Dr Martin Hearson LCH.2.04

This course is available on the BSc in International Relations, BSc in International Relations and History and BSc in Politics and International Relations. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

Some background knowledge of international political economy, such as that provided in IR206 International Political Economy, will be useful to students taking this course.

This course is designed as a component of the study of a global system in which the management and mismanagement of money and finance are matters of fundamental consequence for international relations. It is intended to be of particular relevance to students specialising in international political economy. This is a course in applied international political economy theory. It deals with the basic concepts regarding the creation, use and management of money and finance in the global system. Students are then introduced to the political foundations of international monetary governance. Issues covered include the use of national currencies as international money, the politics of exchange rate adjustment, the operations of banks and other institutions in international money and capital markets, the evolution of global financial markets, the relationship between states and markets in the arena of global finance, international monetary cooperation, and the choices of monetary and financial policies open to developed and developing countries. The course emphasises that contemporary issues, such as international financial crises, international financial regulation and the politics of IMF conditionality, are best understood in a broader theoretical and analytical context.

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the LT. 1 hour of lectures and 1 hour of classes in the ST.

Students on this course will have a reading week in Week 6, in line with departmental policy.

Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the LT.

Students are expected to make presentations on topics of their choice and to write one 2,000-word essay, to be marked by the seminar teacher.

No one book covers the entire syllabus, but the following general works provide a useful introduction: B Eichengreen, Globalizing Capital (2008); A Walter and G Sen, Analyzing the Global Political Economy (2009); R Gilpin, The Political Economy of International Relations (1987), Chapters 4&8; S Strange, Mad Money (1998); J Frieden and D Lake, International Political Economy: Perspectives on Global Power and Wealth, section IIIC; T Porter, Globalization and Finance (2005); D Andrews (ed), International Monetary Power (2006). 

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours) in the main exam period.