • Comments based on academic sources (the more, the better)
    • Specific examples (the more specific, the better)
    • Clear writing
    • Combining critique/expansion/supplement instead of focusing on one type of comment.
    • Insightful comments

3.4.3 Video Essay (, ‘VE’ in Section 4)

  • Each VE is worth 5 % of your class grade (4 VEs \(\times\) 5 % = 20 %).
  • Reflecting on your CR, make a video essay on the very topic the CR is about.
    • For example, if CR is a critique on AI-generated texts on the relationship between the World Bank and development, make a video about what you think about that topic.
    • The video should be longer than 1 minute and shorter than 4 minutes.
  • Deadline: Sunday midnight (11:59 PM) unless otherwise specified.

3.4.4 Final Exam (35%)

We have one final exam, which will take the form of an essay. A link that contains the essay question(s) will be made available on the left-hand side of our Canvas page (‘Assignment’ tab) 24 hours in advance (that is, 11:59 AM 6/23). The submission will be completed in the same link no later than 11:59 AM, 6/24. Do NOT consider this a ‘take-home exam,’ which would take a very long time to complete. Instead, this would be a typical final exam that takes 2-3 hours on average. We are taking this exam online only because, you know, it’s an online class. You are given 24 hours because I want to give you some flexibility (life happens!). Therefore, barring medical emergencies, there shall be absolutely no extension for this deadline.

The exam will be exclusively about the course readings and lectures. No matter how good a point you offer, answers based on non-class materials will not be graded.

4 Schedule

This course consists of five modules. Each module takes one week (seven days, Monday through Sunday) to complete. At the beginning of each week (7:00 AM, Monday), the week’s module is made available in Canvas. In our Canvas page, simply go to “Modules” (on the left-hand side menu). This is where things start and end. I strongly recommend that you also review the GMU Academic Calendar for Summer 2026. Ours is Session A.

week Topics Readings Assignment
W1 (5/18-24) Introduction: What is Globalization SB Chs. 1 & 2*; Poast (2022)* MVG #1, CR #1
W2 (5/25-31) Economic Globalization SB Chs. 3 & 6*; Broz et al.; Lang & Tavares (2018); Noorudding and Woo (2015); The United Nations (2017) CR #2, VE #1
W3 (6/1-7) Political Globalization SB Ch. 4*; V-Dem (2024)*; Luhrmann & Lindberg (2019); Davis and Morse (2018) CR #3, VE #2
W4 (6/8-14) Global Conflicts, Crimes, and Terrorism SB Ch. 7*; Huth et al. (2011); Jo & Simmons (2016); Jablonski and Oliver (2012); Harding and Nwokolo (2023) CR #4, VE #3
W5 (6/15-21) Global Environment & Health SB Chs. 9 & 11*; Kallis et al. (2018); Son & Belling (2022); Daoud et al. (2017) MVG #2, CR#5, VE #4
6/23-24 Final Exam Available in Canvas ('Assignment') 24 hours
  • Those with * are required readings. Others are optional, though they might still be helpful.
  • Deadlines
    • MVG #1 and #2: Tuesday of W1 and W5 (midnight)
    • CR: Wednesday (midnight), all weeks
    • VE: Sunday (midnight), all but W1
  • the PDFs of non-SB book will be posted in Modules (Canvas)
    • Poast, Paul. “The ‘Golden Age’ of Globalization Is Officially Over”, 2022. Available at https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/china-us-trade-war-globalized-economy/.
    • Broz, J. Lawrence, Jeffry Frieden, and Stephen Weymouth. “Populism in Place: The Economic Geography of the Globalization Backlash,” 2019. Working Paper. Available at: https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/jfrieden/files/populism_in_place_v1.3_0.pdf.
    • Lang, Valentin F., and Marina Mendes Tavares. “The Distribution of Gains from Globalization”, 2018. Published: IMF Working Paper. 18-54. Available at: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2018/03/13/The-Distribution-of-Gains-from-Globalization-45722.
    • Nooruddin, Irfan, and Byungwon Woo. “Heeding the Sirens: The Politics of IMF Program Participation.” Political Science Research and Methods 3, no. 1 (2015): 73–93.
    • V-Dem Institute. Democracy Report 2024: Democracy Winning and Losing at the Ballot, 2024. https://v-dem.net/publications/democracy-reports/.
    • Lührmann, Anna, and Staffan I Lindberg. “A Third Wave of Autocratization Is Here: What Is New about It?” Democratization 26, no. 7 (2019): 1095–1113.
    • Davis, Christina L, and Julia C Morse. “Protecting Trade by Legalizing Political Disputes: Why Countries Bring Cases to the International Court of Justice.” International Studies Quarterly 62, no. 4 (2018): 709–22.
    • Huth, Paul K., Sarah E. Croco, and Benjamin J. Appel. “Does International Law Promote the Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes? Evidence from the Study of Territorial Conflicts since 1945.” American Political Science Review 105, no. 2 (2011): 415–36.
    • Jo, Hyeran, and Beth A. Simmons. “Can the International Criminal Court Deter Atrocity?” International Organization 70, no. 3 (2016): 443—475.
    • Jablonski, Ryan S., and Steven Oliver. “The Political Economy of Plunder: Economic Opportunity and Modern Piracy.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 57, no. 4 (2012): 682–708.
    • Harding, Robin, and Arinze Nwokolo. “Terrorism, Trust, and Identity: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Nigeria.” American Journal of Political Science 68, no. 3 (2024): 942–57.
    • Kallis, Giorgos, Vasilis Kostakis, Steffen Lange, Barbara Muraca, Susan Paulson, and Matthias Schmelzer. “Research on Degrowth.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 43 (2018): 291–316.
    • Son, Byunghwan, and Nisha Bellinger. “The Health Cost of Autocratization.” Journal of Development Studies 58, no. 5 (2022): 873–90.
    • Daoud, Adel, Elias Nosrati, Bernhard Reinsberg, Alexander E Kentikelenis, Thomas H Stubbs, and Lawrence P King. “Impact of International Monetary Fund Programs on Child Health.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114, no. 25 (2017): 6492–97.

