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Governance And Society Courses - Page 19

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Understanding Korean Politics
This course will select six most outstanding issues in contemporary Korean politics and will engage in an in-depth, interactive inquiry of those issue. They include Korean politics in history, institutional setting of Korean politics, and dynamics of political culture in Korea, profiles of political leadership, myth and reality of the developmental state and the Korean economic miracle, and debates on Korean unification. The course will expose students to contending theories and empirical reality at first hand. After completing this course, learners will be able to 1. Grasp the most salient and timely aspects of Korean politics.. 2. Place South Korean politics in comparative perspectives. 3. Digest a delicate mix of theory and practice regarding Korean politics. 4. Come up with new interpretations of political development in South Korea. 5. Most importantly renew their genuine interests in Korea and Korean politics.
Planning for Climate Change in African Cities
Climate change poses a threat to economic growth and long-term prosperity of many countries around the world. Africa is not an exception, considering the actual and potential impacts of climate change and climate variability that will threaten its vulnerable sectors and human populations. African countries are projected to experience changing rainfall patterns, rising sea levels, and higher temperatures that will affect food security, agricultural production, water availability, and public health, among others. These climate change impacts and climate variability can further produce social and political problems, such as rural-urban migration and water resource disputes. Furthermore, the low levels of development in many African countries, as well as limited institutional, infrastructural, and technical capacities to respond successfully to climate change impacts and climate variability, can exacerbate the situation. In terms of contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, although African countries are the lightest polluters, it has also become apparent that alternative energy sources can offset the increasing energy demand and dependence on biomass. Addressing climate change offers possibilities for low-carbon development. Moreover, there are promising mechanisms that can address both climate change actions and development goals simultaneously. At the city level, strengthening resilience, or the ability to respond to and absorb the effects of a hazardous event in a timely and efficient manner and to sustain this ability in the future, and adaptation; the process of adjusting to actual or expected climate change stimuli or their effects, should be at the forefront of planning. Local governments have an important role to play through the provision of adequate infrastructure, regulation of land use, and other public services that are crucial for urban resilience. Mobilizing local governments, in collaboration with national governments, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations, among others, is also critical for an integrated multi-sectoral approach to climate change. The Course on Planning for Climate Change in African Cities provides the foundation for understanding cities’ exposure and sensitivity to climate change, and how cities can manage these impacts in the face of growing uncertainty. It does so by introducing the basic concepts of urban resilience and adaptation, by using illustrative case studies in different African cities. Furthermore, this module provides lectures on the different approaches for climate change planning, whether ad hoc, strategic or mainstreaming; introduces the different steps in the planning cycle – from initial assessment to monitoring and evaluation; and presents the different decision support and assessment tools for prioritizing climate change actions. This course broadens the discussion on planning for climate change by engaging learners to apply their knowledge and practice their decision-making skills in a simulated exercise. In line with development that minimizes the harm caused by climate change impacts, while maximizing the many human development opportunities presented by a more resilient future, we ask: what are the connections between urban risk and vulnerability? How is climate change and urban resilience conceptualized and applied in practice? Which policies and measures should be introduced to address climate change? Finally, how to choose among different measures that address climate change adaptation, urban resilience, and other development objectives? Course Objectives: At the end of this course, learners should be able to: • Recognize the effects, impacts, and drivers of climate change in cities • Understand the drivers of urban risk and vulnerability in the context of climate change • Distinguish the typologies, approaches, and tensions of climate change adaptation • Explain the different approaches and steps in climate change planning • Examine the decision support and assessment tools for climate change • Develop a climate change plan based on participants’ city contexts
Global Health: An Interdisciplinary Overview
This course proposes an overview of current global health challenges drawing on the insights of several academic disciplines including medicine, public health, law, economics, social sciences and humanities. This interdisciplinary approach will guide the student into seven critical topics in global health.
