Course summary

This course unites our academic commitment and expertise in helping understand and develop responses to the most pressing global political economy challenges facing humanity today. In conjunction with a firm grounding in the key theories and concepts of global political economy, you’ll analyse powerful global economic governance agencies such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, alongside the firms and sectors and markets that generate many of the global conflicts, instabilities, crises and challenges we face. In the first semester, we tackle the key concepts and frameworks for political economy analysis. In the second semester, you’ll explore how sectors, markets and firms are linked to food and health insecurities, unemployment, job precarity, poverty, climate change and pollution. The course focuses on how governance agendas and their impact are experienced, negotiated and responded to in everyday lives, allowing you to compare and assess how policymakers and communities seek change.