International Political Economy Course Subfield

International Political Economy Course Subfield

Explore the Inner Workings of Politics

This subfield focuses on the underlying political and economic rules, laws, and values that assists in the development and maintenance of society.

This course examines various issues on trade, trade policy and open monetary economies theoretically and empirically. Specific questions to be addressed include: What gains do the nations get from trading each other according to the comparative advantage? What are the characteristics of modern trade? What are the traditional and new theories of trade policy? What is the role of World Trade Organization? How are an economy's trade and financial transactions with the rest of the world recorded in balance-of-payments accounts? Under what mechanism is an open economy's national income determined together with its trade balance? Prior knowledge on the subject is not required.

This course introduces key concepts and problematics of International Political Economy in East Asia (including both Southeast and Northeast Asia), relying on academic sources and analyses of cinematographic productions. We will study topics such as the state and the economy in East Asia, regional labor migrations, cultural globalization, global outsourcing practices in Southeast Asia, global cities, financialization, increasing inequalities of wealth or the political economy of climate change in the region. We will use movies to analyze these phenomena and highlight the everyday practices of the global economy in East Asia.

This course introduces students to theories of sustainability. Basic principles of sustainability are examined using the triple bottom line perspective: environment (planet), society (people), and economy (profit). Students will learn how sustainability impacts social well-being and development in a globalized world. Emphasis will be placed on how global businesses contribute to both the problems and solutions toward a sustainable future. International and Japanese news and case studies will be used as the basis for in-class discussions and analysis. Prior knowledge of the subject is not required. 

This is an introductory course in Comparative Politics. This course will introduce students who are new to the field of Comparative Politics to the leading theories and debates of this field while simultaneously introducing students to the history of political, economic, and cultural relations of various regions. By comparing how political systems develop and function in different countries, we will theorize about the historical development and future trajectories of domestic politics in the various parts of the world.

This class will help students to better understand the study of international political economy. Major theories and ideas in international political economy will be surveyed. Students will use this knowledge to develop their own research paper. Major topics for this class are: theories of IPE, international economic institutions, globalization, economic inequality, environmental policy and the resource curse.

What is development, and how do nations seek development? Why have countries achieved different levels of development? What are the endogenous and exogenous determinants contributing to development? The course explores the origin and evolution of socio-economic development in select developing economies across the globe. It will deal with the essential theories of development studies and several case studies on economic growth and socio-economic changes. The course will consist of intensive reading and discussion. How and why have foreign policy and international relations been structured and implemented in the states of South Asia? This graduate course explores the domestic and external determinants of foreign policy-making in the states and how and why the policy has been executed in the areas of security, defense cooperation/conflicts/competition, trade and investment, and regional economic cooperation. It will engage in the crucial theoretical debate on the cutting-edge area of international relations in South Asia through the intensive reading and discussion on the select case studies. 

This course helps students to understand the major concepts, debates and reflections related to political, economic and cultural globalization. The course also discusses the transnational problems caused by globalization such as human and drug trafficking as well as environmental degradation. In addition, the global security threats such as poverty and health problems, terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction will also be examined. The course encourages students to observe and evaluate the impacts of globalization to their personal life, for example, how could their living place and home country be affected. The in-class discussions (or flipped classrooms) aim to offer an interactive and stimulating environment for students' learning experience. 

This course examines how the development of nations can be started and what types of structure are necessary to promote growth on each country. Income increase is firstly necessary for economic development, but sound political and civil structures are essential to enhance development on each country. Discrepancy of income and poverty are also main issues to be studied on this course. I have the experience at the work in Saudi Arabia for four years and also at several Think Tanks' work to make survey more than 60 countries as a senior economist, so this experience and knowledge can be distributed to the students on the course.  

The course surveys leading transnational (international and regional) environment issues facing the globe from a few perspectives.Issues to be considered include:air pollution(e.g.,acid rain, ozone depletion),climate change&associated disasters, deforestation, fisheries, land degradation, and water resources.The course will seek to establish the current state of scientific understanding regarding the selected issues, before considering past&ongoing efforts to address environmental problems.Insights from economics, political science and international law, and other social science disciplines will be considered in terms of the causes and solutions to transnational environmental problems.Challenges of collective action, shared resource use,&institutionalization of environmental policy will be themes.  

