Dr Stephen Coulter COW 3.12

Compulsory on the Executive MSc Political Economy of Europe. Not available to students on other programmes.

The course consists of two parts. In the first part we will discuss the basic arguments and methodological considerations of the Varieties of Capitalism literature and conduct a comparative analysis of the core issue areas in the political economy of contemporary capitalism: how capital, labour and product markets are structured. The second part will build on these thematic treatments to discuss the structure of and dynamics of the main Western, Southern and Central European models of capitalism.

27 hours of seminars in the LT.

One 2,000 word essay

Peter A Hall & David Soskice (Eds), Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Competitiveness. Oxford University Press, 2001; Hancké, Bob, Martin Rhodes and Mark Thatcher (eds.) 2007. Beyond Varieties of Capitalism: Conflict, contradiction and complementarities in the European Economy. (Oxford UP 2007) (henceforth HRT); Crouch, Colin, Capitalist Diversity and Change, Oxford University Press, 2005; Hancké, Bob (ed.), 2009, Debating Varieties of Capitalism: A Reader, Oxford UP.

One 2,000-2,500 word summative essay (50%) and a take-home exam (50%), both due in the Lent Term.