Department of Political Economy

MA in Political Economy (MAPE)

2016/17

Please read this information carefully, it contains important guidance on your programme structure
and choice of optional modules for your MA programme. Please be aware that details included in this
handbook are indicative and subject to change.

Programme Structure
The MA in Political Economy is designed as a one year full-time, or two year part-time taught
programme which offers students the opportunity to study advanced political economy. The
programme draws on interdisciplinary work at the boundary of politics, philosophy and economics to
analyse the ability of political and market processes in order to address economic and ethical
problems. This programme is designed around two core modules (comprising 100 credits) and a
selection of optional courses (of which 80 credits are required). You will be expected to take a
minimum of 180 credits in order to receive your MA degree.

Guidance on choosing options

Information on the modules offered by the Department of Political Economy in 2016/17 is included
below, along with the European and International Studies and International Development Institute
options available to you as a MAPE student. These reflect the latest scholarship in the disciplines,
taught by world-leading academics. We are confident that these modules will complement each other
and allow you to engage with your chosen discipline, providing an excellent foundation for further
study or pursuit of a career.

Please make sure that you read through the information provided and direct any follow-up questions
to the respective module convenors. Every effort will be made to ensure that there are no clashes
between your modules, however, do please note that sometimes a timetabling clash is unavoidable
and you will need to re-select options so as to avoid this. You have guaranteed access to all modules
within DPE (7SSPPxxx codes), with the exception of 7SSPP022 which is capped at 20 students. We
cannot guarantee availability for modules from external departments and you will need to discuss
space on these courses with the relevant department/convenor.

All modules in your MA year should be at level 7. This is indicated by the 7 at the beginning of the
module code (i.e. 7SSPP101).

Students will choose their modules in September. Following initial registration, students will have the
option to make two changes to their module registration during the academic year. There will be a
two-week window at the start of each semester when you can make changes. Please note that there
is a limit placed on the number of changes that can be made – you may only make two amendments
to your selection. Also do bear in mind, that there may be limited flexibility regarding timetabling, and
it may not be possible to accommodate all change requests.

The information in this booklet is correct to the best of our knowledge, but in the event of
unforeseen staff changes or similar, modules may have to be withdrawn or moved into a
different semester. This is extremely unlikely, and we will inform you of any such changes as
soon as we become aware of them.
Department of Political Economy

Compulsory Modules
The following two modules must be taken in order to complete an MA in Political Economy:

7SSPP101: Key Concepts in Contemporary Political Economy

40 credits – Semester 1 and Semester 2 – weekly 1-hour lecture (Tuesday 11:00am), followed by a 1-
hour seminar and a 1-hour small group (Tuesday afternoon)

Module Convenor: Dr Emily Skarbek

Assessment: 1 x extended 5000 word coursework essay (50%)

1 x unseen examination (50%)

Teaching Format: lectures, question and answer sessions, and seminar discussion groups covering
key topics in positive and normative political economy.

This module aims to equip students with the core background in the interdisciplinary enquiry of
political economy. It will examine the relationship between individual choice, economic rationality
and institutional structure and will enable students to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of
rival theories in both positive and normative political economy. Students will develop the theoretical
knowledge necessary to engage in debates about the ability of political and market processes and
combinations thereof, to address a range of economic and ethical dilemmas.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module students should be able to do the following:

 Apply core concepts from economics to understand the nature of political-economic

dilemmas, including – rational choice, market failure and government failure
 Apply core concepts from politics/political science to understand the nature of political
economic dilemmas – including the role of institutions and the importance of comparison,
rival analyses of power, the distinction between positive and normative theory, rival forms of
political justification/legitimacy, and the role of ideal and non-ideal theory
 Appreciate the distinction between formal and informal institutions and rules in political
economic analysis
 Show critical awareness of different conceptions of rationality and their relationship to
institutional structure and social outcomes
 Understand the relationship between different ontological and methodological approaches in
the philosophy of social science and their relationship to political economy research
 Demonstrate critical awareness of rival efficiency standards in normative political economy
and apply these standards to debates about the strengths and weaknesses of markets,
democratic processes and combinations thereof
 Demonstrate critical awareness of rival ethical standards in normative political economy
 Show in depth awareness of the possible relationships between efficiency and ethical
standards in normative political economy
 Apply ethical standards to debate the strengths and weaknesses of markets, democratic
processes and combinations thereof
Department of Political Economy

7SSPP102: MA Political Economy Dissertation

60 credits – Semester 1 and Semester 2 (lecture/workshop will run on Wednesday 9am-1pm).

