POL 5032 Syllabus 2015
/The more I think about International Political Economy, the more I am convinced that politics and economics within the international system are becoming more and more intertwined. As such, I have endeavored to create a course that reflects this reality
CAPE TOWN UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL STUDIES
International Political Economy Fall 2015
POL 5032Z
Dr. Harry J. Stephan Thursday: 9.00 a.m. – 11.00 a.m.
Venue: Seminar Room
This course is designed to provide a graduate-level discussion on the fundamental issues and concepts that deal with the International Political Economy. The course will deal specifically with institutions that govern finance and trade; regional supra-communities; notions of nationalism, agency and identity; the ideas of austerity vs. Keynesian models of growth; Europe’s regional economic agreements with Africa; and finally core issues that confront the globalized world.
The requirements for the course are as follows:
(1). Students will be expected to research each week’s topic and prepare a short paper of 600 words for each discussion session.
(2). Students will be expected to prepare a major research paper in this course of no more that 25 typed pages double spaced. The paper will be due towards the end of May. Topics must be approved by May 1st 2015.
3). Course Attendance at seminar (Thur. 9.00am – 11.00am)
4). Grades for this course are dependent upon class participation, class attendance, and all written assignments.
Required Reading:
Harry Stephan and Michael Power, eds., The Scramble for Africa in the 21st Century: From the Old World to the New (Cape Town: Renaissance Press, 2012).
Week 1: Introduction and orientation.
Week 2: The Nature of Power in the International System: Explaining hegemonic stability theory and the post 1945 international regime.
Week 3: The Global Financial and Monetary Order: International monetary systems, the Unholy Trinity; The nature of Foreign Direct Investment.
Week 4: International Institutions and the International Trading System. Cui bono?
Week 5: Regionalism as Theory: The Zollverein and the Origins of the European Union. The logical limits of functionalism.
Week 6: Nationalism: Identity and agency within supra-national entities. Are states withering away or just becoming a little different?
Week 7: Interpreting European Law and the Regional State: Are Calhoun, Clay and Webster relevant today?
Week 8: The EU/SADC Trade Agreement: Wither multilateralism? How will regional trade play out within the North/South divide?
Week 9: Power or Money: How will European trade and investment flow to Russia given Putin’s petulance in the Crimea? Are we seeing a major shift in attitudes, or will Merkel kiss and make up?
Week 10: Back to the Future: The End of History, trouble in paradise, the price of oil, BRICS and other areas of economic turmoil.
Course outline and Readings
Week 1: Introduction and Orientation
I strongly advise that you begin reading before lectures start, and the following general texts are recommended. A more complete source-list is provided in the course outline below.
John Ravenhill, Global Political Economy (4th ed.) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014)
Thomas Oatley, International Political Economy (5th ed.} (Boston: Longman, 2012)
Andrew Walter and Gautam Sen, Analyzing the Global Political Economy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008).
Robert Gilpin, Global Political Economy: Understanding International Economic Order (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001).
Susan Strange, States and Markets: An Introduction to International Political Economy (2nd ed.) (New York: Basil Blackwell, 1988).
Week 2: The Nature of Power in the International System: Explaining hegemonic stability theory and the post 1945 international regime.
Questions:
a). Is hegemonic stability theory useful in explaining the nature of the post WW II international economic order? How does it compete with alternative explanatory paradigms, especially Ruggie’s concept of ‘embedded liberalism’? How do we understand the nexus between international and domestic politics to explain international bargaining within the international economic system, and in your view, which of the theories espoused by Robert Gilpin best explain the workings of the international economic system?
b). Can domestic and international theories of political economy be reconciled?
Required Readings
Stephan and Power, Chapter V, pp. 261- 298.
Stephan and Power, Chapter 1, pp.9 – 26.
Further Readings
Matthew Watson, The Historical Roots of Theoretical Traditions in Global Political Economy, in Ravenhill, Global Political Economy, pp.25-50.
Stephen D. Krasner (ed.), International Regimes (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983).
