POLITICS 240
INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY
Spring 2004
Vincent Ferraro
103 Skinner
Ext. 2669
vferraro@mtholyoke.edu
Purpose of the Course
This course introduces some of the fundamental relationships between politics and economics, on both the domestic and international levels. Its purpose is not to assert either the primacy of economics or politics, but rather to show how these two aspects of human behavior are mutually dependent and how, over time, economics and politics generally support each other in a coherent social system. Moreover, the course will show how, on the international level, political decisions intervene on all economic decisions and economic constraints shape political possibilities.
Course Format
The course will follow a mixed format. Generally speaking, discussions will be the principal method of discourse. On some days, however, lectures will be introduced to illustrate certain fundamental points. All students are expected to participate in a simulation of the WTO meeting in Cancun, Mexico. Each student will be assigned a particular ministerial position in specific countries and regions and will endeavor to persuade all participants to adopt her country's resolution on one of the key debates at the meeting.
Procedural Issues
All readings are found on the Internet. The easiest way to access these documents is to call up this file at http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/ipe/240s04.htm and then click on all the readings highlighted in blue. You can then print out these documents. If you wish to review a number of different documents related to the study of international relations, you can go to my home page.
There will be a take-home mid-term handed out on 3 March and will be due in class on 10 March. The exam will be an open-book, open-discussion exam with a choice of questions to answer. The mid-term will count for 50% of the final grade.
The other 50% of the grade will be based on both the preparation and participation in a simulation of the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization held in Cancun, Mexico from 10-14 September 2004. Each student will play an assigned role in the simulation and will be expected to represent as accurately as possible the position of her region. Additionally, each student will have the option to either write a policy paper (5-7 pages) recommending the adoption of her region's proposals or to deliver a speech of no longer than 5 minutes to the class recommending a specific policy.
My office hours are: Monday, 7-9 p.m. and Tuesday 2-3:30. Other times by appointment.
Readings
28 January: Introduction
2 January: The Meeting at Cancun
Jagdish Bhagwati, "Don't Cry for Cancún," Foreign Affairs, January/February 2004
7-9 February: The Historical Development of The Global Economy
The Transition from Mercantilism
Lecture notes on mercantilism
Capitalism as an Ideal Type
The Presumed Universality of Economic Growth
9-11 February: The Critiques of Capitalism
Statement of the Levellers (1649)
Charles Dickens, Hard Times, Chapter 2
Chartism: The People's Petition, 1838
For Background on Chartism, click here.
For Background on the Manifesto, click here.
16 February: The Political Economy of Capitalism: Hegemonic Stability
18 February: The Political Economy of Capitalism: Dependency Theory
Vincent Ferraro, "Dependency Theory: An Introduction," July 1996
23 February -3 March: The Globalization Debate
World Bank, "What is Globalization?" April 2000
"The Capitalist Threat" by George Soros Atlantic Monthly, Volume 279, No. 2, February 1997
Bob Herbert, "Education Is No Protection," New York Times, 26 January 2004
Louis Uchitelle, "A Missing Statistic: U.S. Jobs That Went Overseas," New York Times, 5 October 2003
Mid-term Handed Out
Jeff Madrick, "Looking Beyond Free Trade," New York Times, 12 June 2003
Joseph Kahn, "Chinese Girls' Toil Brings Pain, Not Riches," New York Times, 2 October 2003
Mid-Term Due in Class
22-24 March: Stable Exchange Rates and the Debt Crisis
IMF and World Bank Staffs, "100 Percent Debt Cancellation? A Response from the IMF and the World Bank," July 2001
Vincent Ferraro and Melissa Rosser, "Global Debt and Third World Development," in World Security: Challenges for a New Century, edited by Michael Klare and Daniel Thomas (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994), pp. 332-355
Soren Ambrose, "Multilateral Debt: The Unbearable Burden," Foreign Policy in Focus, Volume 6, Number 37, November 2001
29-31 March: Economics and National Security
U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations, "Multinational Oil Corporations and U.S. Foreign Policy," 93rd Cong., 2nd sess., 1975, pp. 33-74
James A. Paul, "Oil in Iraq: the heart of the Crisis," Global Policy Forum, December, 2002
'Energy, Diplomacy and National Security' TESTIMONY AS DELIVERED BY FRANK J. GAFFNEY, JR. President, The Center for Security Policy BEFORE THE HOUSE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE, 20 June 2002 Washington, D.C.
"Another Motive for Iraq War: Stabilizing Oil Market," Hartford Courant, 12 August 2003
5-7 April : Global Poverty
New York Times, Editorial, "Harvesting Poverty: The Unkept Promise," 30 December 2003
Elizabeth Becker, "Looming Battle Over Cotton Subsidies," New York Times, 24 January 2004
12 April: Opening Session: The WTO
14 April: Africa and Central and South America
19 April: China and East Asia
21 April: European Union and Middle East
26 April: South Asia and Southeast Asia
28 April: United States