Module Convenor: Dr Tyler Goodspeed

Assessment: 1 x online survey

1 x 1000 word proposal

1 x 15,000 word dissertation

Teaching Format: series of lectures and workshops

This module is 60 credits and is a core module. This means that in addition to taking the course, you
must pass this module in order to graduate with an MA in Political Economy. The module combines
students in MAPP and MAPE for a series of lectures and workshops on how to write a good
dissertation, mainly held in semester 1. This workshop will provide you with the basics of how to
choose a topic, how much time to allocate to writing, the choice of advisors, what you can expect from
your advisor, marking criteria and the policy on plagiarism and cheating.

Optional Modules
You are required to take 80 credits of optional modules from the below choices.

Optional Modules offered by Department of Political Economy

7SSPP103 Comparative Political Economy

20 credits – Semester 2 (seminars will run on Thursday afternoon)

Module Convenor: TBC

Assessment: 1,500 word essay and 3,500 word essay (30% and 70%)

Teaching Format: Ten weekly two-hour lecture/seminar sessions. Attendance is mandatory and
recorded.

The aim of this module is to provide a thorough introduction to the key concepts, theories, and issues
in comparative political economy. This subfield seeks to apply central concepts used in political
science, history, economics, and sociology to the study of economic and political economic
institutions, economic outcomes, and economic policy-making. In the module, we assess the
differences and similarities in the organisation of state-market relations across the world in a variety
of fields: labour markets and industrial relations, corporate governance, economic regulation and
industrial policy, and social protection. Questions that will be tackled in the module include: Why is it
easier to take over companies in the United Kingdom than in France? How can welfare policies
improve economic competitiveness? And why did Silicon Valley emerge in the United States and not
in Europe? The focus of the module will be generic, though the literature is mainly concerned with
capitalism in EU and OECD countries. The module is an option for students on the MA Political
Economy and the MA Public Policy.
Department of Political Economy

Learning outcomes:

By the end of the module, you should be able to:

 identify the theoretical and empirical foundations of comparative political economy;

 name and contrast the key features of different models of state-market relations;
 compare state-market relations in different EU and OECD countries, and link them to the
analytical categories distinguished in the comparative political economy literature;
 apply the theories developed in comparative political economy to empirical cases which have
not yet been assessed in the literature;
 make reasoned arguments on the relationship between different types of economic and
political-economic institutions and different economic outcomes such as innovation, wage
dispersion, economic growth, unemployment, and women’s labour market participation.

7SSPP106 Game Theory and Political Economy

20 credits – Semester 1 (2-hour lecture – Friday 13:00pm. 1-hour seminars will run after this on Friday
afternoon).

Module convenor: Professor Amrita Dhillon

Assessment: Mid Term Examination (30%), Two Hour Examination (70%)

Teaching Format: Weekly two-hour lecture and 1 hour seminar on alternate weeks.

Aims and Objectives:

The aims of this course are to introduce students to the idea of strategic thinking. Most situations
analysed in Politics and Economics involve more than one actor- how do we organise our thinking to
take account of how people react to others.

This module introduces students to a key analytical approach that has been extensively used in
economics and political science, namely game theory. It develops an in depth appreciation of how
game theory can be used to analyse theoretical, applied and policy problems in political economy, and
enables students to make well-informed judgements about the strengths and weaknesses of game-
theoretical models. Applications will focus on political economy.

By the end of this module, students should be able to:

 Understand the difference between simultaneous vs. sequential games.

