Pitzer College                                                             Political Studies 141

Fall 2005                                                                                 Thomas Ilgen

 

 

 

INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY

 

The nation-state and the market economy are the principal forms of political and economic organization in contemporary global affairs.  The intersection of states and markets constitutes the substance of the field of international political economy.  International political economy has become of growing importance in the broader field of international politics as issues of global commerce and finance engage not only economists but also political leaders and their constituents both at home and abroad.  Problems of international trade, investment, labor, and capital movements shape the lives of citizens in all nations and their resolution demands not only the insights of formal economic models and theories but also a thorough engagement with and understanding of domestic politics and foreign policy-making. 

 

            This course introduces students with little or no economic background to elementary concepts necessary for an understanding of international commercial and financial affairs but then focuses primarily on the politics of global economic management.  We treat the evolution of the contemporary market-driven international monetary and trading systems and the role of global banks and corporations in those systems.  We examine the uneven fortunes of developing nations in the global economy and explore contending strategies for managing the relationship with that economy.  We also look at the efforts of formerly-socialist nations to adopt market reforms and to participate in the emerging global economy.  Throughout the course, we give special attention to the impact that international economic developments have on the management of domestic economies.

 

            In a class that treats current problems, the reading of daily newspapers and periodical literature is essential for digesting ongoing developments. You are required to follow international economic news through either a daily subscription to The New York Times or by reading the appropriate articles from the newspaper on line at: nytimes.com.  The British daily, The Financial Times and the British weekly, The Economist, also provide excellent coverage of international economic news. 

 

            Class members are expected to complete required readings during the week assigned and to come class prepared to comment on those readings.  Regular class attendance is expected and participation in class discussion will be evaluated as part of the student's final grade.  The class will be assigned two short essays (six to eight pages) that will ask for reflections on readings and class discussions.  A final exam or paper will complete the course.

 

            Most required readings are found in the books to be purchased for the course.  Additional reading assignments can also be found on WebCT and are so designated on this syllabus.          

           

 

Required texts:  J. Grieco and J. Ikenberry, State Power and World Markets

                        T. Friedman, The World is Flat

                        D. Rodrik, Has Globalization Gone Too Farr?

                        N. Lardy, Integrating China into the World Economy

A.     Chua, World on Fire

 

Office Hours: T 2:30-4:00, W 1:00-2:30 and by appointment in Bernard 216

Telephone:       Office: 909-607-3774

                          Home:  909-626-5800 (Until 10PM)

                          e-mail: tilgen@pitzer.edu

                          FAX: (909)621-8481

             

Week 1.  Introduction to International Political Economy ( August 30-September 1)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Required:

            J. Grieco and J. Ikenberry, Chs. 1-3.

R. Gilpin, “The Nature of Political Economy,” WebCT

                       

Recommended:

            R. Gilpin, Global Political Economy

            R. Gilpin, The Political Economy of International Relations

            S. Gill and D. Law, The Global Political Economy

            D. Baldwin, Economic Statecraft

           

Week 2. Theoretical Approaches to International Political Economy  (September 6,8)

 

Required:

            R. Gilpin, “Three Ideologies of Political Economy,” WebCT

            S. Krasner, “State Power and the Structure of International Trade,” WebCT

            B. Eichengreen, “The Political Economy of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff,” WebCT

            S. Strange, “States, Firms, and Diplomacy,” WebCT

 

Recommended:

            R. Gilpin, The Challenge of Global Capitalism

            P. Katzenstein, Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics

R. Keohane and J. Nye, Power and Interdependence

            R. Keohane, After Hegemony  

            C. Lipson and B. Cohen, Theory and Structure in International Political Economy

 

Weeks 3 and 4.  The International Economy in Historical Perspective and the Origins of the Postwar Economic Order  (September 13-22)

 

Required:

            J. Grieco and J. Ikenberry, Ch. 4

C.     Kindleberger, “The Rise of Free Trade in Western EuropeWebCT

D.     Gourevitch, “International Trade, Domestic Coalitions, and Liberty…” WebCT

E.      Frieden, “International Investment and Colonial Control” WebCT

D. Lake, “British and American Hegemony Compared” WebCT

           

Recommended:

B. Eichengreen, Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919-

            1939

A. Gerschenkron, Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective                                                    

A. Hirschman, National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade

            T. Ilgen, Autonomy and Interdependence

P. Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers

C. Kindleberger, The World in Depression, 1929-1939

            R. Rosecrance, The Rise of the Trading State

I. Wallerstein, The Modern World System

 

Weeks 5 and 6. The Postwar Economic Order: Money and Finance (September 27-October 6)

 

Required:

            J.Grieco and J. Ikenberry, Ch. 5

B. Eichengreen, Hegemonic Stability Theories of the International Monetary System,”   WebCT

            B. Cohen, “The Triad and the Unholy Trinity: Problems of International Monetary         

Cooperation,” WebCT

            J. Goodman and L. Pauly, “The Obsolescence of Capital Controls?” WebCT

 

Recommended:

            B. Cohen, The Geography of Money

            B. Eichengreen, Globalizing Capital

            B. Eichengreen and C.F. Bergsten, Toward a New International Financial Architecture

            J. Eatwell and L. Taylor, Global Finance at Risk

            Y. Funabashi, Managing the Dollar: From the Plaza to the Louvre

R. Gardner, Sterling‑Dollar Diplomacy in Current Perspective

J. Gowa, Closing the Gold Window

E. Helleiner, States and the Reemergence of Global Finance

M. Kahler, Capital Flows and Financial Crises

S. Maxfield, Gatekeepers of Growth

            J. Odell, U.S. International Monetary Policy

            L. Pauley, Who Elected the Bankers?

            R. Solomon, The International Monetary System, 1945-1976

            R. Solomon, Money on the Move

            S. Strange, Mad Money: When Markets Outgrow Governments

 

