40043 - Politics of The World Economy

Learning outcomes

This graduate course provides the students with the key elements to interpret and understand the interaction between political and economic processes at the international level. At the end of the course, the students will be familiar with the orthodox tripartition of IPE,, the contested nature of such trifurcation and seminal debates in the discipline (First part). Students will have acquired an advanced knowledge of the main actors, processes and issues at stake in global political-economic relations (trade-security, trade-democracy nexuses, multinational investment and its geo-political implications, political and economic risk, the politics and performance of poverty reduction, financial crises and the management of power asymmetries in the international system, global governance issues) (Second Part).

Course contents

The first part of the course covers the most relevant theoretical approaches to the study of IPE. In addition to the three orthodox approaches (Mercantilism, Liberalism, Marxism), the course will focus on the role of domestic and international political determinants in the explanations of different economic outcomes, as well as on the complex relation between security and economic interdependence.

The second part of the course will explore the study of international monetary, trade and financial systems. Against their historical and institutional backgrounds, classes will explore theorizations on the role of international institutions in global economic governance, with a focus on selected development issues (aid policymaking and aid-development nexus), financial stabilization, the role of artificial intelligence and digital technologies in reshaping global value chains. The Course features modules covering IPE research on the future of the discipline and of evolving international orders, in in light of post-pandemic multiplexity and weaponisation of interdependence. Particular attention will be devoted to EU-US relations and to the role of the EU in the global political economy.

The course is organized in two parts: Part 1, where Schools of thought, theoretical foundations, and seminal debates are addressed, and Part 2, where select topics and policy applications are engaged. Lectures delivered in Part 1 aim to introduce the students to the core tenets of the discipline, whereas teaching in Part 2 seeks to stimulate active participation by the students, providing them with occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises.

Students are always required to carefully read the assigned material before each session. Lectures may be complemented by Seminars and Guest Lectures by External experts.

Students will be assessed based on a final oral exam on all the compulsory readings indicated in this syllabus.

Class attendance is mandatory (verification policy – roster signing - requires that at least 70% of classes be attended for the student to be admitted to the oral exam).

Students who wish to complement their background on selected topics discussed in class may do so through the suggested readings – further references sections, and/or by consulting the following IPE handbook, Erin Hannah and John Ravenhill (eds), Global Political Economy, Oxford, University Press, Oxford, 2024, seventh edition, ISBN: 9780192847553.

Suggested readings are NOT required towards the preparation of the exam, and are to be intended as opportunities for students who want to further deepen their knowledge.

Readings/Bibliography

First Part (Main research traditions and theoretical debates)

1.Introduction to the study of International political economy

Required readings:

1. Cohen, B.J. International Political Economy. An Intellectual History, Princeton University Press, Princeton & Oxford, 2008, Introduction and Chapters 1-2.

2.Keohane, R. (2009), 'The Old IPE and the New.' Review of International Political Economy 16(1): 34-46.

Suggested readings:

- Nye, Joseph S., and Robert O. Keohane. “Transnational Relations and World Politics: An Introduction.” International Organization, vol. 25, no. 3, 1971, pp. 329–349.

- Strange, S. (1970), «International Economics and International Relations: A Case of Mutual Neglect», International Affairs, 46(2), pp. 304-15.

- Watson, M. (2014) ‘The Historical Roots of Theoretical Traditions in Global Political Economy', in Ravenhill, J. (ed) Global Political economy, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 25-49.

- Wade, R. (2009) ‘Beware what you wish for: Lessons for international political economy from the transformation of Economics', Review of International Political Economy, 16, 1, pp. 106-121.

2. The Mercantilist Tradition and the debate on free trade

Required readings:

1. Irwin, D. (1996) Against The Tide: An Intellectual History of Free Trade, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, pp. 116-137 (The Infant Industry Argument); pp.75-86 (Adam Smith's Case for Free Trade), and pp.87-98 (Free trade in classical economics);

2. Hirschman, A.O. National Power and The Structure of Foreign Trade, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1945, Ch 1 (p.3-12) and Ch.2 (13-52), trad. it. Potenza nazionale e commercio estero, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1987, pp. 63-74 and pp. 75-124.

