IR469      Half Unit
Politics of Money in the World Economy

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

Requisites

Additional requisites:

Students intending to take the course should have a strong background in monetary economics.

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.

15 hours of lectures and 13.5 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

Students will sit a mock e-Exam in the AT. The mock e-Exam provides students with an opportunity to write a paper in class under simulated exam conditions and receive feedback to support their preparation for the summative e-Exam. 

No one book covers the entire syllabus, but the following general works provide a useful introduction:

• B Eichengreen, Globalizing Capital (2019);
• T Porter, Globalization and Finance (2005);
• D Andrews (ed), International Monetary Power 2006);
• J Frieden, Currency politics: the political economy of exchange rate policy (2015);
• E Helleiner, The status quo crisis: global financial governance after the 2008 meltdown (2014);
• C. Norloff, America's global advantage: US hegemony and international cooperation (2010);
• B Cohen, Currency power: understanding monetary rivalry (2015);
• J Chwieroth and A Walter, The Wealth Effect (2019)

Exam (90%), duration: 120 Minutes in the January exam period

Course participation (10%)

e-Exam of 2 hours (90%) in the January exam period. The exam will take place in the form of an e-Exam. 

Class participation (10%) in the AT. Class participation consists of four in-class components: class presentations/debates, a meme exercise, an AI exercise, and questions and answers.