ASTK15437U COURSE: Globalization, power and economic policy
Bachelorlevel: 10 ECTS
Masterlevel: 7,5 ECTS
The course uses a broad range of empirical and critical sociological and institutional approaches to understand the relation between globalization, power and economic policy processes. Globalization has been a broadly used and debated concept. Despite debates and disputes, in our current phase of globalization together with a multi-polar system of international politics there has been a rise in world-wide or global awareness. Economic globalization is the most intensive globalizing phenomenon, with critical effects and consequences. Social and political institutions are argued to be key instruments to balance economic globalization, and to make globalization process more beneficial for more people and societies.
Traditional views and theories of power around the state and political institutions need to be developed to understand the emerging dynamics and dimensions of power that operate increasingly at the transnational level. Economic policy takes place at both nation-state and transnational-global level. At nation-state level the national search of socio-economic prosperity is highly dependent on supra-national policies and regulations. At transnational or global level, neo-liberal economic rationale has so far shaped the regulations of the growing interdependence of national-local economies. The European Union is a clear example of the complex tensions and problems between globalization, power and economic policy. Possible global economic governance solutions will be discussed in the course.
1.Introduction
Part I. Globalization
2. Globalization. Debate
3. Theories of globalization.
4. Economic globalization.
5. Social, political and cultural globalization.
Part II. Power
6. Theories of power
7. The power of capital and global business
8. The power of economic ideas
9. State power and civil society power in economic globalization
Part II. Economic Policy
10. Economic issues and challenges at the beginning of the 21st.
11. Economic policy diffusion
12. Global economic governance
13. Contemporary capitalism crisis and policy responses.
14. Summing-up
Competency description
This course will enable students to participate in analysis and discussions about narrow and broad economic policies, both at national and international level, within the debates on globalization and power. The course is relevant to students who aim for a career in international organizations and public administrations.
The objective of the course is to enable students to:
- Understand the main theories and conceptualizations of globalization and power, with focus on economic aspects.
- Comprehend the main sociological and institutionalist approaches to economic policy.
- Apply theories and conceptualizations of globalization, power and policy to analysis of economic policy.
- Reflect meta-theoretically on the strengths and weaknesses of the theories and arguments.
Some general book references are:
Beck, Ulrich (2005) Power in the global age. Polity Press.
Crouch, C. (2011). The strange non-death of neo-liberalism. Polity Press.
Rodrik, Dani (2011) The globalization paradox: why global markets, states, and democracy can't coexist. Oxford University Press.
This is a provisional reading list. An extensive and detailed list will be available at the start of the course.
1.Introduction
Rodrik, Dani (2011) The globalization paradox: why global markets, states, and democracy can't coexist. Oxford University Press. (Chapter 9. The political trilemma of the world economy. Pp. 184-206)
Part I. Globalization
2. Debates on globalization
Guillén, M. F. (2001). Is globalization civilizing, destructive or feeble? A critique of five key debates in the social science literature. Annual review of sociology, 235-260.
Held, D., & McGrew, A. (2007). Globalization/anti-globalization: Beyond the great divide. Polity. Selected chapters: 30 pages.
3. Theories of globalization: sociological and political science theories of globalization.
Axford, B. (2013). Theories of globalization. Polity. Chapter 1 and 2.
Meyer, J.W. Boli, J. Thomas, G.M. and Ramirez, F. O. (1997) World Society and the nation-state. American Journal of Sociology 103 (1), 144-181, 37 pages.
4. Economic globalization.
Hirst, P., Thompson, G., & Bromley, S. (2015). Globalization in question. 3rd. edition. John Wiley & Sons. Chapter 1. The contours of globalization.
Tonkiss, Fran (2006) Contemporary Economic Sociology. London: Routledge. (Chapter 1. Capitalism and globalization: pp. 3-28)
Streeck, W. (2012). How to study contemporary capitalism?. European Journal of Sociology, 53(01), 1-28.
5. Social, political and cultural globalization.
Meyer, J.W. Boli, J. Thomas, G.M. and Ramirez, F. O. (1997) World Society and the nation-state. American Journal of Sociology 103 (1), 144-181. 37 pages.
Evans, P. (2012). Counter-Hegemonic Globalization. The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization. (20 pages)
Part II. Power
6. Theories of power: social, political and elite powers.
Haugaard M. and K. Ryan (2012) Chap. 1. Introduction (9-21), and Chap. 2. Social and Political Power (21-54), in Haugaard, Mark and Ryan, Kevin (2012) Political Power: The development of the field. Barbara Budrich-Esser. (45 pages).