John Ikenberry, “A World Economy Restored: Expert Consensus and the Anglo-American Postwar Settlement,” International Organization, Vol. 46, No. 1, Winter 1992, pp.289-321.
John G. Ruggie, International Regimes, Transactions and Change: Embedded Liberalism in the Postwar Economic Order,” International Organization, Vol. 36, No. 2, Spring 1982, pp.379-415.
John Odell, ‘From London to Bretton Woods: Sources of Change in Bargaining Strategies and Outcomes,” Journal of Public Policy, Vol.8, No.3/4, July-December, 1988, pp.287-316.
Oran R. Young, “Regime Dynamics: The Rise and Fall of International Regimes,” International Organization, Vol.36, No.2, 1982.
Michael J. Hiscox, The Domestic Sources of Foreign Economic Policies, in Ravenhill, Global Political Economy, pp.74-106.
Week 3: The Global Financial and Monetary Order: International monetary systems, the Unholy Trinity; The nature of Foreign Direct Investment.
Questions:
a). What are the key paradigms that underpinned the Bretton Woods international financial system? In your opinion, how influential were John Maynard Keynes and later Friedrich von Hayek?
a). What, in your view, was the primary cause in the breakdown of the Bretton Woods pegged exchange rate system?
b). How Important is the ‘Unholy Trinity’ for understanding the current floating-rate system and the potential for cooperation among the world’s leading nations in international monetary affairs?
c). In terms of the arguments espoused by Michael Power, what attracts FDI and how do states in the developing world compete with developed states to attract FDI?
d). Would you ever consider reintroducing capital controls into the global financial system?
e). How would you compare the EMS crisis of 1992/93 with the financial crisis of 07/08?
Required Readings
Stephan and Power, Chapters II and III, pp. 27- 190.
Further Readings
Eric Helleiner, The Evolution of the International Monetary and Financial System, in Ravenhill, Global Political Economy, pp.173-197.
Mark Blyth, “The Austerity Delusion: Why a Bad Idea Won Over the West,” Foreign Affairs, May/June 2013, pp. 41-56.
IMF, World Economic Outlook (WEO): Recovery Strengthens, Remains Uneven. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2014/01/
B. Eichengreen, “The EMS Crisis in retrospect,” in NBER Working Paper 8035 (2000). http://papers.nber.org/papers/w8035.pdf.
Eric. Helleiner and Stefano Pagliari, “The End of an Era in International Financial Regulation? A Postcrisis Research Agenda,” International Organization, Vol.65, No.1, 2011, pp.169-200.
Eric Helleiner, “A Bretton Woods Moment? The 2007-08 Financial Crisis and the Future of Bretton Woods, International Affairs, Vol. 86, No. 3, May 2010,
pp.619-636.
Ngaire Woods, “Global Governance after the Financial Crisis: A New Multilateralism or the Last Gasp of the Great Powers?” Global Policy, Vol.1, No.1, 2010, pp.51-63.
Week 4: International Institutions and the International Trading System. Cui bono?
Questions:
a). What are the key principles that underpinned both the GATT and WTO? How would you trace continuity and change through the Kennedy, Tokyo, Uruguay and Doha rounds?
b). In your opinion why do mercantilist tendencies still intrude into the international trading regime?
c). How would you describe economic development in the Third World through international bargaining under the WTO agreements? Will we see opportunities for development and institutional change within the WTO in the future?
Required Readings
Stephan and Power, Chapter IV, pp.191-260.
Further Readings
Gilbert R. Winham, The Evolution of the Global Trade Regime, in Ravenhill, Global Political Economy, pp.109-138.
Eward D. Mansfield and Diana C. Muntz, “Support for Free Trade: Self-Interest, Sociotropic Politics, and Out-Group Anxiety,” International Organization, Vol.63, No.3, 2009, pp.425-457.
Kishore Gawande, Pravin Krishna and Marcelo Olarreaga, “What Governments Maximize and Why: The View from Trade,” International Organization, Vo.63, No.3, 2009, pp.491-532.