Russian Invasion of Ukraine Teach-Out
The armed conflict in Ukraine first started in the beginning of 2014, when Russia invaded and annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea. Over the past eight years, there has been ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, with regular shelling and skirmishes occurring along Russian and Ukrainian borders in the eastern part of the country. On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, plunging the entire country into war and sending shockwaves across the world. With casualties mounting and over one million Ukrainians fleeing the country, the need for dialogue and de-escalation have never been higher. In this Teach-Out, you will learn from a diverse group of guest experts about the history and origins of war in Ukraine, its immediate and long-term impacts, and what you can do to support people in this growing humanitarian crisis. Specifically this Teach-Out will address the following questions: - How did we get here? Why did Russia invade Ukraine? - What historical and cultural contexts do we need to know about in order to understand this conflict? - How is cyber and information warfare impacting the conflict in Ukraine? - What can be done to stop this war? - How can we support Ukrainian refugees and displaced peoples?
Shaping Urban Futures
If we are to make sense of the future of humanity, we must understand the future of the city. For some scholars the 21st century globe will see the most significant change of human history - the move of most of the world to live in cities - a planetary urbanism that has changed the way we live globally, the way we organise ourselves economically and the impact humanity has on our environment in an age that we consequently now describe as the Anthropocene. Most of the urban growth on the planet will be in the global South and this is where we concentrate the attention of this course, drawing on the work of a five-year programme known as PEAK Urban, involving a collaboration of researchers from China, Colombia, India, South Africa and the United Kingdom. The PEAK Urban programme aims to aid decision-making on urban futures by: • Generating new research grounded in the logic of urban complexity; • Fostering the next generation of leaders that draw on different perspectives and backgrounds to address the greatest urban challenges of the 21st century; • Growing the capacity of cities to understand and plan their own future. Shaping Urban Futures aims to demonstrate how complementary research projects have applied the PEAK Urban framework – Prediction, Emergence, Adoption and Knowledge – to uncover interrelated issues of health, climate change, migration and informality in places that will face the biggest challenges from rapid unplanned urbanisation. This course consists of 6 modules, with an Introduction and a Closing module sandwiching 4 core modules. Each module involves around 5-6 hours of learning. To get the best out of the course, learners are encouraged to view all the video lectures and conversations, go through other learning material, work on all the assignments and assessments, and participate in discussions in a constructive and respectful manner. By the end of this course, you will be able to: • Recognise the new urban sciences that are driving our understanding of urbanisation across the world • Examine carefully how we should understand how to trace, examine and explore the ways new social, economic and environmental changes emerge and reshape the working of the city • Visualise how technological change is adopted, adapted and deployed differently in variable city contexts • Understand how best to intervene in urban futures through sharing urban experiences and contributing to the coproduction of knowledge to enrich and strengthen knowledge exchange in cities This course is designed principally for people working in cities who want to make a difference and for all urban scholars, from early career researchers to veteran urbanists and everyone in between. This course will also hopefully inspire workers in local government, community organisations and the private sector as well as urban scholars to build upon the experiences of a global network to develop their own methods and frames to view, interpret and define urban changes in their local geographies and contexts.
Intelligence Tools for the Digital Age
Digital technologies are changing business, government and society worldwide. Clearly, they’re opening up new risks and opportunities for every sector of the world economy. Such “futurology” may offer you the big picture, but what does a digital world mean for you, personally? Will you be ready for an automated, AI-assisted, big-data-driven employment future? This course provides you an answer to these questions, and it does so from a unique perspective: by introducing you to the world of intelligence analysis. First, this course explains some of the skills that will command a premium in the digital age, and why. Then, it offers you mental models and practical frameworks developed by the US intelligence community to give you a cognitive edge understanding the digital world. This edge is not about spying or secrets. It’s about better thinking. This analytic toolkit has nothing to do with tired, static MBA-style strategy frameworks. Instead, these tools to help you come to grips with the volatility, uncertainty, ambiguity and deception of the digital age. Ultimately, this course makes the case that as the world becomes more digital, your future success depends most of all on asking better questions of both yourself and others. Therefore, it teaches you how to adopt an intelligence analyst’s question-asking mindset. In short, take this course to acquire a sustainable business advantage through clearer, more structured thinking.
