| Unit name | International Political Economy |
|---|---|
| Unit code | POLIM3015 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Appleton |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Why is this unit important?
What is the relationship between ‘politics’ and ‘markets’? What links Detroit’s consumers with workers in Guangzhou? International Political Economy subjects the concept of ‘globalisation’ to critical scrutiny, enabling students to historicise the process of the expansion of capitalism and interrogate the power relationships that have shaped it. It deals with the ways in which the institutions of the global economy – states, markets, firms, production networks, and governance institutions - are rooted in, reproduced, and transformed by social and political relationships between actors at global, regional, national, local, and even interpersonal levels of analysis. This provides a rich foundation for thinking through productive responses to contemporary global challenges such as the climate crisis, financial integration and indebtedness, and multilateral cooperation under conditions of multipolarity and inequality. The core contention of this unit is that ‘economics’ is not simply a ‘technical’ matter – and is far too important to be left to economists!
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
The unit introduces one of the major sub-fields of the discipline of International Relations. By exploring classic and cutting-edge contemporary scholarship in the field of IPE, students will gain knowledge and understanding of the working and development of international regimes of production and trade, money, and finance, from the Gold Standard era to the present. Alongside this empirical grounding, the unit provides distinctive conceptual tools with which to articulate a critical treatment of the architecture of international order and the ways in which it is understood.
An overview of content
The unit introduces the key systems underpinning the transnational relations we are interested in - money, finance, and trade. Building on this we examine a range of theoretical approaches relevant to historic and contemporary scholarly political-economic debates and real-world struggles. These will include Liberalism, Mercantilism, Marxism, Post-structuralism, and Feminism. The unit also explores contemporary issues shaping the global political economy. We consider how global political-economic relationships and institutions have been transformed (or otherwise) since the crisis of 2008, how neoliberal political economy has shaped developmental trajectories in the global North and South, as well as exploring the problematique of growth in the context of climate crisis, and the role of markets in human survival.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit?
Students will be able to better relate experiences of everyday life and societal interaction to large-scale global processes and structures both historic and contemporary. Engaging with unit material will sharpen analytical skills, and working collaboratively with peers will promote robust expression of empirically-grounded viewpoints in a collegiate and constructive manner. In the process, students will develop their own authentic voices as scholars of social science in general and IPE specifically.
Learning outcomes
Successful candidates will be able to:
On this unit, we take a student-centred approach to learning. This doesn’t mean you’re doing everything yourselves! What it does mean is that there are several elements to each week’s study which complement each other – and in which you have the opportunity to draw not only on the ideas and information presented by the teaching team, but also on your own ideas and experiences, and raise questions that are pertinent to you. So, firstly, core issues, themes, and problems will be introduced in lecture format. Secondly, complementary to the lecture, you will read a set of core texts and begin independently to think through a set of questions or formulate responses to discussion prompts which we will use in seminars to orient our conversations – and develop your own questions to pose in class, allowing you to address areas of your own interest or in which you require clarification. Thirdly, in the seminar setting, you will collaborate in learning with and from your peers in small group-based discussion. Your engagement in self-directed study and collaborative learning with peers is central to development of your knowledge base and intellectual capacities.
Assessment on this unit aims to help students make linkages between the agency of local, national, and global actors and large-scale structures and processes of global scope. Students will develop a group research project from which they will draw an assessed group presentation and an assessed individual essay. To do this, they will draw on the resources of I-PEEL: International Political Economy of Everyday Life after Brasset, Elias, Rethel, and Richardson at I-PEEL.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
At the outset of the unit students will be assigned into a working group of two to three colleagues. Students must:
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Participation [ILO 1-4]: 10% of unit mark
20-minute group video presentation/podcast interview [ILO1-4]: 25% of unit mark
3000-word essay [ILO 1-4]: 65% of unit mark
When assessment does not go to plan:
Where a student fails the unit and is eligible to resubmit, reassessments will be matched to the assessment that has failed. If you fail one of the assessments, you will be offered the opportunity to submit an essay of a length commensurate with the weight of that element of the assessment for which the reassessment is required, choosing a question from a list prepared by the tutor.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. POLIM3015).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