Judith L. Goldstein, Douglas Rivers and Michael Tomz, “Institutions in International Relations: Understanding the Effects of the GATT and the WTO on World Trade, International Organization, Vol.61, No.1, 2007, pp.337-67.
M. Busch and E. Reinhardt, “Developing Countries and GATT/WTO Dispute Settlement, Journal of World Trade, Vol.34, No.4, 2003, pp.719-735.
Kevin P. Gallagher, “Understanding Developing Country Resistance to the Doha Round, Review of International Political Economy, Vol.15, No.1, 2007, pp62-85.
Week 5: Regionalism as Theory: The Zollverein and the Origins of the European Union. The logical limits of functionalism.
Questions:
a). What are the core theoretical arguments that underpin Regionalism?
b). Can you trace the idea or notion of the European Single Market back to the German Zollverein, and if so would you argue that politically the European Union should be aiming more for a Confederation than a political federation as an end goal?
C). How would you analyze the logical limits of functionalism?
Required Readings
Stephan and Power, Chapter VI, pp.299-362.
Further Readings
John Raveenhill, Regional Trade Agreements, in Reavenhill, Global Political Economy, pp.139-170.
W. Mattli, The Logic of Regional Integration: Europe and Beyond (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
A. Wiener and T. Diez, (eds), European Integration Theory (2nd ed.) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).
Ludger Kühnhardt, European Union — The Second Founding: The Changing Rationale of European Integration (2nd revised ed.) (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2010).
E.N. Roussakis, Friedrich List, The Zollverein and the Uniting of Europe (Belgium: College of Europe Press, 1968).
R. Hudson, “The Formation of the North German Confederation,” Political Science Quarterly, Vol.6, No.3, September 1991, pp.424-438.
Robert A. Mundell, “A Theory of Optimum Currency Areas,” American Economic Review, Vol.51, No.4, 1961, pp.657-659.
D. Levi-Faur, “Friedrich List and the Political Economy of the Nation State,” Review of International Political Economy, Vol.4, No.1, Spring 1997, pp.154-178.
F. Ploeckl, “The Zollverein, or How to Sequence a Customs Union” Economics Series Working Papers, No.84, (Oxford: University of Oxford, Department of Economics, May 8, 2009). http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/economics/history/Paper84/ploeckl84.pdf.
B. Rosamond, “The Uniting of Europe and the Foundation of EU Studies: Revisiting the Neofunctionalism of Ernst B. Haas,” Journal of European Public Policy, Vol. 12, No.2 2005, pp.237-254.
Phillip Schmitter, “Ernst B. Haas and the Legacy of Neofunctionalism,” Journal of European Public Policy, Vol. 12, No.2, 2005, pp.255-272.
Week 6: Nationalism: Identity and agency within supra-national entities. Are states withering away or just becoming a little different?
Questions:
a). “The European Union is, at its core, a project of Kantian peace, an attempt to create a peaceful union of European states that had been at war with each other for many centuries, but whose orgy of violence in the first half of the twentieth century left Europe exhausted.” — David Held. Is the European ideal of a Kantian Peace still at the heart of European development?
b). The recent financial crisis in Europe has raised fundamental questions about identity and politics. Against this background, signs have emerged of increasing social disintegration and a resurgence of nationalist sentiment; anti-semitism, racism and far-right politics. In your view, what does it mean to be European and will European identity survive the global financial crisis?
c). Will France or Germany submit to a new right wing ideology? How will ethnicity and nationalism develop in a Post-Communist Europe, and especially in Eastern Europe?
Required Readings
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, 1991).
Further Readings
Mikael Hjerm and Annette Schnabel, “Mobilizing nationalist sentiments: Which factors affect nationalist sentiments in Europe? Elsevier Social Science Research, Vol.39, 2010, pp.527-539.
CharlesA. Kupchan, “Centrifugal Europe, Survival, Vol.54, No.1, February-March 2012, pp.11-118.
Anthony D. Smith, “National Identity and the Idea of European Unity,” International Affairs, Vol.68, No.1, January 1992, pp.55-76.
