IR454 Half Unit
Governing International Political Economy: Lessons from the Past for the Future
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr James Morrison
Availability
This course is available on the MSc in International Political Economy, MSc in International Political Economy (LSE and Sciences Po) and MSc in International Political Economy (Research). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
How to apply: All students must include a brief written statement of no more than 200 words explaining why they wish to take the course and how it will benefit their academic/career goals.
Places on capped courses cannot be guaranteed.
Deadline for application: The deadline for applications is 12:00 noon on Friday 26 September 2025.
You can expect to be informed of the outcome of your application by 12:00 noon on Monday 29 September 2025.
For questions about the academic content of a Department of International Relations course, students should contact the teacher responsible as listed in the hyperlinked course guide.
For questions about your programme regulations, please contact your programme convenor/director or your Academic Mentor.
For questions about the process of applying to a Department of International Relations course, if not already clear from the information provided, please contact ir.msc@lse.ac.uk.
Students are advised to check the MSc Course Availability Spreadsheet.xlsx for information on the remaining availability of EU4, DV4, GV4, IR4, PP4 and SO4 courses after 12:00 noon Monday 29 September.
All students are required to obtain permission from the Teacher Responsible by completing the online application form linked to course selection on LSE for You. Admission is not guaranteed.
This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access) and demand is typically high.
Course content
Who governs the global economy? How do they do so? And to what ends do they govern it? This course examines these questions by examining the canonical theories of—and state approaches to—the challenges of global economic governance across the last several centuries.
This course will appeal to students who want to delve deeper into the history, evolution, and current trajectory of the global order. It considers international order from the standpoint of both international security and international political economy.
While this course takes history seriously, the primary objective is to use history from across the globe to tease out broader insights into those the challenges we face today. This course demonstrates the incomparable insights historical thinking offers in addressing contemporary challenges. Indeed, history has always been central to the study and practice of international political economy. The most influential scholars and practitioners of international political economy have repeatedly turned to history both to explain, and to offer a fresh perspective on, the great challenges of their day. This course is designed to help students cultivate that invaluable skill and habit of mind. It also brings modern social scientific theory to global history.
Proceeding from the seventeenth century to the present, the course examines:
- perspectives on international political economy from a diverse array of theorists and leaders (broadly construed)
- the ongoing, timeless debate between these figures
- the major shifts in the global economic order
- the interaction between theories and policy in each shift
The course is comprised of the following units/topics:
- Unit 1. The 3 Big Questions: Structure versus Agency; Ideational versus Material variables; and States versus Markets
- Unit 2. The Pre-war Global Economic Order: Liberalism versus Mercantilism
- Unit 3. The Great War
- Unit 4. The Rise of Fascism
- Unit 5. The Generative World Wars: From Human Rights to the Post-war Liberal International Order
- Unit 6. Rethinking Global Order: Decolonisation
- Unit 7. From Marx to Marism
- Unit 8. The Several Cold Wars
- Unit 9. Liberal Triumph? The post-Cold-War Moment
- Unit 10. The Future(s) of the International Economic Order(s)
Teaching
15 hours of seminars and 15 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.
Formative assessment
Students will be expected to produce an essay and deliver an in-class presentation. The formative essay provides students with an opportunity to write an essay and receive feedback to support their preparation for the summative essay.
Indicative reading
- Thomas Munn. England's Treasure by Forraign Trade.
- Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Communist Manifesto.
- JM Keynes. General Theory of Employment, Interest, & Money.
- Gandhi, Mohandas K. Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule.
Assessment
Essay (100%, 2000 words)
Key facts
Department: International Relations
Course Study Period: Winter Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: Unavailable
Average class size 2024/25: Unavailable
Controlled access 2024/25: NoCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Leadership
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Application of information skills
- Communication