International Political Economy

Discussants will provide an outline for a selected session. Summarize the argument, discuss its contribution to IR, and probe the argument and evidence for strengths and weaknesses. The following questions can be used to guide your reading of each piece and will shape our discussion:

Topic Question: International Political Economy

Suggested Reading:

-Sachs, Jeffrey D. 1999. “Twentieth-Century Political Economy:A Brief History of Global Capitalism.”
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Oxford Review of Economic Policy 15 (4): 90-101.
-Litonjua, M.D. 2013. “State vs. Market: What Kind of Capitalism.”International Review of Modern
Sociology 39 (1): 53-87.
-Hart-Landsberg, Martin. 2013. “Neoliberalism: Myths and Reality.”In Capitalist Globalization:
Consequences, Resistance, and Alternatives. NYU Press: 71- 89.
-Streeck, Wolfgang. 2013. “The Politics of Public Debt: Neoliberalism, Capitalist Development and the
Restructuring of the State.” German Economic Review 15 (1): 143165.
Suggested Reading:
Brian S. Roper. 2013. “Capitalist expansion, globalisation and democratisation.”In
The History of Democracy:A Marxist Interpretation. Pluto Press. pgs. 196 – 216.
Walter, Andrew and Gautam Sen. 2009. Analyzing the Global Political Economy. Princeton University Press.

These are the questions to be answered:

What is the question or puzzle?

What is the argument?

What are the explicit or implicit assumptions?

Who are the relevant actors?

What are their preferences and interests and where do they come from?

At what level of analysis is the argument?

Where does the argument fit into the theoretical landscape of IR and who would disagree?

What is the relative importance of agency versus structure?

What evidence is provided in support of the argument and is it convincing?

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