PLSC 390 Poverty, Human Rights and Health [GEGA]

This interdisciplinary course examines international connections between poverty, human rights, and health, focusing on how social/political structures and public policies affect human well-being. Prerequisite for PLSC 391L5/HLAD 391L5, experiential learning through a class trip to a developing country to meet community organizers and policy specialists working on poverty and health issues.

Often cross-listed with HLAD 390

Credit 3 hrs May not be repeated for additional credit
Grade Mode Normal (A-F) Course Rotation Winter

Prerequisites -
Restriction by Major -
Restriction by Class - Sophomore, Junior, or Senior standing

Rationale for Perspectives on a Diverse World - Poverty is a central, if not the central, global problem of our time: it is connected to, or underlies, multiple problems and issues such as pandemics, regime instability, civil strife, terrorism and war. This course addresses the extent and causes of global economic inequality as well as the effects of profound poverty on health, human rights, human development and the quality of individual life. It explores the patterns of social, political and economic domination that sustain poverty and limit the opportunities of the very poor. Particular attention is devoted to the role of international economic institutions, multinational corporations and the advanced industrial nations, including the United States, in shaping the politics and economic development of countries and peoples in the global South. The course will also introduce students to international standards of human rights and the institutions and organizations that seek to protect those rights.

Equivalent Course(s) - HLAD 390
Course History -
Course Rotation updated 5/2015

Political Science, Global Awareness (GEGA) , health

Winter 2025 Course Sections

Fall 2024 Course Sections