5 Course Policy

5.1 Grading Scale

Point.Total Letter.Grade
93.00 or higher A
90.00 - 92.99 A-
87.00 - 89.99 B+
83.00 - 86.99 B
80.00 - 82.99 B-
77.00 - 79.99 C+
73.00 - 76.99 C
70.00 - 72.99 C-
60.00 - 69.99 D
59.99 or lower F
  • There will be no ‘round-up.’ If, for example, the total points earned is 92.99999 it still is A-, not A. So give your 100%. Don’t leave anything behind that you will regret.

5.2 Assignment Submission

  • Late submissions will be penalized with a reduction of 5% of the assignment grade per day. Assignments submitted on the same day after the class will be considered one day late. Weekends and holidays still count here (for example, a Monday submission of an assignment that was due Friday will be considered three days late). Beyond twelve days from the submission, the grade penalty for any late assignments will be equally 60%.
  • If you are submitting a document file (i.e., MS Word), please include 1) your name (seriously!), 2) date of submission, 3) word count, and 4) title.
  • NO early submission. Do not submit assignments early. Strictly adhere to the weekly module. That is, do not submit an assignment any earlier than 96 hours before its deadline. One letter-grade reduction will accrue from an assignment not complying with this rule.
  • This is redundant, but: Please do not upload a video file itself (e.g., .mp4 or .mov) or a link to the file via Google Drive or Dropbox directly to Canvas. There are legal and ethical issues here. Video submissions made in these forms will not be graded. You should use the Canvas-built in Kaltura or instead a video-sharing service like YouTube or Vimeo. If you are using the likes of YouTube, you can simply submit a link to the video. Simple as that.

5.3 Attendance / Make-up

Given the online, asynchronous nature of the course, there is no attendance. Instead you’re required to visit our course page in Canvas at least four times a week (see Section 3.1). If, by the end of this class, you have not visited our course page in Canvas more than 15 times (and spent more than 15 minutes each time), there will be a 10% reduction of the total grade.

To obtain the extension, you must submit to me a written request (i.e., email) that identifies the date and cause of the emergency. This written request must be submitted no later than 24 hours after the designated deadline. No extension can be granted after the completion of the end of the final exam (i.e., June 24).

5.4 Extra Credits and Incompletes (‘I’)

Following the [general guideline](http://chss.gmu.edu/faculty}, there well be no extra credits to be granted in this class to improve grades. Likewise, ‘incomplete’ is granted only under extraordinary circumstances such as medical emergencies and the student is already on the path toward a successful completion of the course (e.g., 90% completion of the course). According to the Mason regulation, ‘I’ cannot be used just in anticipation of an unsatisfactory grade.

5.5 Request of Regrading

If it is a simple calculation/typing error at my end, students can point me to it any time during the semester. For all other matters, students must wait 24 hours after receiving a grade or graded work before approaching me about the grade. If the student disagrees with the grade assigned, they can request re-grading by simply emailing me clearly stating which assignment/item they wish to be re-graded. Upon the request, I will reassess the entire assignment/exam. The grade can increase, decrease, or remain the same as a result of this re-grading.

