Subject Description
International Political Econ

IPE 332 | Experiencing the Food System

This is a 0.5 unit experiential education course designed to be taken concurrently with IPE 331, Political Economy of Food and Agriculture. The course meets once per week for 3 hours. Most weeks we will be going off campus to engage with various stakeholders in our local food system. We will participate in work days on local farms, volunteer at food banks, tour the TEMCO grain export terminal, and engage with multiple other local organizations.

IPE 498 | Internship Seminar

This scheduled weekly interdisciplinary seminar provides the context to reflect on concrete experiences at an off-campus internship site and to link these experiences to academic study relating to the political, psychological, social, economic and intellectual forces that shape our views on work and its meaning. The aim is to integrate study in the liberal arts with issues and themes surrounding the pursuit of a creative, productive, and satisfying professional life. Students receive 1.0 unit of academic credit for the academic work that augments their concurrent internship fieldwork.

IPE 427 | Competing Perspectives on the Material World

Many sociologists have joined economists in the study of that entity we call the economy. Apart from this interest, however, the two groups share very little in common. The disagreements include the importance of rationality and selfishness, the proper methodologies, the nature of explanation, and even the definition of the field of study. This course surveys the different ways in which economists and sociologists approach the material world and the key debates between them.

IPE 380 | Gods, Guns, and Oil in the Middle East

This course examines the efforts of states in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to adapt to the international political economy. It examines and assesses the constraints and opportunities states face and how they have tried to reshape their political and economic institutions. Attention is paid to relationships that exist between the state, business, labor, civil society, international capital, and foreign governments. Topics include the relationship of economic reform to democratization, regional integration, religious radicalism, and corruption and illicit transactions.

IPE 261 | Market Effects of Public Policy: A Comparative Analysis

This course combines Economic and IPE approaches to understand and compare different governments' choices to influence markets and how those choices affect incentives and the behavior of economic agents (consumers, suppliers, laborers, employers, policymakers, etc.) in markets which are "misbehaving". In one way or the other, the markets considered in this class do not meet the economic goals of efficiency, equity, stability, or growth, requiring government action. This action, however, often creates distortions of its own.

IPE 101 | Power and Wealth in Global Affairs: Introduction to International Political Economy

Throughout the world, societies, markets, and governments are in upheaval. Some would even argue that we are on the brink of a new world order. So how do we understand the current historical moment? How are nation-states being remade in the face of the hyper-mobility of capital? Are global corporations the new arbiters of rule? What is the fate of global cooperation in an era of growing nationalism? How are emerging economies and global social movements challenging the terms of the globalization debate? How are power and wealth distributed between and within nations?