Undergraduate Course: International Politics of Money (PLIT10095)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course introduces students to the International Political Economy and Comparative Political Economy of international money and finance. While the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008 will be a core topic of the course, we will also examine more recent monetary, fiscal, and financial turmoil and ferment. We will examine international, EU and national level regulatory, monetary and fiscal policy responses as well as grassroots responses to it. The course builds on the growing teaching capacity in political economy in the School of Social and Political Science and provides an opportunity to the minority of IR / Politics students who have an interest in political economy to specialise beyond the more broadly focused (and effectively introductory) International Political Economy (IPE) course. |
| Course description |
The course will be composed of lectures and discussions that cover topics including IPE and CPE approaches to money; the organization of international and monetary financial relations and their evolution over time; the role and future of the dollar as the global reserve currency; the causes and consequences of the GFC; international responses to the crisis; the recent politicization of monetary power in the context of war; and 'wildcat' approaches to money creation such as cryptocurrencies.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 4 Politics/International Relations courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses.
Successful completion of IPoM doesn't require any detailed knowledge of economics. However, students who are not undertaking degrees in Economics or joint degrees including Economics should contact the course convener to check if they have completed equivalent courses to International Political Economy (semester 1).
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course **
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| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
75 %,
Practical Exam
25 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Presentation 25%
Final essay of 2500 words (75%)
Short paper of 500 words (formative) |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the value of a range of theoretical approaches drawn from International Political Economy, Comparative Political Economy and economic sociology to understand international financial and monetary developments over the past three decades
- Outline and evaluate debates surrounding the causes and consequences of the Global Financial Crisis
- Understand the main political economy issues arising from international financial integration, the international financial crisis, the European sovereign debt crisis, and more recent monetary and financial turmoil
- Analyse new developments in the politics of money, both in traditional sites of expertise and in more popular sites of knowledge production
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Reading List
Helleiner, E. et al. (2010) Global Finance in Crisis, Abingdon: Routledge.
Underhill, G.R.D, Blom, J. and Mügge, D. (eds) (2010) Global Financial Integration Thirty Years On, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hardie, I. and Howarth, D. (2012) Market Based-Banking and the Financial Crisis, Oxford: OUP.
Multiple copies of the first two books are available in the library (more can be ordered if necessary). The second book will be available electronically. Some additional copies of the third book will be necessary.
Some of the seminar discussions will also be centred around individual journal articles that are available electronically.
Useful background reading on international money and finance can be found in chapters found in several IPE textbooks. They can be used as supplementary reading.
John Ravenhill, ed. (2014) Global Political Economy 4th edition.
Raymond C. Miller (2008), International Political Economy.
Robert OBrien and Marc Williams (2013) Global Political Economy 4th edition.
Theodore H. Cohn (2012) Global Political Economy: Theory and Practice, 6th edition.
Thomas Oatley (2012), International Political Economy, 5th edition.
Jeffry Frieden and David Lake eds. (2000), International Political Economy: Perspectives on Global Power and Wealth, 4th edition.
Richard Stubbs and Geoffrey Underhill (eds.), Political Economy and the Changing Global Order (2nd edition 2000)
Robert Gilpin, Global Political Economy, Princeton, 2001.
Resources
Among the best sources for contemporary information about the financial crisis and global political economy more generally are the Financial Times, The Economist and The Wall Street Journal. These are available on-line through the university. Other newspapers, including The Times, New York Times and (for French readers) Le Monde and Le Monde Dipomatique (monthly), also have useful material and are available on-line free of charge (some require registration).
Online Resources
A wealth of information is available on the web. This ranges from the web sites of companies, governments, international organizations, and NGOs to journals and newspapers. The following are some of the more useful sites:
International Organizations
Bank for International Settlements: the central banks central bank and heavily involved in publishing crisis-related research: http://www.bis.org/
International Monetary Fund: data on debt, balance of payments, international reserves; analysis of structural adjustment programs; staff working papers are online as are the Fund¿s fortnightly newsletter, IMF Survey and its biannual World Economic Outlook: http://www.imf.org/
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development: data on foreign investment, economies of member states. Staff working papers and other reports online: http://www.oecd.org/
World Bank: Data on development; major reports online (including annual World Development Report); staff working papers online: http://www.worldbank.org/
European Union, especially Directorates-General on Economic and Financials Affairs (on EMU, fiscal policy, etc.) and Internal Market (financial market regulation): http://www.europa.eu.int/
Group of Twenty: http://g20.nic.in/indexe.html
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
The course consists of 10 x 50 minute lectures and 10 x 50 minute tutorials, with the exception of week 10, which will use the whole time for the simulation. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Oddny Helgadottir
Tel:
Email: Oddny.Helgadottir@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Ethan Alexander
Tel: (0131 6)50 4001
Email: Ethan.Alexander@ed.ac.uk |
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