Dr Boram Lee

This course is available on the MSc in International Affairs (LSE and Peking University), MSc in International Political Economy, MSc in International Political Economy (LSE and Sciences Po), MSc in International Political Economy (Research) and MSc in Political Science (Political Science and Political Economy). 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. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

All International Relations (IR4) optional courses at LSE are Controlled Access and require an application via LfY. Students must include a statement in their LfY application of no more than 200 words explaining their interest in the course and its relevance to their academic and career goals.

Application deadline: 12:00 noon, Friday 26 September 2025.

Notification of outcome: by 12:00 noon, Monday 29 September 2025.

After this date, students should consult the MSc Course Availability Spreadsheet for remaining spaces on IR4-level courses. 

For further details, see the LSE Selecting Courses webpage in the first instance or contact IR.Programmes@lse.ac.uk only if necessary.

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.

This course examines how politics shape policies and institutions that govern international trade. The course is divided into three modules: i) introduction, ii) theories, and iii) topics in international trade. After the introductory week, the course surveys classical readings that provide different approaches to international trade. During the theory module, students will investigate how geopolitics, interest groups, institutions, and ideas shape international trade. Students will compare different arguments and evidence provided by scholars of these traditions and build foundations to apply these perspectives to analysing new topics in international trade. Once the theory module is complete, students will apply these theoretical approaches to new topics in international trade. This module focuses on a variety of topics: trade and climate, trade as a human rights strategy, the World Trade Organization, US-China trade war, populism & trade-related welfare policies, intellectual property rights, and negotiations of bilateral & plurilateral trade deals. Students will examine competing IR and political science theories that explain trade policy outcomes, and use those theories in analysing important topics on trade. Most of the required readings are by IR scholars and political scientists who are grappling with international trade policies from political science/IR perspectives. They are recently published journal articles, book chapters, and case studies.

15 hours of seminars and 10 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.

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

Students will be expected to produce 1 response paper in the WT. Students will respond to an opinion piece written by a trade expert. Students will be required to draw from course readings and respond to the argument proposed by the opinion piece.

Students will do a 7-minute group presentation during seminar. Students will receive a short prompt on the topic of the week. Students will use some readings of the week or previous weeks to assess the credibility and validity of the argument proposed in the opinion piece and formulate their own argument responding to the opinion piece. This will help students prepare for the summative response paper.

Gowa, Joanne. Allies, adversaries, and international trade. Princeton University Press, 1995.

Gallagher, Peter, Patrick Low, and Andrew L. Stoler, eds. Managing the challenges of WTO participation: 45 case studies. Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Mansfield, Edward D., and Diana C. Mutz. "US versus them: Mass attitudes toward offshore outsourcing." World Politics 65.4 (2013): 571-608.

Okonjo-Iweala Ngozi. “Why the World Still Needs Trade.” July/August 2023. Foreign Affairs.

Steinberg, Richard H. "In the shadow of law or power? Consensus-based bargaining and outcomes in the GATT/WTO." International organization 56.2 (2002): 339-374.

Essay (100%, 2500 words).

This essay is a Response Paper.