International Political Economy and Development
For this specialization we advise you to register in the Major Governance, Policy and Political Economy (GPPE), but other Majors also give access to this specialization.
This specialization provides students with a better understanding of the international dimensions of development issues. The specialization draws on the burgeoning academic field of international political economy, which is concerned with the various ways in which national political and economic processes interrelate with international (that is, global, transnational and multilateral) relations.
The IPED specialization is concerned with the way in which important features of the contemporary international order impact on the development prospects of people living in developing countries and countries in transition. IPED students learn to understand how dominant agendas shape the structures within which national governments, private companies and civil society pursue their interests. More specifically, the specialization focuses on the pervasive influence that neo-liberalism has had on the nature of global capitalism over the course of the past three decades, and on the agenda of global governance that has been furthered by various supporters of liberal internationalism. IPED students are educated to make a critical assessment of the claims of the contemporary proponents of the dominant political-economic agendas.
Teaching staff
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Wil Hout is Professor of Governance and International Political Economy at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. He teaches in the Major in Governance, Policy and Political Economy and is course leader of the course Global Governance and Development (ISS-4307). Further, he teaches the course Techniques for Case Study Research (ISS-3305). He is the Convenor of the MPA in Governance that is taught in collaboration with the FHR Lim A Po Institute for Social Studies in Suriname, and coordinator of the ISS contribution to the Dual Masters Programme in International Security and Development Policy (offered in collaboration with the Maxwell School, Syracuse University, USA and Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Germany).
His research interests relate to international relations, development assistance and issues of (‘good’) governance. He is the author of Capitalism and the Third World (Edward Elgar, 1993), The Politics of Aid Selectivity (Routledge, 2007) and (co-)editor of a dozen volumes and special journal issues, most recently of Governance and the Depoliticisation of Development (with Richard Robison, Routledge, 2009) and EU Strategies on Governance Reform: Between Development and State-building (London: Routledge, 2012). He has published articles in, among others, the European Journal of International Relations, Third World Quarterly, Development and Change, the Journal of Development Studies, Critical Asian Studies and Acta Politica: International Journal of Political Science.
For more information, see: www.iss.nl/hout
International Political Economy and Development Courses
Contemporary Capitalism and Governance: Neo-Liberalism and Beyond
This course deals with the rise of neo-liberalism and how it has become, not just one idea or set of interests among many, but the most influential agenda for the reshaping of the global order and the way political and economic life is organised. The course examines the ideological, economic and political reasons for this ascendancy and the institutional and political forces behind its success. It also looks at the processes through which neo-liberal reforms have been transplanted and the impact of these upon existing systems of social and political power.
Global Governance and Development
This course, which is focused on the global political-economic context of the development process, aims to contribute to a better understanding of the various manifestations of global governance in today’s world, as well as the arguments for global – that is, not territorially confined – public policy making. The origins of contemporary concepts of global governance are traced back to several major publications originating from the UN system, which emphasised the need to formulate ‘global responses to global problems’. The main challenges to globalism that are discussed relate to notions of national power and sovereignty, knowledge and inequality, and regionalism.
