Whether it’s a war, a political upheaval, a storm at sea, or the energy that lights our homes, humanity is subject to the whims of all sorts of “power.”

“Power” is the subject of this year’s One World Initiative (www.csus.edu/oneworld/about-oneworld.html) at Sacramento State. Each year, the initiative’s organizers select a topic that has many interpretations and can be explored from a wide number of disciplines and interests.

Instructors are invited to include the topic in their curriculum from the angle of how it fits within their own subject matter.

“Power has been getting a very positive response as almost every discipline has some notion of power,” says Government Professor David Andersen-Rodgers, this year’s initiative director. Whether it’s engineering, physics, political science, or economics, everyone thinks about relationships of power. “In international relations, variations in power between states or different political actors affect how they behave with each other.”

In the physical sciences, power can be interpreted in aspects such as energy, global warming, even volcanoes.

In many cases, subject matters overlap. Nations and their lawmakers will flex their political power to secure the resources that power their industries, transportation, and other energy needs.

The topic does not just focus on those things that possess power. Andersen-Rodgers says one social work professor has suggested looking at the topic from the viewpoint of people who have no power and how they interact with people and entities that do.

Many activities already have been scheduled, including: 

• Why the Constitution Matters: Revitalizing Voting to Make Democracy More Accessible – A discussion on empowering citizens by making voting more accessible, led by Assemblymember Kevin McCarty; noon to 1 p.m. Monday, Sept. 14, Multicultural Center, Library 1010.
• One World Initiative kickoff – A gathering to learn more about the initiative and ways to become involved with the many events and discussions; noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, University Union, Hinde Auditorium.
• The Impact of the Nobel Prize on Global Politics – A talk by Andersen-Rodgers about how the small state of Norway has used the award to project its views on how the world should behave; Thursday, Oct. 8.
• Traditional end-of-year celebration – The annual spring event features Hampshire College (Mass.) Professor Michael Klare, director of the Peace and World Security Studies program. Klare focuses on the geopolitics of energy and resources, and how different states are situating themselves to guarantee long-term access to them; April 4-5.

Some times and places still are pending. A detailed calendar of events is being posted at www.csus.edu/oneworld/events.html.

The One World Initiative offers professors a chance to see how their studies and research fit within the framework of the topic; the same goes for their charges. “Ultimately, we want to graduate students who are engaged thinkers, who go out and see the world in a different way from how they would have seen it before,” Andersen-Rodgers says.

For more information, visit the website or contact Andersen-Rodgers at (916) 278-7095 or david.andersen@csus.edu. For media assistance, call Sacramento State’s Public Affairs office at (916) 278-6156. – Craig Koscho