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The University of Southampton
Economic, Social and Political Sciences

New MSc programmes in International Political Economy

Published: 18 January 2011Origin: Politics and International Relations

Starting in the 2011/12 academic year, the Politics and International Relations Division is due to be introducing two new postgraduate courses in International Political Economy (IPE), reflecting the department’s new expertise in the field.

IPE is one of the most important and fastest expanding sub-disciplines in the fields of Political Science and International Relations, driven by an increasing recognition amongst students and researchers across the social sciences that political and economic issues are analytically inseparable.

Not only are these courses of interest in a purely academic sense, but also in a policy-relevant sense, since many of the most important national and international organisations are fundamentally economic in character, including the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation, the European Union and a panoply of international legal, charitable, governmental and social institutions. Also, the increasingly global nature of political relations is typically underscored by equally global economic relations in trade, finance and migration, concern over which is reflected in questions about shifting loci of global authority from ‘West’ (e.g. Europe and the USA) to ‘East’ (e.g. China and India) and ongoing relationships between the global rich and the global poor.

In both taught and research track MSc IPE programmes, the core substantive module, Global political economy, will deliver the key conceptual and empirical underpinnings required for the degree, which can then be complemented through the selection of optional modules from across the Division. The programmes will also incorporate the School-wide research training module, Philosophy, methodology and research design as a second core module, to deliver the skills necessary to complete the dissertation.

Students taking the research track MSc IPE will also be required to take two further research modules, namely Design and statistical analysis of surveys and Qualitative methods. In addition, students on either taught or research programmes can choose from a range of module options from PAIR, including two new modules of special interest to our prospective IPE masters students, The politics of global finance and Capitalism and modernity.

Prospective students should note that this programme can be taken as part of an ESRC sponsored 1+3 programme.

Please see the relevant pages for more information on course structure and how to apply.

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