The European Institute and Grantham Research Institute at LSE join forces to deliver a new course on the political economy of Europe and China

This academic year, Dr Donato Di Carlo, Assistant Professor in Political Economy at the LSE European Institute, and Dr Mathias Larsen, Senior Policy Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, are delivering a new postgraduate course on "The Political Economy of Europe and China in the New Multipolar World Order".

The European Institute has a growing scholarship and focus on the political economy of Europe, China, and the green transition, from our double degree partnership with Fudan University established in 2019 to the introduction of new courses such as the "Political Economy of the Green Transition in Europe" in recent years. This academic collaboration with the Grantham Research Institute combines our expanded focus with Grantham's expertise on the green transition and China - expertise which is now consolidated by the establishment of the China Green Development Lab with the Global School of Sustainability (GSoS). The Lab focuses on China’s green transition and its growing role in shaping global climate action and is led by Dr Mathias Larsen.

Reflecting on the new course, Dr Donato Di Carlo commented:

“Few questions matter more today than how Europe and China deal, and will deal, with one another. Our new MSc course is designed to help students make sense of EU-China relations through the complementary traditions of international and comparative political economy, and to see these questions as they appear from both Brussels and Beijing. Over the course, we move from the different models of capitalism on each side to the two China shocks that have hit European economies so unevenly, the contest over industrial policy and the financing of the green transition, the strains showing in supply chains and global imbalances, and ultimately the choice Europe faces between de-risking and decoupling from China. The course draws together the European Institute’s expertise in European political economy and the Grantham Research Institute’s scholarship on China and the green transition, and I am delighted to teach it with Mathias Larsen.”

Dr Donato Di Carlo is a comparative political economy (CPE) scholar and teaches on our MSc Political Economy of Europe in the World programme. His work revolves around three interrelated research streams: EU and Italian industrial policy; continuity and change in European models of capitalism and growth regimes; and the political economy of labour market and wage-setting institutions. He also founded the Luiss Hub for New Industrial Policy (LUHNIP), an interdisciplinary policy hub that bridges academic research, policy debate, and stakeholder engagement on industrial policy and economic governance in Europe and Italy.