DIPL 6105 AA International Political Economy

Globalization, or economic, political and cultural integration between countries, was glowing at a rapid pace until the 2007-2009 global financial crisis. Since then, and more so following the Brexit referendum and recent election cycles in Western democracies, there has been a call for more insular policies. What explains this reversal? What forces drive globalization, and what forces slow it down? Who is for globalization, and who is against it? DIPL 6105 is a graduate course in international political economy (IPE) addressing these questions, with a focus on the challenges that international markets pose for individual governments. The overarching theme is globalization and governance. Deeper international economic integration has led to more frequent economic exchanges across the globe on a daily basis, involving nation-states, multinational entities, individuals and non-governmental organisations. IPE scholars study the interplay of political and economic interests between various state and non state actors pertaining to these cross-border flows. The economic, political and social relations between individuals, states and firms have evolved in response to changes in tastes, technology, ideology, and political or economic power. The distribution of political power itself changes in response to the distribution of economic power. In this course, we will explore how domestic interests drive policy preferences at the state level, and how similarities or differences in interests in various issues across countries lead to cooperation or conflict in global governance and international relations. We will further see how the lack of a global government with enforceable laws has shaped institutions of global governance such as the WTO, and the tension between national sovereignty and these supranational rule- or norm-setting mechanisms. The course will expose you to both methodologies and their applications to current issues at the same time. Thus we will use both academic articles and the case method, bridging the gap between theory and practice. Issue areas include international trade and investment, migration, international finance, regional economic integration, and development