Political Economy Track

The Political Economy track focuses primarily on questions relating to the current ‘great transformation’ towards a significantly more liberalized and globally integrated world economy. The overlapping processes of globalization, macro-regional integration and changing relations between public authorities and private market actors have prompted scholars to rethink a number of key assumptions and categories typical of the post-war order. The track seeks to attract students who are interested in those institutional changes considered crucial in understanding this transformation; in particular, the global impetus and multiple scales of politics and economy, European integration, and the problem of development and welfare in comparative perspective (especially with regard to CEE/fSU). The aim of the track is to enable students to address political science questions, such as the variance in institutional settings and institutional change under the conditions of internationalization, but from an interdisciplinary standpoint that explores the connections between social and economic processes.

Core curriculum

Comparative Political Economy: 4 credits (Advanced Capitalist Countries; Central Eastern Europe; Welfare States, Institutions, Political Economics)

International Political Economy: 4 credits (Globalization, International Trade & Finance, TNCs, Development)

Political Economy of European Integration: 4 credits

Advanced Topics: 2 credits (Interest Groups, Collective Action, Business)