JEM212/JEM165 International Political Economy

The class aims to provide students with a basic introduction into the “international political economy” (IPE) field. The course is based on the active participation of students who are required to read compulsory literature for each class and debate the papers. The course is using two streams of literature: academic literature (papers and textbooks) and topical articles/papers covering current policy issues (e.g. The Economist or Foreign Affairs). The goal of this approach to literature is to use IPE research as guidance in real-world policy debates that help us understand actual (and often opposing) positions of policymakers.

The main “applied” or policy focus of the course is on the debates associated with recent changes in global economy, attitudes of main actors (Trump’s USA, Xi Jinping’s China, BREXIT-influenced EU) and possible causes of the changes. We will try to understand the economic dimensions of current global trends and their possible implications for the future of global economic governance.

Within the broad scope of traditional IPE topics we are going to focus more on issues closer to traditional economics, and rational choices approaches, i.e. the course is focused more on concepts and models, rather than on memorising institutional details of current or previous global economic affairs. In line with the focus of current global affairs and with the specialisation of the lecturers, we will primarily focus on issues linked with international trade and globalization.