PSIR504 GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY

Course Code:3540504
METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week):3 (3.00 - 0.00)
ECTS Credit:8.0
Department:Political Science and International Relations
Language of Instruction:English
Level of Study:Masters
Course Coordinator:Prof.Dr. ZÜLKÜF AYDIN
Offered Semester:Fall and Spring Semesters.

Course Objectives

This course strives to develop an understanding of interplay between economics and politics and interaction of states and markets from an international and global perspective. It is designed to provide you a graduate level survey of some of the main lines of debate in IPE; develop solid knowledge of important issues in IPE; and enhance understanding of key concepts, approaches, and methodologies. Also, the goal is for you to look at recent research in GPE and gain understanding of the dynamics of international and domestic politics of economy policymaking.


Course Content

This course considers a number of approaches to the study of the global political economy (including Realism, liberalism, Marxism, constructivism, environmentalism, and feminism), before examining the evolution of the global political economy and its existing structures. The course analyses the global forces that have shaped the world economic system and looks at the interaction between international economic developments and domestic politics as well as the ways in which international institutions govern the global economy. In addition a number of issue areas such as globalization of trade, finance, and investment, the North-South dilemma, global development and inequality and sustainable development are examined.


Course Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course the students will be able to...

  • explain the American and British schools of International Political Economy (IPE) and their relative weaknesses and strengths, and evaluate the current status of IPE as an academic discipline
  • define and explain main IPE theories and sub-theories
  • identify to which perspective and which school the IPE texts they read belong to and critically assess them
  • explain the main debates on international trade and the interest-based approaches
  • explain the main changes going on in the international production and investment and critically assess the behavior and role of multinational companies
  • explain the pros and cons of financial globalization and evaluate the effects of capital controls
  • explain and evaluate the position of underdeveloped countries in the world, the reasons behind their underdevelopment, and the strategies they follow to advance
  • critically assess the current trends in the global economy and possible future scenarios