Current course offerings

Please Note: Course profiles marked as not available may still be in development.

Course description

This course critically examines the organization of the international political economy, considering its significance for everyday life. International Political Economy (IPE) explores the respective roles of states, politics, markets, social forces, and key economic actors (such as corporations) in shaping the international economic order. The course focuses on developments in the 'real' economy of production and trade, and major trends in the financial sector, including the growing instability of financial markets and financial crises. We also explore how domestic politics, and international forces shape economic development in non-core or 'emerging market' economies. Adopting a critical, historically-informed, and interdisciplinary approach, this course is guided by questions about inequalities and injustices in the political economy of development in a globalized world. It links the international arena to the domestic and the local, addressing issues like poverty, social class, and gender. A core objective is to analyze contemporary issues like these in light of their historical constitution via capitalist development and colonial legacies. The course actively highlights and seeks to correct "blind spots" in IPE scholarship, particularly concerning gendered and racial inequalities that have been insufficiently integrated into political economy analyses. We emphasize that political outcomes are determined by struggles between socio-political forces, including social classes, ethnic, religious, gendered, and state-based groupings. In this light, we can focus on how institutions reflect and entrench existing power distributions. By examining these power dynamics, the course provides a nuanced and critical understanding of how the global political economy operates and its profound implications for human well-being.

Archived offerings