Unit information: Comparative and International Political Economy in 2022/23

Unit name	Comparative and International Political Economy
Unit code	POLI20012
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Mircea Popa
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	None
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	None
Units you may not take alongside this one	None
School/department	School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Unit Information

The unit aims to equip students with a basic understanding of the interactions between politics and the economy, from a domestic and international perspective. The unit assumes no prior knowledge of economics, and does not employ any mathematical modelling. Given the novelty of some of the topics, a very gentle introduction will be provided. The broad topics to be covered include the political aspects of:

• the regulation of markets and businesses,
• the redistribution of income,
• international trade,
• international financial flows,
• economic growth.

The unit aims are:

• Providing politics students with a set of skills often explicitly required by employers in the public and private sector.
• Making students comfortable with the basic debates in political economy.
• Providing students with an understanding of the fundamentally political nature of some topics in economics.

Your learning on this unit

On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:

• Employ the basic tools of economics to analyse policymaking.
• Evaluate the need for market regulation by governments in particular cases.
• Evaluate the distributional effects of taxing and spending policies as well as the political implications of these effects.
• Evaluate the distributional effects of international trade as well as the political implications of these effects.
• Assess the political implications of international financial flows.

How you will learn

The unit will be taught through blended learning methods, including a mix of synchronous and asynchronous teaching activities

How you will be assessed

• 1000 word essay (25%)
• 3000 word essay (75%)

Both essays assess all learning outcomes listed above.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. POLI20012).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.