The global political economy is being transformed by the rise of new powers such as Brazil, China and India, leading to a profound challenge to the material, geopolitical and institutional foundations of the Western-centric world order. Or is it? In this course we will investigate this question using the perspectives of political economy.
How can we determine the extent of current power shifts? How does capitalism in China and India differ from that in Europe and America? What implications does this have for the global economic order? Are rising powers constrained by their integration into the global economy, or does it merely increase their capacity to challenge the system? What role do international economic institutions play? Is geopolitical competition making a comeback? In this block seminar we will open up such questions by focusing on the interrelation of the political and economic spheres, and use our discussions to generate some preliminary conclusions.