ASTK18471U Theories and Issues in Contemporary Global Political Economy

Volume 2026/2027
Education

Full-degree students enrolled at the Department of Political Science, UCPH

  • MSc in Political Science
  • MSc in Social Science
  • MSc in Security Risk Management
  • Bachelor in Political Science

 

Full-degree students enrolled at the Faculty of Social Science, UCPH 

  • Bachelor and Master Programmes in Psychology
  • Bachelor and Master Programmes in Anthropology
  • Master Programme in Social Data Science
  • Master Programme in Global Development

 

The course is open to:

  • Exchange and Guest students from abroad
  • Credit students from Danish Universities
  • Open University students
Content

In order to understand the dramatic changes of the present world economy - from trade war, industrial and technological rivalry, demise of the liberal order, and the revolt against the Western-led globalization – it makes sense to learn from the earlier theorizing and present research. Perhaps we are witnessing a historical shift from ‘West’ to ‘East’. Perhaps the brief history of globalization is about to end. Perhaps we are returning to a great power-driven system, in which economic warfare is the norm at the expense of rules-based economic competition. The course focuses on changes in the ‘contemporary’ global political economy, meaning the different explanations and understandings of present changes. It builds on a familiar IPE understanding of a global political economy; the relationship between states and markets which underpins the key sectors of the world economy - that is, globally interconnected trade, production, finance and consumption. However, it will also go beyond the headlines on the trade war or financial instability and try to see the world economy from an everyday perspective of the majority of the world population. GPE is a very broad discipline, and the course tries to cover most of these. 

The course has two-part structure, theories and practices. The first part presents IPE theories as different lenses for observing and reflecting upon this interplay between power and markets. It offers an introduction to main theories and concepts of International Political Economy–IPE liberalism, IPE realism, IPE constructivism and critical IPE – and provides illustrations from contemporary research of the four main domains of the global political economy – typically presented as trade, production, finance and consumption. The second part will be case-based explorations of distinct but interrelated transformations in the current world economy – the geoeconomic turn, the digital transformation, the green transition and the ‘non-Western’ transformation - and explores both current research and policy practice of economic statecraft, diplomacy and governance.

Learning Outcome

Knowledge:

  • Demonstrate knowledge of theories and concepts of global political economy
  • Understand rules, institutions and processes involved in contemporary policy practices, including geoeconomic statecraft, trade policy. Investment policy, industrial policy, development policy and climate policy
  • Understand relevant policy processes, in particular the EU but also the US and China, and within major sites in global economic governance, including UN, WTO, and OECD.

 

Skills:

  • Demonstrate informed, convincing and precise knowledge of contemporary literature and research
  • Make analytical evaluations of different approaches to the study of global political economy
  • Ability to analysis

 

Competences:

  • Analyse and reflect upon key contemporary issues and developments in global political eocnomy policy in the light of relevant historical, theoretical and methodological considerations.
  • Translate knowledge about theories and concepts of GPE related policies into concrete empirical analysis and identify opportunities and challenges for future policy.

Course textbook  

Erin Hannah and John Ravenhill (2024): Global Political Economy, 7th edition, Oxford University Press, 

 

Introduction to Global Political Economy

Susan Strange (1972): International Economics and International Relations: A Case of Mutual Neglect, International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), Vol. 46, No.2 (Apr., 1970),

Robert O’Brian & Marc Williams (2016): Theories of Global Political Economy, i Global Political Economy – Evolution and Dynamics, 5th edition, Palgrave, 2016, pp. 6-21

 

IPE Realism

Robert Gilpin (1975): Chapter 1, U. S. Power and the Multinational Corporation: The Political Economy of Foreign Direct Investment, New York: Basic Books. Reprinted in Mingst & Snyder (eds.), Essential Readings in World Politics, 5th edition, Norton, pp. 532-541.

