Lecture slides for a graduate course in International Political Economy I taught in 2004. These slides were for the final lecture of the course.

1. Continuity and Change in
International Political Economy

2. Studying IPE
• The study of international political economy is about
three things:
• History
• Theory
• Issues

3. IPE: On History
• IPE Fundamentally deals with the history of the
international economy.
• More than any subject, it attempts to uncover the
watershed moments in the development of the world’s
economy (i.e. the what, when and why).
• Like any history, these are studied to find patterns, draw
insights and formulate lessons.

4. IPE: On Theory
• The purpose for the study of IPE is to be able to
understand how the international economy operates.
• For this reason, we employ theories and perspectives
that allow us to make sense of the relationships
within the international economy.
• Realism, Liberalism, Mercantilism, Idealism,
Institutionalism, Regime Theory, Hegemonic Stability
Theory, Dependency, Marxism, etc.

5. IPE: On Issues
• It is inevitable that IPE highlight pressing issues that
underpin international economic order.
• Trade and finance, security, equality, equity, etc.
• Even if the issues themselves are the same, this does
not necessarily mean that the world remains the
same.
• At present, the phenomenon that appears to capture
the different tensions in contemporary international
political economy is globalization.

6. GLOBALIZATION
OR
GLOBALONEY?

7. For Globalization Anti-Globalization
Liberal Institutional Global Statists/
Neo-Liberals Radicals
Internationalists Reformers Transformers Protectionists
Marxists
Legend
Political Variants
Patterns of Influence Variants in the Politics of Globalization
Source: Held and McGrew (2002: 99)

8. For Globalization Anti-Globalization
Liberal Institutional Global Statists/
Neo-Liberals Radicals
Internationalists Reformers Transformers Protectionists
Marxists
Cosmopolitan Social Democrats
(Overlapping Political Positions)
Legend
Political Variants
Patterns of Influence Variants in the Politics of Globalization
Source: Held and McGrew (2002: 99)

9. What’s Left for IPE?
• Redefining the study of politics.
• Reexamining the concept of power.
• Shift away from an explanation of events to an
account of their impact and consequences.

10. “The whole point of studying international political
economy rather than international relations is to extend
more widely the conventional limits of the study of
politics, and the conventional concepts of who engages in
politics, and of how and by whom power is exercised to
influence outcomes. Far from being a subdiscipline of
international relations, IPE should claim that international
relations are a subdiscipline of IPE.”
Susan Strange (1994)

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