John Erik Fossum, “Identity‐politics in the European Union,” Journal of European Integration, Vol.23, No.4, 2001, pp.373-406.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07036330108429109
Angelika Scheuer and Hermann Schmitt, “Dynamics in European Political
Identity,” Journal of European Integration, Vol.31, No.5, 2009, pp.551-568.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07036330903145856
Jürgen Habermas, “Historical Consciousness and Post-Traditional Identity: Remarks on the Federal Republic’s Orientation to the West,” Acta Sociologica, Vol.31, No.1, 1988, pp.3-13. Accessed through Sage Publications, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4200681
Alberto Spektorowski, “The French New Right: Multiculturalism of the Right and the Recognition/Exclusionism Syndrome,” Journal of Global Ethics, Vol.8, No.1, 2012, pp.41-61.
Aleksander Lust, “Review Essay: Nature or Nurture? Ethnicity and Nationalism in Post-Communist Europe,” Elsevier Political Geography, Vol.29, 2010, pp.408-410.
Week 7: Interpreting European Law and the Regional State: Are Calhoun, Clay and Webster relevant today?
Questions:
a). Will judicial power remain at the nation-state level, or will the European Union merge into a federal institution?
b). Can we compare the early debates within the United States on federalism with current judicial debates within the European Union?
c). How does the ECJ compare to the US Supreme Court?
Required Readings
Larry Backer, “The Extra-National State: American Confederation Federalism and the European Union,” Columbia Journal of European Law, Vol.7, No.2, 2001, pp.173-240.
Further Readings
Roland Flamini, Judicial Reach: The Ever-Expanding European Court of Justice. Available at: http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/judicial-reach-ever-expanding-european-court-justuce
Geoffrey Garrett and Daniel Keleman et al, “The European Court of Justice, National Governments, and Legal Integration in the European Union,” International Organization, Vol.52, No.1, 2013, pp.149-176.
Herbert Johnson, “Judicial Institutions in Emerging Federal Systems: The Marshal Court and the European Court of Justice,” John Marshall Law review, Vol.33, 1999, pp.1063-1465.
R.Daniel Kelemen and S.K. Schmidt, “Introduction — The European Court of Justice and Legal Integration: Perpetual Momentum?” Journal of European Public Policy, Vol.19, No.1, 2012, pp.1-7.
Walter Mattli and Anne-Marie Slaughter, “Revisiting the European Court of Justice,” International Organization, Vol.52, No.1, 1998, pp.177-209.
Oreste Pollicino, “The New Relationship between National and European Courts after Enlargement of Europe: Towards a Unitary Theory of Jurisprudential Supranational Law?” Yearbook of European Law, Vol.29, No.1, pp.65-111. doi:10.1093/yel/29.1.65.
J Weiller, “Does Europe Need a Constitution? Demos, Telos and the German Maastricht Decision,” European Law Journal, Vol.1, 1995, pp.232-235.
Week 8: The EU/SADC Trade Agreement: Wither multilateralism? How will regional trade play out within the North/South divide?
Questions:
a). What are the core elements that describe the new EU/SADC Trade Agreement?
b). Can we discern both continuity and change?
c). Does the EU/SADC Trade Agreement signal the death knell of multilateral trade agreements within the WTO?
d). Does the new EU/SADC Agreement signal a new projection of economic power from the EU?
Required Readings
Nicola Philips, Globalization and Development, in Ravenhill Global Political Economy, pp.344-371.
Further Readings
Stephen Karingi et al, “The EU-SADC Economic Partnership Agreement: A Regional Perspective,” African Trade Policy Centre, Work in Progress, No. 28, December 2005. http://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/publications/atpc28.pdf
European Commission, “Economic Partnership Agreement with SADC EPA Group: An Agreement for Economic Development in Southern Africa,” September 5th, 2014.