Savage, M. and K. Williams (2008) Elites: remembered in capitalism and forgotten by social sciences. The sociological review. Blackwell Publishing. Chap. 25 pages
7. The power of capital and global business.
Beck, Ulrich (2005) Power in the global age. Polity Press. Chapter 4. Power and counter-power in the global age: The strategies of capital. Pp. 116-165 (49 pages)
Fuchs, Doris (2013) "Theorizing the power of Global Companies,” in John Mikler (ed.) The Handbook of Global Companies. London: John Wiley and Sons Ltd. (Chapter 5: pp. 77-95).
8. The power of economic ideas.
Fourcade, Marion (2006). The Construction of a Global Profession: The Transnationalization of Economics. American Journal of Sociology 112.1: 145-194. (49 pages)
Harvey, David (2011). The rise of neoliberalism and the riddle of capital. Capital and its discontents, 43-77.
Crouch, C. (2011). The strange non-death of neo-liberalism. Polity Press. Chapter 8. What is left of what is right. 162-181. 19 pages
9. State power and civil society power in economic globalization.
Strange, S. (1996). The retreat of the state: The diffusion of power in the world economy. Cambridge university press. Ch. 1 and 2 (pp. 3-31)
Lipschutz, Ronnie D. (2005) Power, politics and global civil society. Millennium-Journal of International Studies 33.3: 747-769. (22 pages)
Cerny, Philip G. (2009) “Reconfiguring Power in a globalizing world”, in Clegg, Stewart and Haugaard, Mark (eds.) (2009) The Sage Handbook of Power, London: Sage. (Chap. 21: 383-399).
Part II. Economic Policy.
10. Economic issues and challenges at the beginning of the 21st century.
Streeck, W. (2011). Taking capitalism seriously: towards an institutionalist approach to contemporary political economy. Socio-Economic Review, 9 (1), 137-167.
Piketty, T. (2014). About Capital in the 21st Century. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 15 pages.
Rodrik, Dani (2012) In Search of Prosperity, Analytic Narratives on Economic Growth. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Chapter 1. 20 pages.
11. Economic policy diffusion.
Simmons, B. A., Dobbin, F., & Garrett, G. (2007). The global diffusion of public policies: Social construction, coercion, competition or learning?. Annual review of sociology, 33, 449-472.
Gillardi, F. (2012) Transnational diffusion: norms, ideas and policies. Handbook of International Relations, 2, 453-476. 23 pages.
12. Global economic governance.
Rodrik, Dani (2011) The globalization paradox: why global markets, states, and democracy can't coexist. Oxford University Press. Chapters 10, 11 and 12. Pp. 207-250.
Stiglitz, J. E. (2014). Crises: Principles and Policies. Life After Debt: The Origins and Resolutions of Debt Crisis, Chapter 1.1. 43 pages. Palgrave
13. Capitalism crisis and policy responses: EU and global.
Streeck, W. (2014). The politics of public debt: Neoliberalism, capitalist development and the restructuring of the state. German Economic Review, 15(1), 143-165. 22 pages
Joseph E. Stiglitz , Jean-Paul Fitoussi , Peter Bofinger , Gøsta Esping-Andersen , James K. Galbraith , Ilene Grabel (2014) A Call for Policy Change in Europe, Challenge Vol. 57, Issue 4, 5-17.
Akerlof, G. A., Blanchard, O. J., Romer, D., & Stiglitz, J. E. (2014). What Have We Learned?: Macroeconomic Policy After the Crisis. MIT Press. Conclusions, 317-348
14. Summing-up.
Stiglitz, J. E. (2007). Making globalization work. WW Norton & Company. Chapter 1 and 10.
- Category
- Hours
- Class Instruction
- 28
- Total
- 28
- Credit
- 7,5 ECTS
- Type of assessment
- Oral examinationOral exam
- Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Censorship form
- External censorship
Criteria for exam assesment
- Grade 12 is given for an outstanding performance: the student lives up to the course's goal description in an independent and convincing manner with no or few and minor shortcomings
- Grade 7 is given for a good performance: the student is confidently able to live up to the goal description, albeit with several shortcomings
- Grade 02 is given for an adequate performance: the minimum acceptable performance in which the student is only able to live up to the goal description in an insecure and incomplete manner
Course information
- Language
- English
- Course code
- ASTK15437U
- Credit
- 7,5 ECTS
- Level
- Full Degree MasterBachelor
- Duration
- 1 semester
- Placement
- Autumn
- Schedule
- .
- Continuing and further education
- Study board
- Department of Political Science, Study Council
Contracting department
- Department of Political Science
Course responsibles
- A Manuel Ahedo Santisteban (4-71656c6944777367326f7932686f)