Suggested readings:

- Findlay R. and O'Rourke, K. H. (2008) ‘World Trade 1650-1780: The Age of Mercantilism', in Power and Plenty, Oxford and Princeton, Princeton University Press, Ch. 5, pp. 227-294 e 304-310.

 

3. The Liberal Tradition

Required readings:

1.Keohane, R. (1984), After Hegemony, Princeton, Princeton University Press, pp.49-64, pp. 85-109 and pp.243-259;

2.Oneal, J. R. and Russett, B. (1999) ‘The Kantian Peace: The Pacific Benefits of Democracy, Interdependence, and International Organizations, 1885-1992’, World Politics, 52, 1, 22, pp. 1-36.

Suggested readings:

- Kant, I. [1795] ‘Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch’, available at: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/kant/kant1.htm

Trad it: Kant, I. Per la pace perpetua, traduzione di Roberto Bordiga, prefazione di Salvatore Veca, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2002, 8 edizione, pp.53-68 (First, Second and Third Article)

 

4. Security and economic interdependence (I). Systemic change: Hegemonic Stability Theory and its critics

Required readings:

1.Conybeare, J. (1984) ‘Public Goods, Prisoners' Dilemma and The International Political Economy’, International Studies Quarterly, 28, pp.5-22;

2.Snidal, D. (1985), ‘The Limits of Hegemonic Stability Theory’, International Organization, 39, 1985, pp.579-614.

Suggested readings:

-Krasner, D. (1976) State Power and the Structure of International Trade, World Politics, 28, 3, 1976, pp. 317-347;

-Kindleberger, Ch. (1981), ‘Dominance and Leadership in The World Economy: Exploitation, Public Goods, and Free Riders’, International Studies Quarterly, 25, pp.242-254.

 

5. Security and economic interdependence (II). Balance of power Theories: Relative gains, alliances and trade policies

Required readings:

1.Grieco, J. M. (1988) ‘Anarchy and the limits of cooperation: a realist critique to the newest liberal Institutionalism’, International Organization, 43, 2, pp.485-507;

2.J. Gowa, J. and Mansfield, E.D. (1993), ‘Power Politics And International Trade’, American Political Science Review, 87, No.2, pp.408-420.

Suggested readings:

-Gowa, J. (2011) The Democratic Peace after the Cold War', Economics & Politics, 23,2, 153–171.

 

6. Domestic determinants: attitudes, preferences and institutions

Required readings:

1.Mansfield, E.D. Milner, H.V. and Rosendorff, P.B. (2000) ‘Free to Trade: Democracies, Autocracies and International Trade’, American Political Science Review, 94, pp.305-321.

2.Trubowitz, P. and Burgoon, B. (2023) 'The Solvency Gap', in Trubowitz and Burgoon (2023), Geopolitics and Democracy, New York, Oxford University Press, pp.1-26

Suggested readings:

- Putnam, D. (1988) ‘Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two Level Games’, International Organization, 42, 3, pp.427-460;

- Olson, M. and McGuire, M. (1996), ‘The economics of autocracy and majority rule: the invisible hand and the use of force’, Journal of Economic Literature, 34, pp.72-96;

- Mansfield, E.D, Mutz, D. (2013). ‘US versus Them: Mass Attitudes toward Offshore Outsourcing’. World Politics, 65(4), 571-608.

-Colantone, I. and Stanig, P. (2018) ‘The Trade Origins of Economic Nationalism: Import Competition and Voting Behavior in Western Europe’, American Journal of Political Science, 2018, 62, 4, 936-953.

 

Second Part (Debates, topics & policy applications)

7. Money and finance in the international political economy: power and regulation

Required readings:

1.Ruggie, J. (1982) ‘International Regimes, Transactions, and Change: Embedded Liberalism in the Postwar Economic Order’, International Organization, 36, 2, Spring 1982, pp.379-415;

2.Lipscy, P., & Lee, H. (2019). The IMF As a Biased Global Insurance Mechanism: Asymmetrical Moral Hazard, Reserve Accumulation, and Financial Crises. International Organization, 73(1), 35-64.

Suggested readings

- Obstfeld, M. (1998) ‘The Global Capital Market: Benefactor or Menace?’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12, 4, pp.9-30.