Christopher Wood, “The Way Forward for the Southern African Development Community Economic Partnership Agreement,” SAIIA Policy Briefing 97, June 2014. http://www.saiia.org.za/policy-briefings/the-way-forward-for-the-southern-african-development-community-economic-partnership-agreement
William Mwanza, “The Legal Framework and State of Play of Economic Partnership Agreements between the EU and the African Regions,” Tralac Trade Law Centre, Tralac Trade Brief No. S14TB12/2014, October 2014.
Gerhard Erasmus, “Legal and Institutional Aspects of the SADC Economic Partnership Agreement,” Tralac Trade Law Centre, Tralac Working Paper No. S14WPO7/2014, August 2014.
Week 9: Power or Money: How will European trade and investment flow to Russia given Putin’s petulance in the Crimea and the Ukraine? Are we seeing a major shift in attitudes, or will Merkel kiss and make up?
Questions:
a). How would you describe the current relationship between the European Union and Russia?
b). Will Russia continue to dominate Europe’s gas supply, or are we destined to see a new set of supply chains emerging in the future?
c). Will EU/Russian relations degenerate into a new Cold War?
d). Is Russia just too important as a trade and investment partner for Germany, and will there be a new German/Russian rapprochement?
Required Listening
Gorbachev’s Speech at the Security Symposium in Berlin on November 8th 2014.
http://rt.com/news/203475-gorbachev-speech-berlin-wall/
Further Readings
Giles Moec and Marco Stringa,, “Who is Exposed to Russia?” Deutsche Bank Research Data Flash, March 20th 2014.
Alexander J. Motytl, “The Sources of Russian Conduct: The New Case for Containment,” Foreign Affairs, November 16th 2014.
David Schoenbaum, “ Back to Europe’s Future: Twenty-Five Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall,” Foreign Affairs, November 8th 2014.
Robert Legvold, “Managing the New Cold War: What Moscow and Washington Can Learn From the Last One, “ Foreign Affairs, July/August 2014. <http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/141537/robert-legvold/managing-the-new-cold-war>.
Stefan Meister, “Reframing Germany’s Russia Policy — An Opportunity for the EU,” European Council on Foreign Relations Policy Brief, April 2014.
Jakob Mischke and Andreas Umland, “Germany’s New Ostpolitik: An Old Foreign Policy Doctrine Gets a Makeover,” Foreign Affairs, April 9th 2014.
Week 10: Back to the Future: The End of History, trouble in paradise, the price of oil, BRICS and other areas of economic turmoil.
Questions:
a). Now, 70 years after Bretton Woods, how would you position the United States in terms of your original thoughts on Hegemonic Stability Theory and Ruggie’s Regime Theory. Where does the United States fit into the international system, both in terms of its power and its financial leadership?
b). Given that the arc of uncertainty in the Middle East just seems to grow and grow, will the Middle East still dominate the energy market, or will the world wash its hands in the area and acquire fossil fuels from other potential regions?
c). Where in your opinion will the oil price bottom out?
d). With growth destined to slow within the BRICS, are these nations still the main drivers of the world economy or will we see a new generation of aspirant developers on the world bloc?
Required Readings
Anthony McGrew, The Logics of Economic Globalization, in Ravenhill, Global Political Economy, pp.225-254.
Further Readings
Gregory F. Treverton, “Making Policy in the Shadow of the Future,” Rand Corporation Occasional Paper, 2010.
http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2010/RAND_OP298.pdf
Ludger Kühnhardt, “The World’s New Thirty Years War: How to Shape a coherent long-term Western strategy for the Age of the New Global Violence,” The Globalist, November 16th 2014.
http://www.theglobalist.com/world-new-thirty-years-war/
Gunes Murat Tezcur and Sabri Ciftci, “Radical Turks: Why Turkish Citizens are Joining ISIS,” Foreign Affairs, November 16th 2014.
John Kilduff, “Why Oil is more likely to test $50 than $100 again next year,” CNBC, November 16th 2014. http://www.cnbc.com/id/102189040
Lant Pritchett and Lawrence H. Summers, “Asiaphoria Meets Regression to the Mean,” NBER Working Paper No. 20573, October 2014. http://www.nber.org/papers/w20573
