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International Political Economy (B-KUL-S0B58A)

4 ECTSEnglish26 First term
Kerremans Bart
POC Politieke wetenschappen

Aims

Upon completion of this course the student has developed the following knowledge and skills:

  • The capacity to systematically analyze the role of different kinds of political-economic and institutional factors in policy-making with regard to the international economic relations of countries and other political systems;
  • The ability to interpret statistical analyses of the impact of such factors;
  • The ability to link the analysis of political-economic factors to the main existing economic theories on trade and capital liberalization;
  • The ability to situate the analysis of political-economic factors to the main theories in the field of international political economy, and to assess the residual variance that is left unexplained by such theories.

 

Upon completion of this course the student has developed the following attitudes:

  • An interest in the interaction between politics and economics in international relations, particularly international economic relations;
  • An openness to pay attention to the quantitative and statistical aspects of analyses on the external economic policies of states;
  • An openness towards the use of graphs as tools that are helpful in the understanding of the impact of economic policy decisions on different kinds of political-economic drivers of policy-making;
  • A sensitivity towards the combination of interest-driven and institutional drivers of policy-making and the impact that this combination may have on the diversity in expected policy outcomes.

 

These aims are communicated to the students at the beginning of the course.

Previous knowledge

At the beginning of this course the student needs to have a basic knowledge of macro-economics and notions of statistics (particularly regression analysis). These notions are taught in the bachelor courses on economics (S0A25B) and quantitative research methods: data-analysis 1 (S0F15A) in political and social sciences. Having passed these or similar courses is recommended, though not a formal prerequisite.

Is included in these courses of study

Activities

4 ects. International Political Economy (B-KUL-S0B58a)

4 ECTSEnglishFormat: Lecture26 First term
Kerremans Bart
POC Politieke wetenschappen

Content

The course starts with a general introduction into international political economy with a focus on the state of the art and the main questions that this field of research focuses on. The course proceeds then with the analysis of state behavior with respect to market opening, both for international trade and international capital movements. In doing so, an approach is used in which (a) a theory is presented, (b) criticized for its weaknesses and gaps, and (c) a new theory is presented that partly covers these weaknesses and gaps. Following this, criticisms and weaknesses of this new theory are highlighted after which still another one is presented, and so on. The strategy is here to gradually and cumulatively reduce the residual (unexplained) variance that is left by theories that try to explain said state behavior. This happens through detailed attention for hypothesis development (and the causal mechanisms that undergird these hypotheses) and hypothesis testing, either quantitatively or qualitatively (whatever is appropriate).

 

Consequently, the course is organised as follow:

  • Module 1: What is international political economy and the study of IPE?
  • Module 2: Neorealist Hegemonic Stability Theory and Neoliberal Hegemonic Stability Theory
  • Module 3: Drivers and Impediments of international economic cooperation and the Modified Mundell-Fleming Model
  • Module 4: The politics of trade and the role of aggregate and distributional effects
  • Module 5: The politics of trade and the role of factor specificity
  • Module 6: The politics of trade, supply chains and the heterogeneity of firm preferences
  • Module 7: Detecting preferences on monetary and exchange rate policies
  • Module 8: The role of loss aversion and the range of interests that is mobilized
  • Module 9: Internalization and the impact on the demands by mobilized interests
  • Module 10: Institutions matter: the impact of electoral systems on market openness
  • Module 11: Institutions matter: the impact of legislators and jurisdictional scale on market openness
  • Module 12: Institutions matter: the impact of divided and unified government on market openness
  • Module 13: Political parties as potential moderators of the institutional effects on market openness

Course material

The course will use the following course materials:

  • Reader ‘International Political Economy’ (edition 2024-2025) which will be made available on Toledo;
  • PowerPoint presentations which will be made available in the map 'course documents' on Toledo.

Format: more information

This course is organized around teaching sessions and class discussions based on four of the five written assignments. It is strongly advised that students attend the teaching sessions and mandatory to participate in the class discussions.

During the semester, five written assignments will be assigned to the students. These assignments focus on the readings that are used during the class meetings, more specifically on the theoretical arguments developed in these readings, the operationalization of the concepts therein, the data analyses provided, and the interpretation of the results of these analyses. The assignments need to be filled-out and uploaded before the respective class meetings in which the publications on which they focus will be discussed.

The assignments will be explained in further detail during the class meetings.

Evaluation

Evaluation: International Political Economy (B-KUL-S2B58a)

Type : Continuous assessment without exam during the examination period
Description of evaluation : Paper/Project

Explanation


Characteristics of the evaluation

The evaluation is based on five written assignments. These assignments will be assigned to the students during the semester. They focus on the readings that are used in the class meetings, more precisely on the theoretical arguments developed in these readings, the operationalization of the concepts therein, the data analyses provided, and the interpretation of the results of these analyses.

The deadline of each assignment is set at 7 am of the day before the day on which the class discussion of that assignment is scheduled. By that time, the respective assignment needs to have been uploaded in Turnitin/Toledo. A strict deadline policy is applied. The exact dates will be communicated in class and on Toledo as will be the way in which the assignments need to be uploaded.

 

Determination of the end result

The evaluation is conducted by the didactic team, as communicated on Toledo and the exam schedule. The result is calculated and expressed as an integer number on 20. The different assignments are weighted as follows in the end result:

  • Assignment 1: 16%
  • Assignment 2: 18%
  • Assignment 3: 20%
  • Assignment 4: 22%
  • Assignment 5: 24%

 

If a student does not participate in one of the partial evaluations of the course, the student receives a 0-score for that particular assignment.

 

The deadlines for submission of the assignments are to be respected. If the deadline is not respected, the student will receive a 0-score for that particular assignment. The registered timing of the uploading in Toledo (or the lack thereof) serves as proof of a deadline violation. There can be no negotiation about possible postponement. In case of exceptional individual circumstances, the student should contact the ombudsperson before the deadline has been reached. A new deadline can be granted only for serious reasons beyond a student’s control.

 

Students are fully responsible for submitting papers and assignments free of fraud and plagiarism (www.kuleuven.be/english/education/plagiarism) and are requested to observe the Faculty’s relevant regulations. Plagiarism will be sanctioned with the sanctions mentioned in the University’s Regulations on Education and Examinations (www.kuleuven.be/education/regulations).

 

Retaking exams

Students who do not pass for this course at their first attempt, can do a resit. The evaluation format and modalities will be the same as those of the first opportunity, as outlined above. Partial grades of 10/20 or more can be transferred to the second exam opportunity.

Information about retaking exams

The repportunity is based on:

  • Five written assignments based on articles from scientific journals.
  • Two additional exercises, one directed at operationalization questions important for international political economy, and a second on data analyses related to international political economy.

The assignments and excersises will be made available after the closure of the June/July Exam Period, not earlier.