International Political Economy
Prof. Xunda Yu
Summer · 2014
Rationale/Justification for the Course
• Within the past two decades, the world has been buffeted by
the forces of globalization. This has not only resulted in the
world becoming extremely interconnected in terms of
culture, but economic decisions in one country are impacting
politics and policies in others. This is amply exhibited by the
numerous political and social changes that the world has
witnessed within the past fifty years. In this context, we
observe that the field of political science has been proactive
to these developments. In a subfield of political science,
international affairs, not only do we study topics such as the
international politics, nation-states, international
organizations and socio-economic development in different
countries, but also other associated topics such as ideal
models of economic development, globalization, north-south
divide, factors influencing conflict etc.
Rationale/Justification for the Course
• In addition, the subfield of international affairs has also
attempted to understand how political decision making and
foreign policy development are impacted by socio-economic
development within nation-states. Courses in political science
focus on topics such as foreign policy, international relations,
conflict and political violence, comparative politics, and area
studies. Although all of these courses contain elements of
political economy, it is imperative to have a separate course
in which students can develop a comprehensive
understanding of how the fields of politics and economics
intersect, and how it advances the students understanding of
the functioning of the global community.
Rationale/Justification for the Course
• As a result, the new course on political economy will focus on
topics such as the relationship between politics and trade,
national security and economic sanctions, migration, labor
policy, sovereign wealth funds and their impact on the
national security of a nation-state, the relationship between
global environment and economic development, human
rights and the existence of sweatshops operated by TNCs,
outsourcing of jobs and its impact on policy making in the
United States and China，etc.
Main Message of the Course
Summer 2014
Wednesday and Friday, 9:50-12:15
East--One B, room 215
Professor Xunda Yu
West 3 B Building, room 211
Tel: 13515818086
Email: yuxunda2008@163.com
Office hours: Monday, 1:00-3:00,PM
Main Message of the Course
Textbook:
David N. Balaam and Bradford Dillman,
Introduction to International Political
Economy, fifth edition (2011).
In addition to the textbook, additional
readings are assigned from the class.
Main Message of the Course
An important component in understanding the relationship
between politics and economics is being able to relate them to
current political events happening across the world. Therefore
in this class we will regularly be discussing world events and as
students you should be aware of them. I would encourage that
you should daily read a major newspaper. Another resource
that you can use are websites of major news networks.
(www.cnn.com, www. bbc.co.uk/news, abcnews.go.com, etc.)
Main Message of the Course
Objectives:
The expectation is that students will leave the course with the
following:
1) A basic understanding of the impact of politics and political
policies on trade, finance, and investment relations.
2) A familiarity with the instruments, strategies, and motives of
political institutions (both domestic and international) as they
attempt to manage international economic relations.
3) Greater ability, as citizens, to understand and to participate
in the public debate over the issues central to this course.
Main Message of the Course
Objectives:
The expectation is that students will leave the course with the
following:
4) Understanding of the impact of globalization on developed
and developing countries.
5) Further development of critical reasoning skills, as well as
skills in clear, precise writing via both in-class and take home
essays.
6) Ability to present confidently their ideas to their peers, and
to verbally argue about the merits of their ideas and opinions.
A Brief Introduction to IPE
CONTENTS OF THE BOOK
Perspectives on IPE
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Chap. 1: What is IPE?
Chap. 2: Economic Liberal Perspective
Chap. 3: The Mercantilist Perspective
Chap. 4: The Structuralist Perspective
Chap. 5: Alternative Perspectives on IPE
States and Markets in the Global Economy
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Chap. 11: The Development Conundrum
Chap. 12: Regionalism
Chap. 13: The Rising Powers
Chap. 14: The Middle East
Structures of IPE
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Chap. 6: The Production and Trade Structure
Chap. 7: The International Monetary and Finance Structure
Chap. 8: International Debt and Financial Crisis
Chap. 9: The Global Security Structure
Chap. 10: The Knowledge and Technology Structure
Transnational Problems and Dilemmas
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Chap. 15: The Illicit Global Economy
Chap. 16: Migration and Tourism
Chap. 17: Transnational Corporations
Chap. 18: Market Failure and Injustice
Chap. 19: Dependency and Resource Curses
Chap. 20: The Environment
Chap.1 What is International Political Economy?
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Content of Chap. 1
Sector 1
The Darkness on the Edge of Town
Sector 2
The WHAT, WHY and HOW of IPE
Sector 3
Globalization, the Financial Crisis,
and State-Market-Social Relations
Sector 4
Conclusion
What is IPE?
Suggested Readings
• Thomas L.Friedman. The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization.New York:
Farrar, Straus and Girous,1999.
• Robert Gilpin.Especially chap.1 in The Political Economy of International Relations.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,1987.
• William Greider. One World,Ready or Not: The Mantic Logic of Global Capitalism.New York:
Simon &Schuster,1997.
• Pietra Rivoli.The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the
markets, Power and Politics of World Trade,2nd ed. Hoboken,NJ:John Wiley,2009.
• Joseph Stiglitz.Globalization and Its Discontents.New York: W.W.Norton,2004.
• Susan Strange.States and Markets: An Introduction to International Political Economy.New
York: Basil Blackwell,1988.
• Kenneth N.Waltz.Man,the State,and War: A Theoretical Analysis.New York: Columbia
University Press,1959.
What is IPE?
The Darkness on The Edge of Town
The Financial Crisis
The European Debt Crisis
>Background: the Global Financial Crisis.
