International Political Economy Through the Lens of Globalization: A Critical Review

Abstract

Emergence of the International Political Economy as a platform for a complex interface between economy and politics coincides with a strong momentum of the last phase of globalization. The interdependence is explained through the prism of three classical theories, liberalism-as a pro-globalist theory, mercantilism, and Marxism, both skeptical of globalization. Shrouded in numerous controversies globalization has indeed achieved limited results. Paradoxically, actors in the borderless, neoliberal world are exclusively driven by capital. Governments often allow transnational companies to dictate market developments with direct influence on employment, gross domestic product, and power distribution. The aim of this paper is to show whether the neoliberal order is on the wane, an order in which non-liberal measures such as trade protectionism and border closure are increasingly being resorted to pushing back the processes of world economy liberalization. The basic liberal, democratic pillars of equality and justice have collapsed before the interest-driven economy.