POL18: The Politics of the World Economy

This paper looks at modern politics in the context of the world economy from a historical perspective. It considers the historical development of the present world economy during the European imperial era, the emergence of democratic nation-states as economic actors during the twentieth century, and the transformations wrought by both China’s rise and the post-1970s international monetary order. It emphasises the geopolitics behind international economic change and the importance of energy, finance, and the control of resources to the world economy and international economic hierarchies. The final part of the paper concentrates on the energy transition.

Selected Readings:

• Helen Thompson, Disorder: Hard times in the 21st century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023).
• Jeffry A. Frieden, The fall and rise of global capitalism (New York: W.W. Norton, 2006).
• H. M Schwartz, States versus markets: the emergence of a global economy. (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2009).

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