POLS2094: Issues in International Political Economy

- tutorial participation/attendance 10%
- midterm (multiple-choice) 20%
- essay (2500 words) 40%
- final exam (multiple choice and short answer) 30%

Personally, I found this course fairly straightforward. I wouldn’t consider it “easy”, but if you are able to follow along with what he says in class then you should be fine.

This course looks at the relationship between economics and politics – how domestic and international politics influence the international economy as well as how international economic relations drive political action. This is a political science course, and not an economics course, however, so many things are looked at from a political perspective. Our tutor mentioned that many students without economic backgrounds struggled, but personally, I found it quite okay. The readings included economic modelling and PPF curves etc, but we don’t need to know about them.

The first half was focused on world trade – looking at the WTO and how domestic politics influence trade outcomes. It began with a refresher of first-year IR concepts as well. The second half was focused on 3 areas: foreign direct investment and multinational corporations, monetary policy and exchange-rate politics, and economic development. I personally found the monetary policy part to be a little challenging. Many examples and studies are also looked at.

Readings:
Readings mainly come from the prescribed textbook, but also some journals as well as the POLS1005 textbook (which he provides photocopies of). I would definitely recommend doing the textbook readings. The journal readings - he pretty much summarizes them in lectures, although you will be questioned on them in the exams.

Exams:
The midterm was entirely multiple choice, and the final exam contained multiple-choice questions as well (as well as short answer). It is important to understand the concepts carefully because sometimes the MCQs can be contradictory so you need to know to pick the right one.

Overall:
Even though this is a 2nd-year course which I completed in first-year, I found it more ‘straightforward’ than my first-year courses, probably because it was more focused on a certain area of political science and to me, things just seemed logical and reasoned and fairly structured. Some concepts may take a while to get your head around, but overall, it’s very doable if you follow along with lectures. (however, as mentioned previously our tutor said many students struggled. It varies by person I guess.)

This is a core course for IR degrees and majors, and most students complete it in their 2nd year. In saying that, I would recommend having done POLS1005 beforehand (which most would have done anyway). This course may be of interest to anyone studying economics as well, or just anyone interested in IR/economics/politics, but there is a pre-requisite of having completed 2 POLS courses prior.

Yes, with screen capture etc.

Dr Chungshik Moon

No. There were sample questions for the midterm. No sample questions for the final.

3.5 Out of 5

International Political Economy – Oatley
Would recommend getting it. You won’t cover all of it, but definitely useful for the chapters we studied.

1x2hr lecture and 1x1hr tutorial per week

Semester 2 2017

80 HD