Professor Adnan Khan

This course is available on the Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-Columbia), Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-Sciences Po), Double Master of Public Administration (LSE-University of Toronto), Master of Public Administration, Master of Public Policy, MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Hertie), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and NUS), MPA Dual Degree (LSE and Tokyo) and MPA in Data Science for Public Policy. 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.

Priority will be given to School of Public Policy students. All students (with the exception of School of Public Policy students who spent their first year at LSE) should submit a statement in support of their request.  Statements should include a list of economics courses you have previously taken.

Deadline for application: 9am on the Monday of Autumn Term week 1 (including requests from School of Public Policy students). We aim to inform students of the outcome of their request by 12noon the following day, Tuesday of Autumn Term week 1.

For queries contact: mpa@lse.ac.uk

At least one semester of undergraduate economics study, along with one course on economics at the graduate level, or consent of the instructor is required.

This course examines the intersection of economics and geopolitics and explores how states and other actors use economic and financial policies to achieve their strategic and national security objectives. It investigates the shift from a globalized to a fragmented trading, financial, and technological system. It explores possible future trajectory of global economy, pursuit of industrial policies, secure supply chains, FDI flows and attempts to diversify global financial order.

Drawing on a variety of case studies and theoretical frameworks, this course is designed to conceptualize the security-economy nexus, familiarize students with the tools of economic statecraft and how they are exercised and how systemic forces, such as geopolitical competition or transformative technologies are shaping the future.

Themes will include trade, foreign investment, and global financial order, as well as more specific issues such as infrastructure networks, energy, and the use of economic sanctions trade, foreign aid, technology, natural resources, and development financing.

This course is designed to enable students to assess risks and opportunities associated with economic policies and national security policies and encourage students to think out of the box regarding national security issues. It explores possible economic strategies, policy options, and institutional approaches to navigate these centrifugal dynamics and to respond to global economic fragmentation.

Upon completion of this course, students are expected to be able to:

1. Examine core domains of geoeconomics in contemporary economic statecraft with an exposure to the current debates, relevant theories, and empirical evidence.
2. Evaluate the intertwining of security, private sector and political economy.
3. Apply relevant theories to analyse real world problems and develop corresponding policy recommendations, potential policy interventions, and institutional innovations to manage the dilemmas of economic interdependence.
4. Assess policy options for public leaders, policy actors, firms and markets on how to respond to and shape economic statecraft.
 

22 hours of lectures and 16.5 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.

Presentation.

Critical evaluation.

• Aidt, Toke S., Facundo Albornoz, and Esther Hauk. 2021. "Foreign Influence and Domestic Policy." Journal of Economic Literature, 59 (2): 426–87.
• Mohr, Cathrin and Christoph Trebech. 2025. “Geoeconomics”. Forthcoming in the Annual Review of Economics.
• Baldwin, David. 1985. Economic Statecraft. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 
• Blackwill, R. and Harris, J. 2016. War by Other Means: Geoeconomics and Statecraft. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 
• Geoeconomics Fragmentation: The Economic Risks from a Fractured World Economy, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), 2023.
• Klement, Joachim, 2021, Geo-economics: The Interplay between Geopolitics, Economics and Investments, CFA Institute Research Foundation.
• Juhasz, Reka, Nathan Lane and Dani Rodrik, 2024, The New Economics of Industrial Policy, Annual Review of Economics 6: 213-42

Presentation (20%).

Memo (30%).

Essay (50%).

1. Group work (50% of final grade) to be done during seminars and elsewhere throughout the term. Students will be put into groups of 4-5 working on a policy question of their choice after moderation by the instructor.
   • Presentation: the groups will present their work during a seminar session and will be provided with the rubric on which it will be assessed.
   • Policy memo: the policy memo is the end product of the group work and follows on the same topic as the presentation. 
2. Final Paper (50% of final grade) due after end of term that applies the concepts from this course to a particular theme or question. Details on the format and content of final paper will be provided during the term along with grading rubric.