International Political Economy

Prerequisites: the instructors permission prior to registration. This is a survey course in international political economy. This course examines how domestic and international politics influence the economic relations between states. It will address the major theoretical debates in the field and introduce the chief methodological approaches used in contemporary analyses. We will focus attention on different types of cross-border flows and the policies and international institutions that regulate them: the flow of goods (trade policy), the flow of people (immigration policy), the flow and location of production (foreign investment policy), the flow of capital (financial and exchange rate policy), and the flow of pollution (environment policy). The goal of this course is to cover, in some depth, many of the main topics and readings in international political economy. The readings each week are designed to tackle some of the essential points of a substantive topic, as well as raise deeper methodological questions that have application to other issues and themes in the sub-field. Not coincidentally, a related goal is to partially prepare students for the IR Field Exam. To help with that, a number of recommended readings accompany each weeks topic.