2nd Edition
International Political Economy in the 21st Century Contemporary Issues and Analyses
Understanding of the theories that underpin international political economy (IPE), and their practical applications, is crucial to the study of international relations, politics, development and economics.
This is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the field, with an engaging and coherent foundation to the subject. It considers traditional and alternative approaches to IPE, and in doing so elucidates key concepts, assumptions and the intellectual and historical context in which they arose and developed. At all times, it makes clear their relevance to issues from trade, finance and government, to environment, technology, health, labour, security, migration, development and culture. The book encourages independent reflection and critical thinking through a range of in-text guiding features. In addition, each chapter presents theoretical analysis alongside contemporary issues, helping the reader to relate to the real world of IPE and to better understand how theory helps inform interpretation of it.
New to this edition:
- comprehensively updated to include key coverage of the post-2015 framework of the Sustainable Development Goals, the financial crisis and international government responses - successful or otherwise - to recent challenges;
- fully updated data, reflective questions, recommended readings, concept and example boxes, and illustrations;
- new chapters on health, migration and labour;
- additional coverage of trade theories and key contemporary issues, such as national versus human security, economic versus human development and illegal networks in global trade.
Introduction
So what is IPE?
The global jigsaw
Structure of the book
1 The origins and core ideas of international
political economy
Introduction
The sources of IPE
IPE as a critique of IR
Realist IR and IPE
Liberal IPE
Marxist IPE
Criticising the mainstream IR approaches
The practical concerns shaping the evolution of IPE
Refinements of the traditional theories
Neo-realism
Neo-liberalism
A neo-neo synthesis?
Neo-Marxist theories
Summary
Reflective questions
Suggestions for further reading
2 Critical approaches to IPE
Introduction
Critical theory
Constructivism
Feminism
Postmodernism/poststructuralism
Gramscian approaches to IPE
Green thought
The new institutional economics: networks of power, networks of exchange
Regulation theory and IPE
Summary
Reflective questions
Suggestions for further reading
3 Business and marketing theories and global
business behaviours
Introduction
Four key basic ideas
The global business environment and the different legal environments of business
Theories of multinational business behaviour and impacts
Regulation and multinational business strategies
Private authority and IPE
Knowledge as a global commodity
International business history and case study analysis
Summary
Reflective questions
Suggestions for further reading
4 Globalisation and IPE
Introduction
The globalisation debate
Origins of globalisation
Expansion of the European system
Globalisation of trade and finance
Corporate globalisation
Global culture?
Media
Global environmental degradation
Multi-globalisation
Summary
Reflective questions
Suggestions for further reading
5 National, international, regional and global governance
Introduction
The nature of governance
International cooperation
Actors
Issues
Summary
Reflective questions
Suggestions for further reading
6 Trade
Introduction
Liberalism
Realism/mercantilism
Structuralism
The contemporary trade system
Rising levels of trade
Free trade agreements
MNCs and trade
Criticisms of trade
Trade theory and modelling
Summary
Reflective questions
Suggestions for further reading
7 Global finance
Introduction
Two stories of financial globalisation
The core ingredients of global finance
The growth of a globalised financial system: a little more history
What was the ‘international debt crisis’ and where did it come from?
The financial crisis of the 2000s
Global financial institutions
The global financial system after the financial crisis
Summary
Reflective questions
Suggestions for further reading
8 Development
Introduction
Liberal modernisation
The development problem
Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals
Major groups
Development projects
Critical frameworks for rethinking development
Summary
Reflective questions
Suggestions for further reading
9 Environment
Introduction
Actors: governments
Actors: multinational corporations
Actors: non-governmental organisations
Issues: resource depletion
Issues: deforestation
Issues: biodiversity
Issues: reef systems
Issues: fisheries
Issues: energy security
Processes
Summary
Reflective questions
Suggestions for further reading
10 Technology in the global political economy
Introduction
What is technology?
Technologies as a principal tool of global economic competition
Kondratieff cycles and major innovations
Oligopoly competition in high-tech sectors: how multinational firms use technology to compete
Technology, work and patterns of global labour
Limitations on the role of technology
Intellectual property and technology
Technology, competition, and mergers and acquisitions
Technology and the individual person as subject in IPE
Who has technology leadership?
Summary
Reflective questions
Suggestions for further reading
11 Culture
Introduction
Liberal triumphalism
Clash of civilisations
Anti-globalisation/structuralist and green thought
Global culture
Resistance to cultural hegemony
Non-coercive globalisation
Summary
Reflective questions
Suggestions for further reading
12 Security
Introduction
The development of ‘new’ security issues
Emerging issues
Summary
Reflective questions
Suggestions for further reading
13 Migration and labour
Introduction
Understanding migration
Economic migration
Technology and migration
Labour in the twenty-first century
Migration and multiculturalism
Human security, human rights and migration
Governmental and non-governmental policy responses to migration
Summary
Reflective questions
Suggestions for further reading
14 Health
Introduction
The health transition
People’s Health Movement (PHM)
Determinants of health
Health in the developing world
Health in the developed world
Technology and health
Summary
Reflective questions
Suggestions for further reading
15 Concluding thoughts and remarks
Biography
Roy Smith is Principal Lecturer and Programme Leader for the MA in International Development at Nottingham Trent University, UK.
Imad El-Anis is Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for the MA in International Relations at Nottingham Trent University, UK.
Christopher Farrands is Principal Lecturer in Global Studies at Nottingham Trent University, UK.
"An indispensable core text for undergraduate students of international relations, politics and economics. The authors provide a clear overview of the main theoretical debates in IPE while surveying some of the most important global challenges of the twenty-first century." - David Humphreys, The Open University, UK.
"This new edition of International Political Economy in the 21st Century provides incisive and accessible material on the ever growing field of International Political Economy. The book recognises the importance of understanding the nexus of contemporary relations between politics and economics in making sense of major issues. The book provides the reader with substantive insight into the often dense field of International Political Economy. It is a must-read for scholars and practitioners of International Political Economy." - Paul Sheeran, University of Winchester, UK.