 Understand the concept of strict dominance and best response.
 Understand the concept of Nash equilibrium in pure and mixed strategies.
 Understand the concept of repeated games and how they differ from one-shot games.
 Understand basic games of incomplete information
 Be able to critically review the concepts and their shortcomings.
Department of Political Economy

Key Texts

 An Introduction to Game Theory, M.J Osborne, 2003, OUP (MJO).

Others

 Game Theory for Applied economists, R. Gibbons, Princeton University Press.

 Strategies and Games, P.K.Dutta, 2001, MIT Press.
 Experiments: http://veconlab.econ.virginia.edu/admin.htm

7SSPP107 Quantitative Research Methods in Political Economy

20 credits – Semester 1 (2-hour lecture, Thursday – 10:00am. 2-hour seminar will run on Thursday
afternoon.)

Module Convenor: Dr Rubén Ruiz-Rufino

Assessment: Problem Set (30%), Two Hour Practical (30%), Three Hour Examination (40%)

This module aims to equip students with quantitative data analysis techniques. The module consists
of understanding the main ideas, principles and statistical techniques broadly used in political
economy research. The module is intermediate in terms of level of difficulty and it is mostly devoted
to understanding regression analysis. It is assumed that students taking this module already have
some basic knowledge of regression analysis and inferential statistics although these topics will be
covered in the first sessions. The module has a practical focus and is based on the use of STATA.
Students are not expected to have familiarity with such software. In this sense, practical training will
be provided through hands-on workshop sessions where empirical and real survey data would be
analysed using statistical package Stata. This course is NOT meant for students who have taken any
prior intermediate or advance modules in statistical analysis and/or Stata. Students who have never
been exposed to statistics or have had limited training on quantitative methods are welcome to join
the module as long as they understand the expected pace of the lectures and seminars.

Learning outcomes

This module is an intermediate-level module on regression analysis and aims to:

 Consolidate your knowledge on statistical inference.

 Familiarize with linear regression analysis and its assumptions.

 Learn how to interpret regression coefficients using different types of variables and interactions.

 Learn the basics of logistic regression analyses.

 Learn how to present and display statistical results.

 Get familiarity with the statistical package STATA.

Department of Political Economy

By the end of this module students will be able to:

 Know how to test your theory using econometrics.

 Learn how to test the relationship between two different variables.

 Be confident with conducting regression analysis with STATA.

Required textbook, further readings and other material

All the lectures will be mostly based on the following textbooks:

Colin Lewis-Beck and M. Lewis-Beck. 2015. Applied Regression. An Introduction. 2nd ed. Sage

D. Gujarati. 2015. Econometrics by Example. 2E. Palgrave.

If you need a refresher in basic statistics the following two sources can be very useful:

Foster, L., Ian Diamond and Julie Jefferies. 2015. Beginning Statistics. An introduction for Social
Scientists (2nd Edition). Sage

Other useful sources are:

P. H. Pollock. 2010. A STATA Companion to Political Analysis: Cq Press (2nd Edition)

P. M. Kellstedt and G. D. Whitten. 2009. The Fundamentals of Political Science Research: Cambridge
University Press.

You will also need a calculator to do the various exercises, assignment and exam. Please note that, KCL
only allows into this exam models Casio fx83 and Casio fx85.

7SSPP108 The Political Economy of Organised Crime

20 credits – Semester 2 (seminar runs on Friday 16:00pm-18:00pm)

Module Convenor: Dr David Skarbek

Assessment: 5500 word essay (90%), attendance and participation (10%)

Teaching Format: Ten weekly two-hour lectures/seminar sessions

A country’s political institutions have an important influence on the level and type of crime in that
country. Democratic institutions and the rule of law typically characterize relatively wealthy and
peaceful countries. Citizens in countries with authoritarian regimes are often subject to insecurity and
violence. Following from this, we would expect that transitions from authoritarian regimes to
democratic regimes would diminish the influence of organized crime. However, in many instances,
this doesn’t seem to be true, and many of these transitional regimes face severe crises related to
crime. A key to understanding the relationship between political institutions, transition, and crime is
to examine the rise and role of organized crime. Organized criminal groups and mafias play an
important role by providing governance institutions. They can both supplement and undermine formal
Department of Political Economy

governance institutions. This course examines from a comparative perspective the dynamics of
mafias, governance institutions, and emerging democracies.