Gilpin, Robert (2001): Global Political Economy, chapter 1-2, pp. 3-43 (esp. ‘state-centered realism’, pp 15-23 and “The nature of political economy”, pp. 38-45) and chapters 4 pp. 77-102.

Kirshner, Jonathan (2009): Realist political economy: traditional themes and contemporary challenges, in Blyth (ed.), Routledge Handbook on IPE, Routledge, pp. 36-47

Stange, Susan (1987): The persistent myth of lost hegemony, International Organization 41, 4, Autumn 1987, pp. 551-574.

Posen, Adam S. (2025): The New Economic Geography: Who Profits in a Post-American World? September/October 2025

 

Issue: Geoeconomics and economic statecraft

Luttwak, Edward N. (1990): From Geopolitics to Geo-Economics: Logic of Conflict, Grammar of Commerce, The National Interest, No. 20 (Summer 1990), pp. 17-23

Wigell, M. & S. Scholvin (2018): Power politics by economic means: geoeconomics as an analytical approach and foreign policy practice. Comparative Strategy, Volume 37, No. 1, 2018. Routledge. pp. 1-13

Henry Farrell, Abraham L. Newman (2019); “Weaponized Interdependence: How Global Economic Networks Shape State Coercion”. Uddrag. International Security 2019; 44 (1): 42–58, 74-79.

 

IPE Liberalism

Lake, D.A.(2009): Open economy politics: A critical review. Rev Int Organ 4, 219–244

Deudney, Daniel and G. John Ikenberry (2018): Liberal World - The Resilient Order, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2018, pp. 16-24

Aggarwal, Vinod K. and Cédric Dupont: “Chapter 3 Cooperation and Conflict in the Global Political Economy”, in Hannah, E., & Ravenhill, J. (2024). Pp. 54-78

Rodrik, Dani (2013): The New Mercantilist Challenge, project Syndicate, Jan 9, 2013. syndicate.org/​commentary/​the-return-of-mercantilism-by-dani-rodrik

Sally, Razeen (2020): Trade, deglobalization and the new mercantilism, 24 September 2020.

 

Issue: the Trade War

Mortensen, Jens L. (2020): “World Order: Lines of transformation” in E. Vivares (ed.), Routledge Handbook of International Political Economy. Routledge, 2020.

Trommer, Silke: Chapter 5 Global Trade, in Hannah, E., & Ravenhill, J. (2024). Pp. 105-160

Froman, Michael B. G.: After the Trade War - Remaking Rules From the Ruins of the Rules-Based System, Foreign Affairs September/October 2025

 

Issue: Financial destabilization

Helleiner, Eric: Chapter 8 The Evolution of the International Monetary and Financial System, in Hannah, E., & Ravenhill, J. (2024). Pp. 185-205

Pauly, Louis W.: Chapter 9 The Politics of Global Financial Stability, in Hannah, E., & Ravenhill, J. (2024). Pp. 206-230

Kenneth S. Rogoff (2025): America’s Coming Crash, Will Washington’s Debt Addiction Spark the Next Global Crisis? Foreign Affairs. September/October 2025.

 

Marxist and Critical IPE

Morton, A. D. (2003). Social Forces in the Struggle over Hegemony: Neo-Gramscian Perspectives in International Political Economy. Rethinking Marxism, 15(2), 153–179.

Ali Bhagat (2025): Chapter 14 The Global Political Economy of Development, in Hannah, E., & Ravenhill, J. (2024). Pp. 327-351

Cox, R. W. (1981). Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory. Millennium, 10(2), 126-155.

 

Issues: Global Inequality

Erin Lockwood (2025): Chapter 13 The Political Economy of Global Inequality, in Hannah, E., & Ravenhill, J. (2024). Pp. 303-326.

Ellie Gore: Chapter 7 Global Production and Unfree Labour, in Hannah, E., & Ravenhill, J. (2024). Pp. 161-184.

