Although many international political economy texts offer good descriptions of what events have occurred in global economic and political relations, they make little attempt to develop explicit theoretical frameworks explaining why. Andrew Sobel’s International Political Economy in Context: Individual Choices, Global Effects takes a micro approach to international political economy that considers the fact that individuals—not nations—make choices.
Grounding policy choices in the competitive environs of domestic politics and decision-making processes, Sobel illustrates how policymakers choose among alternatives, settling on those that are most in sync with their self-interest.
The book is structured to build students’ skills for a sophisticated understanding of how and why events unfold in the international political economy. Students become versed in the primary assumptions and structural/macro conditions of economic and political geography in the global arena. An examination of micro-level conditions and mechanisms introduces the factors that influence political and economic outcomes. Students are then able to use those primary assumptions and micro-level arrangements to make sense of past and present changes in the global political economy.
Those familiar with Sobel’s first volume, Political Economy and Global Affairs, will easily find their way through this new book. Anyone looking for a compelling, accessible, and fully integrated rational choice perspective on international political economy will find it here.
FEATURES & BENEFITS:
- Callout glossary boxes highlight and define key terms where they appear in the text to aid in student study.
- Exercises at the end of each chapter encourage students to apply the concepts they’ve just read about.
- End of chapter key concepts lists summarize the main theoretical takeaways.
- A suggested reading list for each chapter provides rich sources for further study.
- Valuable figures and tables help students grasp important concepts and aid in study.
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This is the first edition of this work.
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Table of Contents
Figures, Tables, and Maps
Preface
Part I: Building Blocks to Examine Global Political Economy and Conflict
- Chapter 1: Introduction: Political Economy, Rationality, and Social Science 1
- Chapter 2: Structure, Nation-States, Power, and Order in an International Context
- Chapter 3: Economic Liberalism and Market Exchange in the Global Arena
Part II: Micro Tools
- Chapter 4: The Micro Approach to Political and Economic Markets in Theory and Practice
- Chapter 5: The Dilemma of Collective Action: Who Organizes, Who Does Not, and Why
- Chapter 6: The Role of Hegemonic Leadership and Its Micro Foundations
- Chapter 7: Interest Groups and International Economic Foundations of Political Cleavage \
- Chapter 8: The Role of Institutions in Political and Economic Market Failures
Part III: Context
- Chapter 9: Around the World in Eighty Days: A Stage of Modern Globalization
- Chapter 10: The World between the Wars: A Breakdown in Globalization
- Chapter 11: The Bretton Woods System: The Rebuilding of Globalization
- Chapter 12: The World Post–Bretton Woods: Globalization Advances
- Chapter 13: Détente and the End of the Cold War: Globalization during Transition
- Chapter 14: Into the Future: Political and Economic Market Failures and Threats to Globalization
Index
Photo Credits
About the Author
Reviews
“Instead of covering IPE from broad realist, liberal, critical, or whatever perspectives, Sobel takes one, very much up-to-date and non-paradigmatic rational choice perspective and uses it throughout the book. This really is the way it should be done!”
- Tobias Hofmann, College of William & Mary“Most other books leave the impression that political economy began in the 1980s, or are a morass of acronyms that most students will soon forget. International Political Economy in Context: Individual Choices, Global Effects is the one book that really renders effective treatments of the Big Ideas that shaped the political economy of the world over the past two centuries. Without that context one cannot possibly hope to understand what is happening today.”
- Mike Jasinski, University of Wisconsin, Osh Kosh“International Political Economy in Context’s strengths are its detailed, clear exposition. I read with delight the rather sophisticated analysis of difficult concepts like the balance of payments and the Bretton Woods meetings.”
- James Morrison, Middlebury CollegeThe text is designed to be accessible to beginning students, with limited use of footnotes, less emphasis on historical background, and more emphasis on theories and frameworks.
- Book News, Inc.
Bio(s)
Andrew Sobel
Andrew C. Sobel specializes in the politics of global finance with a focus on domestic explanations of international behavior. He earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan. He is on the faculty of International and Area Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, a member of the Academic Board of Directors of the Center for New Institutional Social Sciences, and on the Faculty Advisory Council to the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Work and Social Capital at Washington University. He has won numerous teaching awards. He has published many articles and is the author or editor of six books, including Domestic Choices, International Markets (1994); State Institutions, Private Incentives, Global Capital (1999, 2002); Political Economy and Global Affairs (2006); The Challenges of Globalization (2009); and Birth of Hegemony: Crisis, Financial Revolution, and Emerging Global Networks (2012).
Ancillaries
Instructor’s Resources Include:
http://college.cqpress.com/sites/sobel-instructor
- Test bank
- PowerPoint
- Downloadable Tables and Figures
- Solutions to end-of-chapter exercises
- Transition guide from Sobel’s Political Economy and Global Affairs
Student Resources Include:
http://college.cqpress.com/sites/sobel
- Chapter Summaries
- Practice quizzes
- Flashcards
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