The readings of this course draw on many of the social science disciplines, including anthropology,
economics, political science, sociology, and history. As a result, we will read a wide range of styles of
arguments, such as game theoretic analyses and empirical research based on aggregate data,
individual survey data, ethnographies, and natural and field experiments. The student should be
prepared to assess many types of arguments and evidence.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this module, students should be able to:

 Demonstrate an understanding of the literature on organized crime and mafias.

 Demonstrate an understanding of the broader literature that studies governance and
institutions.
 Demonstrate extensive knowledge on an issue related to the course material. This may be
demonstrated in the form of a lengthy research paper.
 Make a novel contribution to the study of the political economy of organized crime.

7SSPP110 Understanding Institutions and Economic Development

20 credits – Semester 2 (seminar runs on Tuesday 9:00am-11:00am)

Module Convenor: Dr Emily Skarbek

Assessment: 6000 word essay (100%)

Teaching Format: Ten weekly two-hour lectures/seminar sessions

This course investigates why some nations are rich while other nations are poor. Its goal is to provide
you with a framework for exploring this question and to examine “answers” that economists have
offered in response to it. A second aim of this course is to help you develop the skills required to
generate original research in the field of development economics. Towards this end, you will
internalize important prevailing strands in the existing literature and work on developing, organizing,
and conveying original insights that build on these ideas through written work.

Key Readings

Acemoglu, Daron, and James Robinson (2013). Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and
Poverty London: Profile Books

Bauer, Peter (2000). From Subsistence to Exchange, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

de Soto, Hernando (1989). The Other Path, New York: Basic Books.

Easterly, William (2001). The Elusive Quest for Growth, Cambridge: MIT Press.

Easterly, William (2006). White Man’s Burden, New York: Penguin Press.

Hayek, F.A. (1980). Individualism and Economic Order, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Department of Political Economy

North, Douglass (1990). Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

North, Douglass (2005). Understanding the Process of Economic Change, Princeton: Princeton
University Press.

Sen, Amartya (1999). Development as Freedom, New York: Anchor Books.

7SSPP111: Radical Political Economy in the 21st Century (SUBJECT TO CONFIRMATION)

20 credits – Semester 2 (seminar runs on Thursday 9:00am-11:00am)

Module Convenor: Dr Paul Gunn

Assessment: one coursework essay (3500 words, comprising 50% of the total mark), and one two
hour, unseen examination.

Teaching Format: ten two-hour lectures/seminars

This module provides students with an understanding of the principal challenges to orthodox political
economy and the associated processes of globalisation and market capitalism. After examining the
economic justification for market coordination and globalisation, the module’s core lectures examine
a number of contemporary radical critiques of the institutions and structures which attend global
capitalism. Thus, beginning with Minsky, Soros and Stiglitz, the course progresses through a set of
increasingly radical critiques before outlining the potential rivals to market coordination including
economic democracy, monetary reform and commons regimes.

Course Aims:

This course will provide students with:

 The analytical tools to understand and evaluate the economic processes and functions
underlying globalisation;

 An understanding of the economic dimensions of the concepts of democracy and social

justice;

 The ability to compare and critique the major schools of thought comprising contemporary
“radical political economy”;

 The ability to make an informed judgement on the comparative merits of markets and our
available institutional alternatives.

Key Readings

Sayer, A. (1995) Radical Political Economy: Critique and Reformulation, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.

Wall, D. (2005) Babylon and Beyond: The economics of anti-capitalist, anti-globalist and radical green
movements, London: Pluto Press.
Department of Political Economy

7SSPP005 Evaluating Public Policy

20 credits – Semester 2 (1-hour lecture runs on Tuesday, 16:00pm, with the 1-hour seminar following
after, 17:00pm-18:00pm. A workshop is also scheduled on Wednesday 29 March 2017, 14:00pm-
17:00pm).

