Political Economy And Global Affairs

Sobel (Washington U. in St Louis) combines international politics and international political economy in his textbook. He emphasizes explanatory frameworks for social behavior that are based on the rational choice approach to political economy. After presenting the building blocks of this approach, he presents chapters on the structure of the international system; power and hierarchy; economic liberalism and market exchange in the global arena; political markets and exchange; the history of globalization over the past 100 years; political and economic market failure and social traps; the dilemma of collective goods, solutions, and hegemonic stability; interest groups and international economic foundations of political cleavage; and the impact of institutional structures. Annotation :2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Focuses on a micro approach to political economy that grounds policy choices in the competitive environments of domestic politics and decision-making processes.

This book is the eagerly awaited successor to Robert Gilpin's 1987 The Political Economy of International Relations, the classic statement of the field of international political economy that continues to command the attention of students, researchers, and policymakers. The world economy and political system have changed dramatically since the 1987 book was published. The end of the Cold War has unleashed new economic and political forces, and new regionalisms have emerged. Computing power is increasingly an impetus to the world economy, and technological developments have changed and are changing almost every aspect of contemporary economic affairs. Gilpin's Global Political Economy considers each of these developments. Reflecting a lifetime of scholarship, it offers a masterful survey of the approaches that have been used to understand international economic relations and the problems faced in the new economy. Gilpin focuses on the powerful economic, political, and technological forces that have transformed the world. He gives particular attention to economic globalization, its real and alleged implications for economic affairs, and the degree to which its nature, extent, and significance have been exaggerated and misunderstood. Moreover, he demonstrates that national policies and domestic economies remain the most critical determinants of economic affairs. The book also stresses the importance of economic regionalism, multinational corporations, and financial upheavals. Gilpin integrates economic and political analysis in his discussion of "global political economy." He employs the conventional theory of international trade, insights from the theory of industrial organization, and endogenous growth theory. In addition, ideas from political science, history, and other disciplines are employed to enrich understanding of the new international economic order. This wide-ranging book is destined to become a landmark in the field.

An authoritative introduction to Global Political Economy.The book covers all bases: contemporary theory, introductions to particular issue areas, and an extended debate on globalization that reflects a variety of perspectives. The book is accompanied by an Online Resource Centre. Student resources: Timeline Web links Glossary Instructor resources: Tables and figures from the book to download 2 in-depth case studies

After the end of World War II, the United States, by far the dominant economic and military power at that time, joined with the surviving capitalist democracies to create an unprecedented institutional framework. By the 1980s many contended that these institutions--the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (now the World Trade Organization), the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund--were threatened by growing economic nationalism in the United States, as demonstrated by increased trade protection and growing budget deficits. In this book, Robert Gilpin argues that American power had been essential for establishing these institutions, and waning American support threatened the basis of postwar cooperation and the great prosperity of the period. For Gilpin, a great power such as the United States is essential to fostering international cooperation. Exploring the relationship between politics and economics first highlighted by Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and other thinkers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Gilpin demonstrated the close ties between politics and economics in international relations, outlining the key role played by the creative use of power in the support of an institutional framework that created a world economy. Gilpin's exposition of the in.uence of politics on the international economy was a model of clarity, making the book the centerpiece of many courses in international political economy. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, when American support for international cooperation is once again in question, Gilpin's warnings about the risks of American unilateralism sound ever clearer.

Rethinking Global Political Economy contains incisive analysis of history, linguistics, class, culture, empirical data and normative concerns. This important volume presents innovative approaches to fundamental issues in global political economy. Together they provide multiple arguments and avenues for rethinking global political economy in a time of turmoil and system transformation. It will appeal to those interested in seeing new perspectives and healthy heterodoxy in the study of political economy.

No approach to world affairs in the 21st century can afford to ignore the impact that processes of globalisation are having on governments, economies, cultures, and individuals. An understanding of the theories that underpin International Political Economy, and their practical applications, is therefore crucial to the study of international relations, politics, development and economics. In this comprehensive and accessible introduction to the field, the authors consider traditional and alternative approaches to IPE, elucidating key concepts, assumptions and the intellectual and historical context in which they arose and developed – making clear at all times their relevance to issues from trade finance and government, to environment, technology, development and culture. The style of this book encourages independent reflection and critical thinking. Each chapter relates theoretical analysis to contemporary issues, by way of giving the student a better understanding of the theory, and also demonstrating the value of theory in the real world.

This book is an introduction to International Relations that uses examples from International Political Economy (IPE). It presents the theories and paradigms of International Relations in the context of the issues of trade, investment, and monetary relations. Largely it does so by developing historical cases of pivotal events in the evolution of the IPE to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of these theories. This focus on the substantive material of the IPE allows a shift beyond traditional debates to include newer paradigms such as Constructivism and Institutionalism. The result is a book that not only reveals and explains prominent arguments and debates, but also provides grounding in the history and structure of the IPE. The first half of the book explains the main features of the IPE. It develops and illustrates the ways in which political scientists elaborate and employ theories of International Relations by classifying and examining the main levels of analysis from characteristics of the international system, through those of nation states, to explanations of policy effected by officials. The second half examines important historical cases chosen both to illustrate theories and also to chart the overall patterns of change. Readers are thereby introduced to important theories and issues in International Relations and to key historical episodes from the late nineteenth century to the recent East Asian financial crisis. Special attention is paid to critical decisions in the development of American and Canadian foreign policies