International Political Economy in age of Globalization

Abstract

This chapter examines what drives actors and explains events in the international economy. The first section outlines the history of the post-war economy. The history helps to explain why and how international political economy (IPE) has become so central to the study of international relations (section two). Amidst the many actors, processes and events in the recent history of the world economy, it is not obvious where one might begin to analyse IPE. This task is made easier by three traditional approaches to IPE which outline for us specific actors, processes and levels of analysis. These are the liberal, mercantilist and marxist traditions which are outlined in section three. More recently, IPE has become divided by an