Module Convenor: Dr John Meadowcraft

Assessment: 1,500 word essay and 3,500 word essay (30% and 70%)

Teaching Format: ten two-hour sessions, usually split between a lecture-style presentation and a
group discussion or workshop.

This module will introduce the theory and practice of policy evaluation. It will equip students with a
critical understanding of different techniques of policy evaluation. The specific aims of the module are
to:

• Introduce students to the idea of policy evaluation within the context of the policy process and the
theoretical ideas that underpin different approaches to policy evaluation

• Introduce students to the practical challenges that face different approaches to policy evaluation
and how those challenges might be overcome

• Ensure students have an understanding of how evaluation takes place in the contemporary world of
policy-making and have a sound knowledge of (what has been termed) ‘the evaluative state’.

• Provide students with the knowledge, skills and techniques required for advanced critical analysis of
the theory and practice of policy evaluation

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a sound grasp of the theoretical ideas that underpin different approaches to policy
evaluation and the practical challenges that different approaches face

• Construct practical models of policy evaluation that take into account the underlying theoretical
ideas and practical challenges

• Demonstrate a sound understanding of the practical architecture of policy evaluation within the
context of contemporary government and politics

• Demonstrate the ability to undertake advanced critical analysis of the theory and practice of policy
evaluation

Key Reading

 Carol H. Weiss, Evaluation (2nd edition, Prentice Hall, 1998)

Department of Political Economy

7SSPP008 Liberty, Equality and Justice: Political Theory and Public Policy

20 credits – Semester 1 (1-hour lecture runs on Tuesday 15:00pm, 1-hour seminars will run on Tuesday
afternoon/evening.)

Module Convenor: Dr John Meadowcraft

Assessment: 1,500 word essay and 3,500 word essay (30% and 70%)

Teaching Format: taught over ten weeks, via a lecture-style presentation followed by a class
discussion (the number and timing of seminar groups will depend on student numbers).

By examining a series of key texts in contemporary political theory, this module will enable students
to better understand the underlying philosophical and theoretical issues that inform contemporary
public-policy making and to critically evaluate those ideas.

Specifically the module will:

 Introduce students to a number of key texts in contemporary political theory that reflect the
different intellectual traditions in political thought and are centred on the core themes of
liberty, equality and justice.

 Illuminate the importance of political ideas to the shaping of public policy

 Provide students with the knowledge, skills and techniques required for advanced critical
analysis of political texts and ideas

 Enable students to critically analyse the role of notions of liberty, equality and justice in
contemporary policy-making.

Key Reading

 Tom Campbell, Justice (2nd edition, Routledge, 2000)

7SSPP016 The Politics of Regulation

20 credits – Semester 2 (seminars will run on Monday afternoon)

Module Convenor: Dr Christel Koop

Assessment: Two essays - one 1500 word essay (30%) & one 3500 word essay (60%), and seminar
discussion questions (10%)

Teaching Format: ten weekly seminar sessions of two hours, weekly lecture clips to be watched before
each seminar

This module aims to provide an introduction to the key approaches, concepts, and issues in the study
and practice of regulation. Regulation has not only become an increasingly preferred policy instrument
of governments, but it is also widely used by industries themselves. In the module, we assess the rise
of the regulatory state, the different approaches to regulation, the regulatory instruments that are
used, and the actors that are involved in the process. Also, selected areas of regulation – including
Department of Political Economy

competition policy and financial and environmental regulation – are explored in more detail. We focus
on the different explanations of the introduction of, and changes in, regulatory policies, instruments
and institutions, and we evaluate the merits of these explanations.

The module is interdisciplinary in nature, building mainly on the literature on regulation in political
science, law and economics. The focus of the module is generic, though the literature is mainly
concerned with regulation in EU and OECD countries.

Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, you should be able to:
 identify the core actors involved in the regulatory process, the main modes and instruments
of regulation, and the different approaches to regulation that are distinguished in the
literature;
 identify and contrast the core features of the different modes and instruments of regulation
and the different approaches to regulation;
 apply the different approaches to cases of regulatory reform and new regulation and
regulatory instruments which have not yet been assessed in the literature;
 critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches to regulation;
 make reasoned arguments – both orally and in writing – on the reasons behind the
introduction of regulation, regulatory instruments and regulatory reform, and substantiate
these with empirical evidence.

