The course is designed to introduce students to International Political Economy (IPE), the study of the complex interdependence between the economic and the political system in the international system.

The first part of the course provides the foundations for the study of IPE in the age of globalization, by reviewing classic and contemporary theories on the role of the state in foreign economic policy, and by analyzing the major features of the contemporary international system with reference to the global trade, capital and financial markets.

The second section then explores the major themes of today's global economy. It starts from the analysis of globalization and its discontents and looks at the main challenges faced by developing countries.

Other major arguments include the role of key actors of the global economy such as multi-national corporations, the debate over the political economy of the relationship between Europe and the US, and the (sometimes neasy) interaction between states and financial markets at the domestic and international level.