States, Classes, and Industries in the International Political Economy
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Level:
Doctoral CEU code:
POLS 6241 CEU credits:
4 ECTS credits:
8 Academic year:
2011/2012 Semester:
Fall Start and end dates:
19 Sep 2011 - 9 Dec 2011 Academic Program:
Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science Stream/Track/Specialization/Core Area:
International Political Economy CEU Instructor(s):
Béla Greskovits Full description:
The focus of this course (core for IR track PhD, elective for MA students) is the pattern of alliance and conflict among social forces that shape responses to domestic and international economic challenges: trade, debt, recession, and globalization. We shall explore the links between the character of these societal actors and the dynamics and paths of economic and political development. Students will be acquainted with various schools of social interest-based – that is, class, and sectoral (or industry-group) – approaches to politics and policy making. The studied concepts include the political importance of production factor endowments, the domestic and world political impact of industry life cycles, and the significance of capital mobility across industries or national borders, in politics and policy making. We shall also study varied concepts of the relationship between power and spatial differentiation/integration in the world economy.
The questions we shall discuss include the following. Why do owners of capital, labor, and land, often clash over issues of liberal versus protectionist trade policies? What explains that in other cases the opposing forces put their conflicts aside, and ally in protectionist or free-trading coalitions? Under which conditions will particular sectors (or class-fractions) of business enter with workers in multi-class alliances against fellow businessmen or landlords? How can various properties of the national economy (e.g. whether it is abundantly or poorly endowed with physical and human capital, skilled or unskilled labor, or natural resources,) affect the prospects for conflict or cooperation in responding to world market challenges? How does it matter for development and state capacity whether the leading sector (that is the main activity) of the economy is characterized by small versus big firms, local versus foreign private capital, state enterprises, or unorganized versus unionized labor?