Key Readings:
There is no core text for this module. Instead, the reading list for each week consists of a number of
articles and chapters on the topic of that week. Examples of core readings are:

 Robert Baldwin, Martin Cave and Martin Lodge (2012). Understanding Regulation: Theory,
Strategy, and Practice. Second edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Chapter 2: “Why
regulate?” (pp. 15–24) and Chapter 4: “Explaining regulation” (pp. 40–67).
 George J. Stigler (1971). “The theory of economic regulation.” Bell Journal of Economics and
Management Science 2 (1): 3–21.
 Giandomenico Majone (1997). “From the positive to the regulatory state: Causes and
consequences of changes in the mode of governance.” Journal of Public Policy 17 (2): 139–
168.
 David Levi-Faur (2005). “The global diffusion of regulatory capitalism.” Annals of the American
Academy of Political and Social Science 598: 12–32.
 Steven K. Vogel (1996). Freer Markets, More Rules: Regulatory Reform in Advanced Industrial
Countries. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, Chapters 1, 2 and 11.
 Tim Bartley (2003). “Certifying forests and factories: States, social movements, and the rise of
private regulation in the apparel and forest products fields.” Politics & Society 31 (3): 433–
464.
 Cary Coglianese and David Lazer (2003). “Management-based regulation: Prescribing private
management to achieve public goals.” Law & Society Review 37 (4): 691–730
Department of Political Economy

7SSPP022: Media, Elections and Campaigning

20 credits – Semester 1 (lecture will run on Monday 9:00am-10:00am, with the seminar following
afterwards at 10:00am-11:00am).

Module Convenors: Dr Martin Moore and Dr Gordon Ramsay

Assessment: 1x 4000-word essay (100%)

Teaching Format: weekly 1-hour lecture and 1-hour seminar

This module will examine the use of media in elections and political campaigns, from 18th century
hustings to 21st century social media and data-driven campaigning. Over the course of a term, the
module will look at the evolution of political communication, the growth of modern spin and news
management, the development of an adversarial media culture, increasing voter apathy and
disengagement from traditional politics, rising disillusionment with the constructive democratic role
of traditional news media, the emergence and influence of social media, big data and micro-targeting,
and the rise of digital activism and populist politics. By exploring and investigating these aspects of
media and elections, the module will equip students with the ability to assess and critique the impact
of digital media and new technologies on election campaigning, and the implications for open and
transparent electoral communication in the 21st century. The course will use a range of illustrations
and examples, focusing mainly on the UK and US.

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

 Understand the evolution of political communication in elections and political campaigns

 Compare and contrast approaches to political campaigning across political parties and
countries
 Critically evaluate the relationship between media and politics during election campaigns
 Apply various methodologies to the analysis of political campaign communication
 Examine the ways in which digital media is changing the nature of elections and political
campaigning.

Key Readings:

 Philip Cowley and Dennis Kavanagh (2015) The British General Election of 2015, Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan
 Sasha Issenberg (2012) The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns, New York,
Crown Publishers
 Brian McNair (2011) An Introduction to Political Communication, Fifth Edition, Abingdon:
Routledge
 Pippa Norris et al (1999) On Message: Communicating the Campaign, Sage Publications
Margaret Scammell (2014) Consumer Democracy: The Marketing of Politics, Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press
 James Stanyer (2009) Modern Political Communication, Cambridge: Polity

Please Note: This module will be capped at 20 students

Department of Political Economy

Optional modules offered by EIS

7AAOM013 Critical Political Economy

20 credits – Semester 2

Assessment: One 4,000 word essay (100%)

This module explores the relationship between the political and the economic as two closely
interrelated, interdependent and co-shaping domains. Their intersection generates conflicts,
contradictions and tensions that this course will aim to unpack by developing a critical examination of
key concepts within the field of political economy. Topics covered include Exploitation, Ideology,
States, Hegemony, Finance, Crisis, and Resistance.