Week 7.  The Postwar Economic Order: Trade  (October 11, 13)

 

Required:

            Grieco and Ikenberry, Ch. 6    

                       

Recommended:

            International Trade:

            A. Cockburn, Five Days That Shook the World:  The Battle for Seattle

J. Evans, The Kennedy Round in American Trade Policy: The Twilight of the GATT

J. Goldstein, Ideas, Interests, and American Trade Policy         

            J. Gowa, Allies, Adversaries and International Trade

            A. Hirschman, National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade

G. Hufbauer and J. Schott, North American Free Trade

A. Krueger, The WTO as an International Organization

            P. Krugman, Rethinking International Trade

            E. Mansfield, Power, Trade, and War

            H. Milner, Resisting Protectionism

            R. Pastor, Congress and the Politics of U.S. Foreign Economic Policy

            E. Preeg, Traders and Diplomats

            E.E. Schattschneider, Politics, Pressures and the Tariff

            J. Schott, The WTO After Seattle

A.     Shonfield, International Economic Relations of the Western World, 1959‑1971

            D. Yoffie, Power and Protectionism

           

            Trade and Domestic Politics:

D. Friedman, The Misunderstood Miracle

            G. Garrett, Partisan Politics in the Global Economy

P. Gourevitch, Politics in Hard Times

            M. Hiscox, International Trade and Political Conflict

P. Katzenstein, Between Power and Plenty

            M. Olson, The Rise and Decline of Nations

T. Risse-Kappen, Cooperation Among Democracies

            J. Snyder, Myths of Empire

L. Tyson, Who's Bashing Whom?        

 

First Paper Assigned: October 6‑Due October 13

 

Fall Break‑October 15-18

 

Weeks 8 and 9.  The Postwar Economic Order: Multinational Enterprise (October 20-27)

 

Required:

            T. Friedman, The World is Flat, Chs 1-8, 10

 

Recommended:

            R. Barnet and J. Cavanagh, Global Dreams

            R. Barnet and R. Muller, Global Reach

            D. Bennett and K. Sharpe, Transnational Corporations Versus the State

            J. Brecher, Global Village or Global Pillage

P. Doremus, et. al., The Myth of the Global Corporation

P. Evans, Dependent Development

J. Grunwald and K. Flamm, The Global Factory           

R. Vernon, Sovereignty at Bay

            P. Doremus, et. al., The Myth of the Global Corporation

 

Week 10.  The Third World in the Global Economy I (November 1,3)

 

Required:

            Grieco and Ikenberry, Ch. 8

            D. Rodrik, Has Globalization Gone Too Far? (entire)

                       

Recommended:

            M. Aoki, The Role of Government in East Asian Economic Development

P. Bairoch, The Economic Development of the Third World Since 1900

            B. Cohen, The Question of Imperialism

            P. Evans, Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation

            A. Fishlow, Rich and Poor Nations in the World Economy

J. Frieden, Debt, Development, and Democracy

            G. Gereffi and Wyman, Manufacturing Miracles

            M. Goldstein, The Asian Financial Crisis

            S. Haggard, Pathways from the Periphery

            S. Haggard, The Political Economy of the Asian Financial Crisis

            G. Helleiner, Global Development Fifty Years After Bretton Woods

           

2nd Paper Assigned: November 3    Due: November 10

 

Week 11. Third World Economies II (November 8, 10)

 

Required:

            A. Chua, World on Fire (entire)           

            T. Friedman, The World is Flat, Ch. 9

Recommended:

            K. S. Jomo, Tigers in Trouble

P. Katzenstein,  Small States in World Markets            

            R. Klitgaard, Tropical Gangsters

            S. Krasner, Structural Conflict

W.A. Lewis, The Evolution of the International Economic Order

J. Migdal, Strong Societies and Weak States

T.J. Pempel, The Politics of the Asian Economic Crisis

            J. Ruggie, The Antinomies of Interdependence

           

Weeks 12 and 13.  Socialist Transitions to a Market Economy (Nov. 15-22)

 

Required:

            S. Islam and M. Mandelbaum, “Making Markets” WebCT

            N. Lardy, Integrating China into the World Economy (entire)

 

Recommended:

            G. Adler‑Karlsson, Western Economic Warfare, 1947‑1967

            B. Bueno de Mesquita, et. al., Red Flag Over Hong Kong

            M. Goldman, Detente and Dollars

L. Haus, Globalizing the GATT

F. Holzman, International Trade Under Communism

            J. Hough, Opening the Soviet Economy

            N. Lardy, Foreign Trade and Economic Reform in China, 1978-1990

            M. Mastanduno, Economic Containment

 

Thanksgiving: November 24

           

Weeks 14 and 15.  Globalization: Yeah or Nay? (November 29-December  8)

Required:

            Grieco and Ikenberry, Ch. 7, 9, 10

            T. Friedman, The World is Flat, Chs. 11-13

            A.T Kearney, “Measuring Globalization,” WebCT       

 

Recommended:

            B. Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld

            G. Burtless, Globaphobia                                                         

A. Giddens, The Runaway World

A.     D. Held, Global Transformations

J. Mander and E. Goldsmith, The Case Against the Global Economy

J. Mittelman, The Globalization Syndrome

R. Rosecrance, Rise of the Virtual State

T. Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree

J. Stiglitz, Globalization and Its Discontents                               

 

Final Paper or Exam: December 12