Summary of Content: 2

CONTENTS

Page

Educational Aims: 3

Learning Outcomes: 3

Module Evaluation: 4

Lecture/Seminar Titles: 5

Week 1: 5

Week 2: 5

Week 3 10

Week 4 11

Week 5 13

Week 6 16

Week 7: 17

Week 8: 20

Week 9: 22

Week 10 25

Week 11 28

Method and Frequency of Class: 28

Method of Assessment: 29

Reading Information: 29

Coursework Support: 30

Guidance to Essay Writing: 30

Assessed Essay Titles: 30

Example of Past Exam Paper: 31

Summary of Content:

Globalisation has been widely debated in International Political Economy. This module has the task to assess its impact on European politics and integration. First, various definitions of globalisation will be introduced, before its impact on individual European countries and the European Union as a whole is analysed. Is there a general institutional and policy convergence of states due to globalisation, or do states respond in different ways? Does globalisation leave room for alternative economic-political models? Is European integration a defensive response to globalisation or simply part and parcel of the processes of global structural change? What are the likely characteristics of the future economic-political model of the EU? These are some of the questions, which will be addressed in the module.

Educational Aims:

The aims of the module are:

to introduce students to different theoretical approaches to globalisation and structural change;
to develop an understanding of the phenomenon of globalisation at advanced theoretical and empirical level;
to provide an understanding of the specific impact of globalisation on large and small European countries;
to clarify the relation between European integration and global structural change;

Learning Outcomes:

i) Knowledge and understanding:

On completion of the module, students should be in a position to

demonstrate a particular knowledge in the area of globalisation and its impact on European countries and the EU (to be assessed by a 3000 word essay and a two-hour exam);
develop an awareness of the possibilities and limits imposed by globalisation on national and regional politics;

ii) Intellectual skills:

think about the global economy and its impact on countries and the EU in a reflective and critical way;
the ability to link empirical material to theoretical approaches;

the capacity to concentrate on core points and the ability to speak freely on the basis of a set of notes (to be assessed in oral presentations in class);

iii) Professional/Practical skills:

absorb and disseminate large quantities of data in a clear and concise manner;
have the confidence to discuss issues of an abstract theoretical nature as well as linking these debates to concrete empirical examples (to be practised in tutorial discussions);

iv) Transferable & Key skills:

Through active participation in the module students will acquire

the research skills necessary for carrying out comparative research;
the capacity to engage in a structured and well informed discussion about complex questions (to be practised in class discussions);
the ability to write in a structured and concise way under time pressure (to be assessed in the exam);
the skill to write a thought through, well argued longer piece of work (to be assessed in the 3000 word essay);

v) IT skills:

the ability to deliver a professional, word-processed document with accompanying bibliography and footnotes;
the skill to draw information and documents from the WebCT internet website and use E-mail to communicate with module convenor;

Module Evaluation:

Evaluation and feedback are crucial to the success of any module. The School wants students to have their say on Politics modules. Therefore modules are formally evaluated on a biennial basis, so please use this opportunity to have your say. If you have any other comments or queries regarding this module, please contact the Module Convenor.

Lecture/Seminar Titles:

Week 1:

1. Lecture - Introduction: outline of the module programme.

2. Seminar on economic policy paradigms: Keynesianism and neo-liberalism compared.

What are the most important Keynesian and neo-liberal economic policies?
What is their respective underlying rationale?

Literature:

Gamble, Andrew (2001) ‘Neo-Liberalism’, Capital and Class, No.75: 127-34.

Gamble, Andrew (2006) ‘Two Faces of Neo-liberalism’, in Richard Robison (ed.) The Neo-Liberal Revolution: Forging the Market State. Basingstoke: Palgrave. PP.20-35.

Hart-Landsberg, Martin (2006) ‘Neoliberalism: Myths and Reality’, Monthly Review, Vol.57/11; http://www.monthlyreview.org/0406hart-landsberg.htm

Harvey, David (2006) ‘Neo-liberalism and the restoration of class power’, in David Harvey (ed.) Spaces of Global Capitalism: Towards a theory of uneven geographical development. London: Verso. PP.7-68.