Weinhardt, C., & De Ville, F. (2024). The Geoeconomic Turn in EU Trade and Investment Policy: Implications for Developing Countries. Politics and Governance, 12, Article 8217.

IPE Constructivism

 

Abdelal, R., Blyth, M., & Parsons, C. (2010). Introduction: Constructing the International Economy. In R. ABDELAL, M. BLYTH, & C. PARSONS (Eds.), Constructing the International Economy (pp. 1–20). Cornell University Press.

Adam Harmes: Chapter 11 Ideologies of Globalism, Populism, and Economic Nationalism, in Hannah, E., & Ravenhill, J. (2024). Pp. 255-276

Christou, A., and Damro, C. (2024) Frames and Issue Linkage: EU Trade Policy in the Geoeconomic Turn. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 62: 1080–1096.

 

Geoeconomic transformation

Farrell, Henry & Abraham Newman (2025): The Weaponized World Economy - Surviving the New Age of Economic Coercion, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2025. Link: The Weaponized World Economy: Surviving the New Age of Economic Coercion

Drezner, Daniel W. (2024) Global Economic Sanctions, Annual Review of Political Science, vol. 27, 2024, pp. 9-24.

Edward Hunter Christie, Mikael Wigell & Tomi Kristeri (2025): Measuring geoeconomic power: An index for 41 major economies, FIIA Research Paper 02/2025. Pp. 1-23.

Moisio S. (2019): Re-thinking geoeconomics: Towards a political geography of economic geographies. Geography Compass; 13:e. 

 

 

The Digital Transformation

Susan Strange (1988): Power in the World Economy, States and Markets – An introduction to IPE, pp. 23-42

Girard, Tyler: Chapter 17 The Global Political Economy of Digital Technology, in Hannah, E., & Ravenhill, J. (2024). Pp. 405-426

Bremmer, Ian & Mustafa Suleyman (2023): “The AI Power Paradox – Can States Learn to Govern Artificial Intelligence Before It’s Too Late?”, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2023, Vol. 102: 5, p. 26-43

 

The Green Transition

Kate Ervine: Chapter 16 The Political Economy of the Environment , in Hannah, E., & Ravenhill, J. (2024). pp. 379-404

Matthew Paterson (2021) Climate change and international political economy: between collapse and transformation, Review of International Political Economy, 28:2, 394-405,

Bocquillon, P., 2024. Climate and energy transitions in times of environmental backlash?: The EU ‘Green Deal' from adoption to implementation. JCMS, Annual Review pp. 1–11.

 

The Post-colonial Revolt: Rising powers, new order?  

J. P. Singh: 15 The Global Political Economy of North–South Relations: A View from the South, in Hannah, E., & Ravenhill, J. (2024). Pp. 352-376

Scott, James (2025): Chapter 12 China and the Global Political Economy, in Hannah, E., & Ravenhill, J. (2024). Pp. 277-300

Conclusions

T.S. Paul (2023): “The Specter of Deglobalization.” Current History, pp. 3-8.

Andrew Hurrell, Geopolitics and global economic governance, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Volume 40, Issue 2, Summer 2024, Pages 220–233

Advanced knowledge of International Relations and European Politics. Basic knowledge of Economics.
Mix of class-based lectures and group and in-class exercises.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 28
  • Preparation
  • 71
  • Exam Preparation
  • 71
  • Exam
  • 36
  • Total
  • 206
Oral
Individual
Collective
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Home assignment, 3 døgn
Type of assessment details
Three-day compulsory written take-home assignment.
See the section regarding exam forms in the programme curriculum for more information on guidelines and scope.
Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Re-exam

In the semester where the course takes place: Three-day compulsory written take-home assignment

In subsequent semesters: Free written assignment

Criteria for exam assesment

Meet the subject's knowledge, skill and competence criteria, as described in the goal description, which demonstrates the minimally acceptable degree of fulfillment of the subject's learning outcome.

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