Course details

How are we going to work in the coming 8 weeks.

Contact

• Dawid @ d.m.walentek[at]uva.nl
• Umut @ u.kibrit[at]uva.nl

Format

• Readings
• Lectures
• Seminars
• Zoom & Canvas

Themes

• Theory of IPE
• Evolution of the world economy
• Trade
• Development
• (New) new financial (dis)order
• Inequality and tax
• Enviroment

Assesement

• Mid-term podcast (30%)
  • End of week 4 (Fri)
  • 6-8 minutes
• Research paper (50%)
  • 4,000 words
  • End of week 8 (Fri)
  • Review in week 7
  • Proposal in week 6
• In-class presentation (20%)
  • Current event
  • Pairs
  • 12 minutes
  • Week 2 to 5

(not so) fine print

• We take attendance and you can only miss two tutorials 
• You are penalised for showing up late to the tutorial
• Retake of the essay only
• Grade for the retake is not capped, but you need to think of a new topic
• Zoom etiquette

  • Be prepared for class just as you would in person

  • Make sure you are in a quiet space  

Signal trouble early-on

• Access to a computer or internet
• Quiet space to work
• Time-zone
• Other

What is PE

and why is it worth studying?

Covid-19 

• Intertwined relation between policy-makers and markets
• Political decisions influence (or not) economic performance
• Economic performance influences political decisions

Covid-19 

• Reveals the ability of different political regimes to address a major health crisis (and associated economics crisis)

Discipline:

Political economy addresses real-world concerns in a way that emphasizes the connections between economic problems, social structures and political processes (Stilwell, p.9, 2012)

Focus:

• State-market interaction
• Markets as design
• Embeddedness
• Capitalism (and crisis)
• Development (and the West)
• Conflict and Cooperation

Theory in PE

What is (neo)mercantilism and liberalism, and what are the critical perspectives?

(Neo)

mercantilism

"Conflict and war are an ever-present danger, and each state must look after its own national interests." (Cohn, 2016)

Premises

• Anarchic international system
• Primacy of the state;
• but constrained by domestic actors and structure of international relations
• Importance of relative gains
• Focus on Plenty, as a mean for Power
• Distinction between scholarship and policy

Neomercantilist policy

• Hamilton and List
• Positive blance of trade
• Protectionism temporary and targeted, but not for agriculture
• Free trade in the long run
• Russia, China and US

Liberalism

"Liberalism is the most influential perspective in IPE. Most international economic organizations and the economic policies of most states today are strongly influenced by liberal principles." (Cohn, 2016)

Premises

• Free trade and comparative advantage
• Absolute gains
• Role of international organisations
  • Think about WHO today
• Interdependance
• Cooperation

Critical perspectives

Historical materialism, constructivism, feminism, and environmentalism.

Dependency theory

• Originates in Marxism and Latin American Structuralism
• Rejection of Marx's view that South benefits from capitalist economic relations with the North
• Workers in the South only increase their dependance on North
• Relations of exchange rather than relation of production
• Import-substitution industrialisation