Overbeek, Henk (1999), ‘Globalisation and Britain’s Decline’, in R. English and M. Kenny (eds) Rethinking British Decline. London: Palgrave, 1999. PP.231-56.

Peck, J. and A. Tickell, 'Neoliberalising Space', Antipode, 34/3 (2002): 380-404.

Plehwe, D., B. Walpen and G. Neunhöffer (2006) ‘Introduction: Reconsidering neoliberal hegemony’, in D. Plehwe, B. Walpen and G. Neunhöffer (eds.) Neoliberal Hegemony: A Global Critique. London/New York: Routledge. PP.1-24.

Robison, Richard (2006) ‘Neo-liberalism and the Market State: What is the Ideal Shell?’, in Richard Robison (ed.) The Neo-Liberal Revolution: Forging the Market State. Basingstoke: Palgrave. PP.3-19.

Week 2:

1. Lecture on Theories of International Relations/International Political Economy and the analysis of globalisation and the role of the state.

Themes:

the core assumptions of neo-realism;

the core assumptions of liberal IR/IPE approaches;

core assumptions of a neo-Gramscian perspective;
the post-war order of embedded liberalism;

[special reference: Ruggie, John Gerard (1982) ‘International regimes, transactions, and change: embedded liberalism in the postwar economic order’, International Organization, Vol.36/2: 379-415.]

IR/IPE theories and the definition of globalisation;
Globalisation and the State: the terminal retreat of the state?

I. IR/IPE Theories:

Essential Reading:

Bieler, Andreas (2006) The struggle for a social Europe: Trade unions and EMU in times of global restructuring. Manchester: Manchester University Press. PP.24-39 and 47-54.

Bieler, Andreas and Adam David Morton (2004) ‘A Critical Theory Route to Hegemony, World Order and Historical Change: neo-Gramscian Perspectives in International Relations’, Capital & Class, No.82: 85-113.

Bruff, Ian (2005) ‘Making Sense of the Globalisation Debate when Engaging in Political Economy Analysis’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Vol.7/2: 261-80.

Donnelly, Jack (2009) ‘Realism’, in Scott Burchill et al (eds.) Theories of International Relations (fourth edition). Basingstoke: Palgrave. Chapter 2.

Zacher, Mark W./Matthew, Richard A. (1995) ‘Liberal International Theory: Common Threads, Divergent Strands’, in Charles W. Kegley (ed.) Controversies in International Relations Theory: Realism and the Neoliberal Challenge. New York: St. Martin’s Press. PP.107-50.

Week 3

1. Lecture on Models of Capitalism: divergence or convergence of national economic-political systems?

Themes:

convergence or divergence in the global economy;
different models of capitalism;

Essential reading:

Becker, Uwe (2009) Open Varieties of Capitalism: Continuity, Change and Performances. Basingstoke. Palgrave.

Bieler, Andreas (2006) The struggle for a social Europe: Trade unions and EMU in times of global restructuring. Manchester: Manchester University Press. PP.68-71.

Bruff, Ian (2008) Culture and Consensus in European varieties of capitalism. London: Palgrave. Chapters 2 and 3.

Coates, D. (2000) Models of Capitalism: Growth and Stagnation in the Modern Era. Cambridge: Polity. PP.6-11.

Crouch, Colin (2005) ‘Models of Capitalism’, New Political Economy, Vol.10/4: 439-56.

Hall, P.A. and D.W. Gingerich (2009) ‘Varieties of Capitalism and Institutional Complementarities in the Political Economy: An Empirical Analysis’, British Journal of Political Science, Vol.35/3: 449-82.

Hall, P.A. and K. Thelen (2009) ‘Institutional Change in Varieties of Capitalism’, Socio-Economic Review, Vol.7/1: 7-34.

Hay, C. (2004) ‘Common trajectories, variable paces, divergent outcomes? Models of European capitalism under conditions of complex economic interdependence’, Review of International Political Economy, 11/2: 231-62.

Jackson, G. and R. Degg (2008) ‘From Comparing Capitalisms to the Politics of Institutional Change’, Review of International Political Economy, Vol.15/4: 680-709.

Lane, Christel and Geoffrey Wood (2009) ‘Capitalist diversity and diversity within capitalism’, Economy and Society, Vol.38/4: 531-51.