International Political Economy is a thriving interdisciplinary area of study and research based on the combined insights of international economics and international relations theory. It has become one of the fastest growing fields of study in the social sciences, and this new title in the Routledge series, Critical Concepts in Political Science, meets the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of the subjectâe(tm)s already vast literature and the continuing expansion of research output. Edited by Benjamin J. Cohen, a prominent scholar in the field, it is a four-volume collection of classic and key contemporary contributions to the political economy of global economics. The first of the four volumes concentrates on theory, encompassing the full range of conceptual and analytical perspectives that characterize this diverse field of study. The second and third volumes address core structural elements of the world economy while a variety of contemporary policy challenges is taken up in the fourth volume, including problems of economic development, security and conflict, and the environment. With a comprehensive introduction newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, International Political Economy is an essential work of reference. Researchers, teachers, and students will value the collection as a vital one-stop scholarly and pedagogic resource.

For a century, economists have driven forward the cause of globalization in financial institutions, labour markets, and trade. Yet there have been consistent warning signs that a global economy and free trade might not always be advantageous. Where are the pressure points? What could be done about them?Dani Rodrik examines the back-story from its seventeenth-century origins through the milestones of the gold standard, the Bretton Woods Agreement, and the Washington Consensus, to the present day. Although economic globalization has enabled unprecedented levels of prosperity in advanced countries and has been a boon to hundreds of millions of poor workers in China and elsewhere in Asia, it is a concept that rests on shaky pillars, he contends. Its long-term sustainability is not a given.The heart of Rodrik>'s argument is a fundamental 'trilemma': that we cannot simultaneously pursue democracy, national self-determination, and economic globalization. Give too much power to governments, and you have protectionism. Give markets too much freedom, and you have an unstable world economy with little social and political support from those it is supposed to help. Rodrik argues for smart globalization, not maximum globalization.

The debate on globalization has reached a level of intensity that inhibits comprehension and obscures the issues. In this book a highly distinguished international economist scrupulously explains how globalization works as a concept and how it operates in reality. Martin Wolf confronts the charges against globalization, delivers a devastating critique of each, and offers a realistic scenario for economic internationalism in the future. Wolf begins by outlining the history of the global economy in the twentieth century and explaining the mechanics of world trade. He dissects the agenda of globalization’s critics, and rebuts the arguments that it undermines sovereignty, weakens democracy, intensifies inequality, privileges the multinational corporation, and devastates the environment. The author persuasively defends the principles of international economic integration, arguing that the biggest obstacle to global economic progress has been the failure not of the market but of politics and government, in rich countries as well as poor. He examines the threat that terrorism poses and maps the way to a global market economy that can work for everyone.

"Meltdown is the gripping account of the financial collapse that destroyed the West's investment banks, brought the global economy to its knees, and undermined three decades of neoliberal orthodoxy. Covering the development of the crisis from the economic front line, BBC Newsnight journalist Paul Mason explores the roots of the US and UK's financial hubris, documenting the real-world causes and consequences from the Ford factory, to Wall Street, to the City of London. In this fully updated new edition, he recounts how the credit crunch became a full-blown financial crisis, and explores its impact on capitalist ideology and politics in our new age of austerity."--P. [4] of cover.