Davit Sahakyan

IPE: GATT to WTO trade transitions, political cleavages from trade, power dynamics in international trade.

Great course especially for those who don’t have an extensive background in economics but want to learn about it. Davit’s lectures are extremely interesting and engaging. He is friendly and has a funny banter.

I learned about global contexts of development and how globalization has affected and continues to impact the world. Several theories with great examples. Learned how to synthesize articles and develop research methods. New perspective on benefits of globalization.

Really only did work the weeks of assignments, which took a day of locking in but no more.

I learned about different developments brought about by globalization, trends in global power dynamics, and the challenges faced by developing countries under the globalized system.

I would definitely recommend this class if you're looking for an easy A. However, I wouldn't say I learned a ton from this class—the lecture styles are pretty disorganized, and we often didn't get through more than a couple slides about the topic officially assigned to the lecture. The style was more conversational, which was really fun and engaging at times, but also led the conversations away from productive discussions pretty frequently. That being said, the assignments were really quite easy, and it wasn't necessary to do the readings. Two 700-word summaries of readings (those you need to read, but short!), in-class debates that are graded quite leniently, and a final essay. The material itself was really interesting but the organization could have been better.

I learned that everything is not as it may seem - context, nuance, and historical patterns are paramount when assessing proper economic policy moving forward. I blindly accepted neoliberal trade values as foundational to modern economics, and while i still do align with neoliberal values, i understand it is not applicable in every circumstance. i.e.; nascent economies trying to develop and compete with already developed economies. Could go on forever. Great stuff.

I really enjoyed this course. It was a wonderful fusion of international politics and economics, and I learned a lot about globalization, international trade, and how the global economy influences foreign affairs. Additionally, Dr. Sahakyan is a wonderful professor. He is very kind, and his lectures are informative and easy to follow. He also was always willing to answer questions and make himself available to students. The workload was also good, especially for a 4 point course. The grading is well-distributed over several categories so that alleviated some of the stress from each individual assignment. Everything was graded very fairly as well. If you're interested in international affairs and economics, this is definitely a good course for you.

I learned about the evolution of globalization through methodology, case studies, and literary articles. We learned about the condition of developing countries in the greater world sphere and the conditions that created the international environment today. I learned about international political economy outside solely the context of the United States which was a good experience because it allowed us to consider the growing prevalence of industrializing countries like BRIC.

Learned a lot about how different aspects of IPE work in concert with the general international economy