Document Type

Graduate Syllabus

Date

Spring 2022

School

Diplomacy

Course Number

DIPL 6105 AA

Course Description

This graduate course examines the political economy of globalization and its governance. Globalization, defined as the economic, political, social, and cultural integration between countries, was growing at a rapid pace until the 2007- 2009 global financial crisis. Since then, additional events such as the Brexit referendum, US unilateralism under the Trump Administration, and the current coronavirus pandemic have demonstrated the retreat to insular policies. What forces drive globalization, and what forces slow it down? What are the social and economic impacts? Who is for globalization, and who is against it? F low do these forces drive cooperation or conflict in international economic relations? For instance, during the pandemic we’ve witnessed feats of global cooperation in the race to identify the virus and develop a vaccine, as well as conflict such as vaccine nationalism. DIPL 6105 addresses these questions, with a focus on the challenges that global markets, organizations, institutions, and citizens pose for individual governments.

Deeper international economic integration means more frequent economic exchanges across the globe on a daily basis, involving nation-states, multinational entities, individuals and non governmental organisations. IPE scholars study the interplay of political and economic interests between state and non-state actors pertaining to these cross-border flows. The economic, political and social relations between individuals, states and firms have evolved in response to changes in tastes, technology, ideology, and political or economic power. The distribution of political power itself changes in response to the distribution of economic power. In this course, we will explore how domestic interests drive policy preferences such as for free trade or migration at the State level, and how cross-country' variations in interests in an issue lead to cooperation or conflict in global governance and international relations. We will further see how the lack of a global government with enforceable laws has shaped institutions of global governance such as the WTO, and the tension between national sovereignty' and these supranational rule- or norm-setting mechanisms.

The class will introduce you to relevant theories and you will apply them to current issues with the goal of deriving evidence-based and rational policymaking. We will bridge the gap between theory and practice by using academic articles, the case method, policy pieces, and podcasts where experts in academia and policy speak. Issue areas in the course include international trade, migration, and investment, regional economic integration, US-Europe-China relations, foreign aid, environmental and labor standards, climate change, global public health and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and foreign aid.

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