- Cohen, B. (2009) “The Triad and The Unholy Trinity: Problems of International Monetary Cooperation”, J. Frieden and D.Lake, International Political Economy, London and New York, Routledge, 2009, p.255-266;

- Deeg, R. and O'Sullivan, M- (2009) ‘Review Article: The Political Economy Of Global Finance Capital', World Politics ,61, 4, 731–63.

-Reinhart, C. and Rogoff, K. (2011) ‘This Time is Different: A Panoramic View of Eight Centuries of Financial Crises', NBER Working Paper No. 13882, now in Reinhart, C. and Rogoff, K. (2011) This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press.

-S. Claessens, M. Ahyan Khose (2013) ‘Financial Crises: Explanations, Types and Implications', in IMF Working Paper13/28, 2013, pp.1-59.

- Coulibaly, B.S. and Prasad, E. (2020), The international monetary and financial system: How to fit it for purpose?, Brookings Report, Tuesday, November 2020.

 

8. The International Trade System

Required readings:

1.Goldstein, J., and Gulotty, R. (2021). America and the Trade Regime: What Went Wrong? International Organization, 75(2), 524-557. doi:10.1017/S002081832000065X

2.Whalley, J. (1998) ‘Why Do Countries Seek Regional Trade Agreements?', in Jeffrey Frankel, (ed.), The regionalization of the world economy, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1998, pp.63-87;

Suggested readings

- Hoekman, B. (2013) ‘Sustaining Multilateral Trade Cooperation in a Multipolar Economy’, RSCAS Working Paper 2013/86, EUI, San Domenico di Fiesole, pp.9-26 available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2377256

- Barton, J., Goldstein, J. Josling, J.E and R.H. Steinberg (2006), The Evolution of the Trade Regime, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2006, Chapters 2 and 5.

9. The EU, the US and the ‘geopoliticisation’ of interdependence in the new global context

Required readings:

-Henry Farrell, Abraham L. Newman; Weaponized Interdependence: How Global Economic Networks Shape State Coercion. International Security 2019; 44 (1): 42–79. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00351

-Herranz-Surrallés, A., Damro, C., and Eckert, S. (2024) The Geoeconomic Turn of the Single European Market? Conceptual Challenges and Empirical Trends. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 62: 919–937. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13591

Suggested readings:

-Baroncelli, E. (2025) ‘The EU’s Open Strategic Autonomy and the challenge of competitiveness in the era of geo-politicized interdependence’, Global Policy, 2025, OPEN ACCESS at: https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/27/08/2025/eus-open-strategic-autonomy-and-challenge-competitiveness-era-geo-politicized

-Baroncelli, E., and Ülgen, S. (2024) ‘Open Strategic Autonomy and the Future of the Global Economic Order’, in Balfour, R. and Ülgen, S. (2024) (eds), Geopolitics and Economic Statecraft in the European Union, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington; Carnegie Europe, Brussels, pp.29-50. OPEN ACCESS! https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2024/11/geopolitics-and-economic-statecraft-in-the-european-union?lang=en#eu-open-strategic-autonomy-and-the-future-of-the-global-economic-order

-Schmitz, L., and Seidl, T. (2023) As Open as Possible, as Autonomous as Necessary: Understanding the Rise of Open Strategic Autonomy in EU Trade Policy. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 61: 834–852. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13428

10. The global governance of development

Required readings:

1.Therien, JP and Pouliot, V (2020) Global governance as patchwork: the making of the Sustainable Development Goals, Review of International Political Economy, 27 (3), pp.612-636

2.Baroncelli, E. (2024). Governing Complexity in Complex Times: The HDP Nexus and the Role of the UN, the EU and the World Bank. The International Spectator, 59(3), 21–41.

https://doi.org/10.1080/03932729.2024.2376041

Suggested readings:

- Burnside, C. and Dollar, D. (2000) ‘Aid, Policies and Growth’, American Economic Review, 90, 4, pp.847-868.

-Ban, C. and Blyth, M. (2013) ‘The Brics and the Washington Consensus: An Introduction', in Review of International Political Economy, 20, 2, 141-155.

- Easterly, W. (2006) The White Man's Burden, Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York, 2006, pp.33-49 ‘The Legend of the Big Push', e pp.99-138, ‘Planners and Gangsters'.