5.6 Academic Honesty

The principle of academic integrity is taken very seriously in this class. George Mason University has Academic Standards Code (‘Honor Code,’ previously) with clear guidelines regarding academic integrity: Unauthorized Assistance, Fabrication, and Plagiarism are strictly prohibited.

Plagiarism is of particular concern: 1) all work submitted must be your own; 2) when using the work or ideas of others, including fellow students, give full credit through accurate citations. While collaboration and learning from others, especially established scholars in the field is not only encouraged but also required, using someone else’s words or ideas without giving them credit is plagiarism. If you quote directly from any text, you MUST use the exact words (including punctuation) just as the words, phrases, and sentences appear in the original text. You must also follow proper citation rules to indicate that you are quoting directly from a text. If you paraphrase ideas, that is, convey the author’s ideas in your own words, you must still cite the source, using an established citation format. Otherwise, even if you did not copy and paste the text, it still counts as plagiarism. In this class, APA Style is strongly preferred (use these resources: Style Guide; Online Citation Generator).

Your intentions do not matter; if certain sentences/phrases of someone that is not you are used without citation, it is plagiarism even if you did not mean to do it. The re-use of papers, presentations, and other materials from one course in another course is not appropriate unless the instructor permits. I expect that submitted work has been prepared for this class only. In that sense, I strongly advise against consulting those student essay webpages where you can ‘sample’ some of the examples; they are generally a mishmash of plagiarized texts, which will put you in a double-whammy of Plagiarism and Unauthorized Assistance. When in doubt, ask me for clarification. GMU provides a range of services to help with test anxiety, writing and study skills, personal issues, and other concerns.

5.7 AI usage policy

AI, artificial intelligence, refers to the Large Language Models such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Deepseek or all other programs that are essentially based upon them. With the recent updates and development, Grammarly is also included in this mix. Using any computer program for any assignment (including the exam) in this class in part or in its entirety will be considered Plagiarism and Unauthorized Assistance. Don’t use AIs to come up with better prose. This is not a literature class and you won’t be graded on how beautiful your writing is. Don’t use AIs for proofreading–proofread your work yourself. Some people may be tempted to use the likes of ‘humanize AI,’ which is not a great idea because they generally are built on algorithms trained on old data. They tend to be one-step late and leave known traces–known to me at least.

The reason for this ‘AI ban’ is simple. This course, just like most others, is training. In training, processes matter. Seemingly wasteful practices such as navigating the internet for hours to hunt down the information you need or struggling with prose that actually helps you make the point you have are essential processes for training. By resorting to computer programs, you are selling away these processes (and thus your education). AI could be used in some great ways (such as large-scale text classification, which I use in my own research), but this class has nothing to do with it.

5.8 Civility and Privacy

In this online asynchronous class, maintaining a respectful and courteous learning environment is essential. Because we do not meet in person, written communication is our primary mode of interaction, making it especially important to be polite, constructive, and mindful in all discussions and exchanges. Personal attacks, disrespectful language, or dismissive behavior will not be tolerated. Additionally, to protect the privacy of all participants, students must not share course materials—including discussion posts, video lectures, or any content posted on Canvas—outside of the course platform without explicit permission. This helps ensure that everyone can engage in the class with confidence and mutual trust.

5.9 Accommodation

Any accommodation should be communicated to me through the Office of Disability Service (ODS). Requests without the ODS documentation cannot be accommodated (see Section 6).

5.10 Other Policies

All other policies not specified in this syllabus follow the policies of GMU. See the details in the following links.

6 Important Resource

  • GMU Library: There are two libraries on Fairfax Campus: Fenwick and Johnson Center. You should be acquainted with these locations and how to use the library online catalog and databases. If you need any help with the library please do not hesitate contacting the library staff.

  • Counseling Services: (703-993-2380; SUB I, Room 3129) provides individual and group sessions for personal development and assistance with a range of emotional and relational issues. In addition, the Learning Services Program (703-993-2999) offers academic skill-building workshops as well as a tutor referral service.

  • Office of Disability Services: (703-993-2474; SUB I, Room 2500) assists students with learning or physical conditions affecting learning. If you qualify for accommodation, the ODS staff will provide a form to give to your instructor at the beginning of every course. If you have a documented learning disability or other condition that may affect the academic performance you should: 1) Make sure this documentation is on file with the Office of Disability Services to determine the accommodations you need; and Talk with me to plan your accommodation needs, especially regarding exams.

  • Student Technology Assistance and Resource (STAR) Lab: Johnson Center 229; 993-8990; http://media.gmu.edu

Disclaimer: There are many links in this syllabus to YouTube videos and web documents for various purposes. I do not have any personal ties with any of the producers of these videos/documents. Nor do I benefit from them in any possible way. They are chosen simply because they tend to be intuitive and concise.