Course content
International Political Economy (IPE) studies how politics shape the global economy and how the global economy impacts politics. As such, its study centers on state-market relations and the key actors that shape them, including international organizations, government actors and multinational corporations. Levels of analysis range from the national to the supranational, with a constant awareness of the multiple interconnections between the global and the local. This course introduces students to classical debates within the subfield, including the international political economy of trade, finance, development and production. It also tackles more recent topics and grand challenges that are key to contemporary debates about globalization from an IPE perspective, including climate change, money and economic inequality. In studying these topics the course brings to bear key theories of, and approaches to IPE such as realism, liberal institutionalism, critical studies, constructivism and historical institutionalism, all of which are deployed to encourage critical but concrete thinking about the myriad trade-offs that constitute the international political economy, as well as the moral and ethical implications thereof.
In relation to Nordic Nine
International Political Economy provides historical context for the major socioeconomic shifts of the 20th and 21st century, thereby placing business knowledge in a broad and concrete historical backdrop and projecting it into the future (NN1; NN7). It also tackles key socio-political challenges facing political leaders today, including topics such as financial stability, climate change, and the changing nature of labor and production (NN3). In discussing and analyzing these topics it takes a data driven approach, but also highlights the ambiguity and complex trade-offs that characterize these grand challenges (NN2; NN5). Pedagogically, the course incorporates group work and hones critical analytical skills (NN6).
See course description in course catalogue