 

11. Multilateral development and crisis finance: the global-regional interplay between continuity and change

Required readings:

1.Henning, R. (2019) Regime complexity and the institutions of crisis and development finance, Development and Change, 50, 1.

2.Baroncelli, E. (2021), Cooperating Through Competition: EU Challenge and Support to the World Bank Focality in Multilateral Development Finance. Global Policy, 12: 80-89. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12916

Suggested readings:

- Woods, N. (2006), The Globalizers: The IMF, the World Bank, And Their Borrowers, Cornell University Press, 179-213.

- Kring, W. and Gallagher, K. (2019) ‘Beyond Bretton Woods? Complementarity & Competition in the International Economic Order’, Special Issue, Development and Change, 50, 1.

-Fioretos. O. and Heldt, E. (2019) Legacies and innovations in global economic governance since Bretton Woods, Review of International Political Economy, 26:6, 1089-1111

 

12. IPE at 50 and beyond: between change and continuity

1.McNamara, K. and Newman, A. (2020), The Big Reveal: COVID-19 and Globalization’s Great Transformations, International Organization 74 Supplement, December 2020, pp. E59–E77.

2.Mansfield, E., & Rudra, N. (2021). Embedded Liberalism in the Digital Era. International Organization, 75(2), 558-585. doi:10.1017/S002081832000056965X

3.Leeds BA, Mosley L, Rosendorff BP, Zarakol A. (2025) The Future of Global Governance and World Order. International Organization;79(S1):S1-S11. doi:10.1017/S002081832510118

Suggested readings:

-Drezner, D. (2020), ‘The Song Remains the Same: International Relations After COVID-19’, International Organization 74 Supplement, December 2020, pp. E18–E35.

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*NB: Topics and readings may be adjusted – so please make sure to check this course webpage before the beginning of the Course

Teaching methods

Taught classes, seminars, class discussion and debates (depending on class size and attending rates), divided in two modules (see above), with the help of visual tools (ppt, movies, web and non web-resources), contributed teaching by sectoral experts (TBC).

To strengthen their public speaking skills – and train towards the oral exam, students are encouraged to engage in autonomous (spoken) content-elaboration and critical reassessment of the required readings via voluntary contributions to class work, particularly in Part 2 (Policy applications).

IMPORTANT NOTE ON SECURITY PROVISIONS: All students must attend Modules 1 and 2 on Health and Safety procedures [https://www.unibo.it/en/services-and-opportunities/health-and-assistance/health-and-safety/online-course-on-health-and-safety-in-study-and-internship-areas]

 

 

Assessment methods

The assessment of the students' acquisition of expected knowledge and abilities is based on a final oral exam (on the overall program (as posted in this Webpage and via Virtuale). The oral exam is aimed at testing the student's ability to verbally articulate themes and methods discussed in class, providing them with an opportunity to show their abilities to critically reassess such material.

More specifically: the ability of the student to achieve a coherent and comprehensive understanding of the topics addressed by the course, to critically assess them and to use an appropriate language will be evaluated with the highest grades (A = 27-30 con lode). A predominantly mnemonic acquisition of the course's contents together with gaps and deficiencies in terms of language, critical and/or logical skills will result in grades ranging from good (B = 24-26) to satisfactory (C = 21-23). A low level of knowledge of the course’s contents together with gaps and deficiencies in terms of language, critical and/or logical skills will be considered as ‘barely passing' (D = 18-20) or result in a fail grading (E).

Active class participation beyond attendance, through participation to class discussion is strongly encouraged, based on meaningful engagement with the assigned readings.

Teaching tools

Ppt, visual and interactive web and non-web based tools. Guest lectures provided by external experts (TBD). Inclusive teaching to enhance class participation.

Students with a form of disability or specific learning disabilities (DSA) who are requesting academic adjustments or compensatory tools are invited to communicate their needs to Prof.Baroncelli and Unibo Offices ahead of time It is a student’s responsibility to propose any such adaptation, and have it submitted with a 15-day notice to the approval of the teacher, who will assess feasibility and opportunity, also in line with the educational objectives of the course.

Office hours

See the website of Eugenia Baroncelli