Introductory description

Globalisation is the dominant theme in contemporary political and economic debates. Even a cursory glance at official publications emanating from the key ministries of state across the developed and underdeveloped world reveals the centrality of this concept to policy debates. Concerns about the need to ‘adapt’ to and meet the ‘challenge’ of globalisation inform the conduct not only of macroeconomic policy but every aspect of social and economic policy. Similarly a careful analysis of material produced by major corporations reveals the critical importance these organisations place on changes in the organisation of global markets and the need to become ‘global firms’.

Despite the centrality of the concept of globalisation to debates across the social sciences there is little agreement as to what this concept actually means. This module seeks to explore the content of the processes that go under the rubric of globalisation and draw out their significance for our understanding of the theory and practice of governance and development. In order to do so we explore the history of globalisation and the attempts of leading theorists to conceptualise the process. Having done so we move on to analyse the key institutions (both public and private) that are shaping the contemporary world order. We shall also consider the impact of structural changes in the global political economy upon the organisation of work, gender relations, national welfare regimes and systems of democratic control.

This module explicitly adopts a post-disciplinary approach. As such no attempt will be made to draw clear artificial distinctions between the social, political and economic. Major processes of change in systems of human organisation are simultaneously cultural, political and economic phenomena and we seek to study them as such. In practical terms this means we must be prepared to draw upon sources from throughout the social sciences and the reading list reflects the necessity of eclecticism.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

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Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of key debates concerning how we define, measure, date and explain globalisation
• Critically discuss the characteristics of the key institutions of global governance
• Assess the gendered social and cultural impact of structural changes in the global political economy
• Critically analyse, both orally and in writing, the current issues facing social actors as the locus of economic organisation increasingly shifts to the supranational level

Indicative reading list

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Subject specific skills

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Transferable skills

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