DV435: African Political EconomyThis class is an introduction to the study of contemporary African political economy, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. The goal of DV435 to set major questions of state, national economy, development in historical, geographic, and international context. Course readings and lectures stress marked unevenness in national and subnational trajectories and in the political-economic character of different African countries, drawing attention to causes of similarity and difference across and within countries. The course provides an analytical and empirical base for DV418, African Development.
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GV 517: New Approaches in Comparative Political Economy (with D. Soskice)This half-unit reading and research seminar will survey a set of major topics in the Comparative Political Economy (CPE) of advanced capitalist and developing countries. We will consider different analytic strategies for conceptualizing variation in national economic structure, explaining change in economic structure, and understanding the political causes and effects thereof. The seminar is designed for PhD students (research students) across the School wanting to familiarize themselves with some of the major themes, controversies, and research frontiers in CPE. Our goal is to nurture innovation in doctoral-level CPE research at the LSE.
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Globalization, Causes and Effect: The US in Comparative Perspective (UT Austin)This course examines changes in world politics and economics that are producing globalization, understood as the deepening integration of world financial markets, and asks what this means for the US and for other countries and regions of the world. Is globalization a threatening force that should be contained by Americans, or should it be promoted? How is it affecting American democracy and standards of living, and peace and well-being in other parts the world? What are national choices? Through assigned and recommended class readings, films, lectures, and class discussions, we will explore "globalization" and its social, economic, and political causes and effects. It places the American experience in comparative perspective by looking at causes and effects of globalization as evident in the European Union, China, and Africa.
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Comparative Perspectives on Inequality: Global North, Global South (GV334)
Rising levels of social inequality have attracted enormous attention in public discourse and social science research. What political consequences should we expect to see, and will these differ across countries? This course considers the distribution and drivers of different forms of social-economic inequality (income, spatial, urban/rural, ethnic/racial), and asks whether and how they produce different forms of politics in different parts of the world. Weekly readings and lecture center on significant works in global and comparative political economy. Over the course of the term, the analytic focus of the class moves between the OECD countries, developing countries, and the global level. We consider how socio-economic structure, levels of development, and modes of integration into the global economy shape domestic forms of inequality, and how domestic institutions condition the political expression thereof. |