Electric Vehicles and Mobility
The purpose of Electric Vehicles and Mobility is to help you, whatever your profile, your training or your country, find your own answers to questions such as: - Will electric vehicles be the last to be allowed in megalopolises in the 21st century? - Does the environmental gain from vehicle electrification justify heavy investment in charging infrastructure? - Are electric vehicles only for wealthy people in developed countries? This course will allow you to acquire elements from engineering science, sociology, environmental science, political science, economics, management science, in order to evaluate, analyze and implement the diffusion of electric vehicles where their use is relevant. This MOOC is the English version of Mobilités et véhicules électriques; in the lecture videos, the teachers speak in French, nevertheless their presentation is in English and English subtitles are available. Groupe Renault and ParisTech schools have been working together for almost 15 years on topics related to sustainable mobility. Together, they created two Master programs (Transport and Sustainable Development in 2004, Mobility and Electric Vehicles in 2010) and the Sustainable Mobility Institute Renault-ParisTech in 2009, to support ongoing changes. Electric Vehicles and Mobility is the result of this shared history and was developed from a course delivered within the Master Mobility and Electric Vehicles, led by Arts et Métiers ParisTech in partnership with Ensta ParisTech, Mines ParisTech and École des Ponts ParisTech.
Understanding Violence
We are so pleased to have you join us as we investigate this crucial topic. Violence is a leading cause of death, disability and health care use worldwide. Violence is a complex problem and can only be understood and reduced though a multidisciplinary approach. This course introduces you to experts who study different forms of violence and we will discuss the various causes of violence. You will also learn about efforts to reduce violence and engage in a day of compassion. We are very fortunate that PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER is participating in our course. He delivers a lecture on the efforts of the Carter Center to end violence around the world, and he engages in a discussion with us about his life and work in human rights. Do join us for short videos, readings and discussions. And also see our coffee chats, where we (Pamela and Deb) summarize and reflect on each module. And we want to hear from you! Feel free to reach out via Twitter or through the course, or through our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/understandingviolence01/.
Cybersecurity Policy for Water and Electricity Infrastructures
This course will examine the drinking water and electricity infrastructures, and various policies that have been developed to help guide and strengthen their cybersecurity programs. The drinking water and electricity infrastructures are two of fourteen subsectors comprising what are known as "lifeline infrastructure". The 2013 National Infrastructure Protection Plan identifies four lifeline infrastructure sectors: 1) water, 2) energy, 3) transportation, and 4) communications. These sectors are designated "lifeline" because many other infrastructures depend upon them. The drinking water subsector is part of the water sector, and the electricity subsector is part of the energy sector. Both subsectors are overseen by the Department of Homeland Security National Protection and Programs Directorate which manages the DHS National Infrastructure Protection Program. The NIPP employs a five-step continuous improvement program called the Risk Management Framework. NIPP implementation is overseen by DHS-designated Sector-Specific Agencies staffed by various Federal departments. The Sector-Specific Agencies work in voluntary cooperation with industry representatives to apply the Risk Management Framework and document results in corresponding Sector-Specific Plans. The program began in 2007 and the most recent Sector-Specific Plans were published in 2016. In February 2013, President Obama issued Executive 13636 directing the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop a voluntary set of recommendations for strengthening infrastructure cybersecurity measures. EO13636 also asked Federal agencies with regulating authority to make a recommendation whether the NIST Cybersecurity Framework should be made mandatory. The Environmental Protection Agency who is both the SSA and regulatory authority for the drinking water subsector recommended voluntary application of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. The Department of Energy who is both the SSA and regulatory authority for the electricity subsector replied that it was already implementing the Electricity Subsector Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model, which indeed was what the NIST Cybersecurity Framework was based on. The Department of Energy, though, recommended voluntary application of the ES-C2M2. This module will examine both the drinking water and electricity lifeline infrastructure subsectors, and elements and application of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and ES-C2M2.
Climate change and Indigenous People and local communities
Climate change is a global phenomenon, but its impacts vary among different social groups, who perceive and adapt to climate change impacts in different ways. In this course, you will: a) understand the different debates around climate change impacts on Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLC); b) familiarize yourself with different impacts of climate change on IPLC, with the IPLC understanding of climate change impacts and with their strategies to adapt to climate change; and c) learn about different strategies to incorporate Indigenous peoples and local communities in climate change research and policy. The course includes a theoretical and a methodological component, through which you will learn methodologies to conduct research on Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ perceptions of climate change impacts.