Brexit in 2016 was a great shock to the world as well as Europeans. International integration beyond national ego is one of the best approaches to achieve regional and global peace, let alone common economic goals. In this course, we try to make comparative analysis of integration phenomena between world regions, including Asia, Europe and America. Responding to the interests of students, Africa, Pacific and MENA regions are added. The theory and reality of European Union is emphasized as the typical integrational success. Newspapers and academic articles are introduced to explain the trends of worldwide regionalism. 

This course examines the relations and issues among the countries surrounding the Asia-Pacific. The national interests, motives and policies of key actors will be discussed such as China, the United States, Japan, India, Russia, Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore. Besides, the course evaluates the concerns of periphery countries as well as regionalism with reference to ASEAN, Latin American perspectives and APEC. The economic order in the region will also be covered, including NAFTA, CPTTP, RCEP, the Belt and Road Initiative and Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy. And the political order such as maritime security, hedging strategy and non-traditional security issues will be illustrated. The Model APEC facilitates students' understanding on the formation of Asia-Pacific order. 

How and why have the states in South Asia built international relations with other countries? This course will deal with the essential features of domestic politics, socio-economic transformation, and foreign policy in the eight states of South Asia, namely, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives. It will discuss bilateral political and economic relationships between the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries, and further between SAARC members and major global powers. It will facilitate students to understand how the eight nations in South Asia have managed territorial disputes, ethnic conflicts, natural resources, economic cooperation, and national security-building. Further, there will be the class field trip(s)* at least once throughout the semester. *Field trip(s) will be scheduled according to the availability of the field trip venue(s). 

This course introduces major theories and analytical frameworks of international relations to students, which offers them ability to understand the fast changing world and the skills to analyze the driving forces and implications of major international issues. The course covers major theories such as realism, neo-realism, liberalism, neo-liberalism, and social constructivism. Other school of thoughts include rational and strategic choice theory, clash of civilization, Marxism, world system theory and nuclear strategy. The seminar course emphasizes on the understanding and application of theories with empirical evidences through student presentations and the critical comments from other participants in the seminar. 

This SEMINAR course explores the ever-evolving relationships of the United States of America with countries, multilateral institutions and non-state actors in East Asia (both Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia). The course is divided into two: the first part will focus on history and will examine the factors that drove the United States to acquire territorial possessions in Asia, to vie for a seat at the imperial table at the turn of the century, to confront Japan over mastery in the Pacific leading to WWII, and to create alliances and partners during the Cold War and the War on Terror. The second part will focus on contemporary policy issues. The professor will make use of his extensive experience at a research institution in the United States to relate theories with real world cases.  

This class will focus on different theories, ideas and research in resource politics. We will survey a wide range of studies and ideas in the field of research policy. Furthermore, we will examine the role that resources have played in the development of specific states. Finally, we will compare different governance strategies that states can pursue in the resource sector.

How do we define the nature of Asian entrepreneurs? How have the states in Asia developed various policies to facilitate entrepreneurship? This course will deal with the varieties of entrepreneurship in Asia by exploring case studies on many countries across Asia. In the classes, various institutional arrangements such as innovation policy, financing, and intellectual property, business climate, social network, and culture will be discussed as well. Students will be asked to submit a term paper either an individual level or a group level. Also, there will be the class field trip(s)* at least once throughout the semester. *Field trip(s) will be scheduled according to the availability of the trip venue(s).

This course will introduce students who are new to the field of Asian Politics to the leading theories and debates of this field while simultaneously introducing students who are new to Asia to the history of political, economic, and cultural relations of the region. This course surveys the long history of East Asia from pre-colonial origins (the ancient and classical periods) to the present and asks whether Euro-centric theories can account for the sources of conflict and cooperation in this region. The main geographic focus is on Japan, China, Korea, and later Taiwan and North Korea. 

This course examines historical evolution and dynamics of global capitalism, from the 1400s to the Great Divergence then to the interwar and post war era, and finally the contemporary area. It focuses on competing perspectives on the rise and fall of nations and the interplays of these nations through trade, transnational production and financial flows. Topics include globalization waves and cycles; institutional, technological, and institutional forces of development and underdevelopment; international trade and monetary relations; regional studies that include North America, Japan, China, Latin America and Africa; global climate challenges and global governance.

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