7AAOM220 Global Governance and International Organisations

20 credits – Semester 2

Assessment: one 4000 word essay (80%); diary (20%)

This module invites students to investigate the material and ideological structures underpinning the
edifice of global economic governance. This means paying attention to the key international
organisations and the ways in which they have been transformed since their creation, but also to the
increasing role of private institutions and authorities in the management of the global economy. The
module begins by introducing students to the key conceptual and theoretical issues that have
preoccupied global governance scholars for some time, followed by a brief historical recollection that
allows the students to familiarise themselves with the historical roots of the current global governance
structures. It then proceeds to examine the governance in key issue-areas of global economy, such as
finance, trade, knowledge, labour and the environment, paying attention not only to the relevant
international organizations, but also to the material and ideological elements that underpin the
governance of these issue-areas, as well as the key state and non-state actors within them.

7AAOM222 The Political Economy of Britain in the EU

20 credits – Semester 1

Assessment: one 4000 word essay (100%)

At least formally, Britain’s membership in the European Union is a fraught one. At the same time,
there are few states that have been as committed to integrated world market as the British one and
the European Union forms an important part of this commitment. This module is about understanding
the nature of the relationship between Britain and the EU, how this has endured or changed over
time, and what the determinants of this relationship might be.
Department of Political Economy

7AAOM223 The Political Economy of the Financial Crisis

20 credits – Semester 1

Assessment: One 1,500-word review essay (15%), one assessed presentation (15%), one 3,000-word
research essay (70%).

The financial crisis that started 2007 in the American subprime mortgage market casts a long shadow
over the global political economy, and no doubt its future will be marked by the management of this
crisis. But understanding the crisis and its consequences is far from straightforward, and requires
careful consideration of history and competing analytical frameworks as offered by this module.
Concluding sessions draw on such understanding to assess current crisis management at the global
level and in the Eurozone.

Optional Modules offered by International Development Institute

7YYD0011: Comparative Public Policy Analysis in Emerging Economies

20 credits – Semester 2

Assessment: 4000 word essay (100%) and mid-term 1000 word formative essay

The aim of this course is to provide students with a strong foundation in the theoretical frameworks
associated with comparative policy analysis, the comparative methodology involved, as well as the
lessons that can be learned from emerging economies. The first half of the course will focus more on
learning what comparative public policy is, the theories associated with this kind of approach as well
as the method for selecting and comparing case studies. Towards the end of the course, students will
read several case study examples from emerging economies in Latin America, South Asia, and Africa,
and to what extent the theoretical frameworks learned in the course do - or do not - help to explain
and predict policy outcomes. We will close the course by discussing the extent to which policy
implementation and designs matter in explaining policy outcomes as well as how and if formal and
informal institutions matter in the emerging economies.

7YYD0014: The Politics of Managing Public Finances in Emerging Economies

20 credits – Semester 1

Assessment: 4000 word essay (100%) and mid-term 1000 word formative essay

The responsible management of public finances is widely considered to be one of the cornerstone
conditions to facilitate sustained growth, equitable distribution and long term investment of resources
in developing countries. In a globalised economy, the management of public finances has become an
area of increased technical expertise, because it requires knowledge of complex issues such as the
administration of foreign direct investments, external aid from donors and cooperation agencies, debt
management, tax policy and tax administration, and the allocation and distribution of government
Department of Political Economy

spending. These issue areas have inherently political implications, as it generates redistributive
consequences, creates long term winners and losers, and have a direct influence over development
outcomes in society. These political transactions are reflected in the structure of a country’s budget
process, in the bargaining of different tax regimes and in the choice of government spending and
saving instruments. In this light, a comprehensive understanding of PFM and reforms has to reconcile
the knowledge about technical constraints with the political coalitions that make reforms sustainable
in the long run.

This module aims to introduce students to the technical and political dimensions of public finance
management in a) the generation of revenues, b) the budget process, and c) government spending;
and to introduce students to the most relevant debates of the specialised literature and discuss policy
implications of reforms using case studies.