The IPE method is an attempt to synthesize analytical elements of separate academic
disciplines to better explain complex, real-world problems that span physical and
intellectual boundaries.
What is IPE?
The WHAT, WHY and HOW of IPE
• Today’s complex issues can no longer be easily
described, analyzed, and understood by using any
single set of disciplinary methods and concepts.
• Learning IPE, namely, is to break down the
analytical and conceptual boundaries between
politics,economics, and sociology to produce a
unique explanatory framework. Since each
discipline offers an incomplete explanation of
global events.
What is IPE?
The WHAT, WHY and HOW of IPE
What is International Political Economy?
•
Firstly, we need to make a distinction between the term “international
political economy” and the acronym IPE.
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Second, the acronym IPE connotes a method of inquiry that is
multidisciplinary.
Political dimension: power, rule, institution
Economic dimension: distribute resources, shape human behavior,
coordinate social behavior
Societal dimension: different social groups
What is IPE?
The WHAT, WHY and HOW of IPE
Why - the benifits of IPE.
• IPE represents an effort to return to
the analysis before the study of human
social behavior became fragmented into
the discrete fields of political science,
economics and sociology.
• It attempts to blend together distinct
perspectives to produce a more holistic
explanation of the global political
economy.
What is IPE?
The WHAT, WHY and HOW of IPE
Three Perspectives:
A. Economic liberalism---More associated with the study of markets and the rational behavior of different actors with them
Major concern: the states’s role in the market and other parts of the economy.
Orthodox Economic Liberals (OELs) VS. Heterodox interventionist Liberals (HILs)
B. Mercantilism---More associated with political science, especially the political philosophy of Realism.
Major concern: power and wealth
C. Structuralism
Rooted in Marxist analysis but not limited to it.
More associated with sociological analytic methods.
Major concern: How different class segments of society are shaped by the dominant economic structure?
What is IPE?
The Four Levels of Aanalysis
eg. Kenneth Waltz: Man, the State, and war.
•The Global Level---how global factors, such as changes in technology,
commodity prices, and climate, create constraints and
opportunities for all governments and societies.
•The Interstate Level---how the relative balance of political, military, and
economic power between states affects the probability of war,
prospects for cooperation, rules related to transnational c
orporations or the ways in which governments exercise leverage
over their allies and states with mutual interests.
•The State/Societal Level---how lobbying by socio-economic groups,
electoral different types of governments and
•The Individual Level---
What is IPE?
Susan Strange's Four IPE Structures
• Security Structure.
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Production and Trade Structure.
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Finance and Monetary Structure.
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Knowledge and Technology
Structure.
> Those structures are complex arrangements that function as the the underlying
foundation of the international political economy
What is IPE?
Putting the pieces together ---globalization, financial crisis, and state-market-society relations
What is Globalization?
An economic process that reflects accelerated and intense interconnections based on new
technologies and communications systems and the mobility of trade and capital.
The integration of national and regional markets into a single global market.
A political process that weakens state authority and replaces it with deregulated market outcomes
A cultural process that reflects a densely growing network of complex cultural interconnections and
interdependence in modern society.
An inevitable occurrence that has produced a new form of capitalism---hyper capitalism.
A process for which nobody is in charge.
It can Benefit everyone, especially economically.
It furthers the spread of democracy in the world.
> Thomas Friedman, The World Is Flat.
What is IPE?
Putting the pieces together ---globalization, financial crisis, and state-market-society relations
Impacts:
For economic liberalism, globalization manifested the power of unregulated and integrated markets
to trump politics and greatly benefit society.
However, it indeed increases the rich-poor gap.
• It has a homogenizing effect on cultures the world over.
• It is responsible for many of the global environmental problems.
• It is also criticized for the global financial crisis.
> The Impacts of Globalization.
What is IPE?
Conclusion
Three recent major shifts in the global political economy.
The definition of development is gradually away from quantifying economic growth.
Global wealth and power is changing, which increases North-South tensions, as well as complicates and
weakens global governance.
Support for more government intervention to save both individual national economies and the entire
international finance system has been renewed.
> Two more questions to contemplate throughout the whole course:
1. Are the political—economic institutions of states and societies able to deal with the conflicting
tendencies of making economic growth and security the highest priorities of states without
destroying the earth’s capacity to sustain development?
2. Is it time for the popular economic liberal perspective to be replaced by something else that can
reconcile industrialization and commercial activity with the shared need to provide proper
stewardship of the earth and its natural resources?
Outline of the text’s main themes
13 major themes
In page 20
What we will study in this course:
Chapter 1-13、15、20
What is IPE?
Discussion Questions
1.Give examples of how and where states, markets, and societies interact and at times conflict with
one another. How hard is it to determine the analytical boundaries between these terms in this case?
2.Review the basic elements and features of the IPE approach: the three main theoretical
perspectives, the four structures,the levels of analysis,and the types of power.Which ones do you feel
you understand well and which ones need more work?
3. Define and outline the major features of globalization. Which of three IPE perspectives(or
combination of perspectives) about globalization do you agree with most? Explain why.
4. Based on what you have learned so far in this chapter and from reading newspaper,etc.,outline a
few things you know about the connection between globalization,the financial crisis, and capitalism.
5. Do you agree with those who suggest that the financial crisis raise serious concerns about the
viability of capitalism?Explain.
6. If you read the section on the main themes of the book as a conclusion to the class,discuss any
three major themes that come up in two topics of your choice, either in two chapters or throughout the
text.
Thanks !
2014 . 4
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