PSCI 229
Global Political Economy Fall 2017
Division II
This is not the current course catalog

Thirty years ago the production, distribution, consumption and accumulation of goods, services and capital were predominantly national, organized by nation-states and within national territories. Today they all are increasingly global in scope, and nation-states find themselves more and more the subjects than the masters of mobile transnational corporations, international trade tribunals, global currency markets and natural resources cartels. All of these developments have direct and far-reaching effects on the power of states, the wealth of societies, and the life chances of billions of people around the world. This course offers a broad introduction to contemporary global capitalism, emphasizing the inherent and inseparable intertwining of politics and economics, power and wealth, the state and the market. It begins with an overview of the recent history of globalization. The core of the course is made up of a broad analysis of global trade, global finance, and development, with special attention to subjects such as free trade, foreign aid, industrial policy, currency wars, and financial crisis. We conclude the course with a close look at current global financial instabilities and the implications for the future of global capitalism.