STV4346B – Comparative Political Economy

Course content

Politics and economics are empirically interrelated fields, and should therefore in many instances also be analyzed as such. This course provides the student with analyses on how national political institutions and processes influence the economy as well as on how the economy affects national politics. The course gives an overview of the different theoretical and methodological approaches in the field, drawing mainly on literature from political science, but also from economics and economic history. The course also presents the students to both “quantitative” and “qualitative” empirical research on the different topics.

The course is divided into three main parts. The first part gives a general overview of the field, and the different research traditions. It also presents a short overview over different methodologies utilized in the study of interactions between political institutions and processes and the economy. The second part presents the three main general topics of the course: 1) States, markets and resource allocation. 2) How economic structures and processes affect political processes and organization (with democratization as the core dependent variable). 3) How political institutions affect economic outcomes like economic growth and inequality. The third part introduces the students to some more specific political-economic topics in the context of particular regions of the world. It focuses on topics that are especially relevant for the workings of the national political economies of Western Europe (and North America), Asia, Latin America and Africa. This part is mainly empirical, but will also present some relevant theory. Examples of topics that will be treated are corruption, land reform and fiscal policy.

Learning outcome

The students shall by the end of the course have knowledge of:

?The different methodological and theoretical approaches in the field.
?Some of the “tools” needed for reading (and producing) political-economic research, both theoretical and empirical.
?Some of the most important theoretical and empirical analyses in the field.
?The main topics in Comparative Political Economy: How do states and markets allocate resources? How does the nature of the economy influence political organization? How do national political institutions affect economic factors?
?Some more specific topics in Comparative Political Economy, and how these have relevance for selected countries and regions in the world.

The students shall during the course develop skills that make them able to:

?Understand and use different relevant methodologies when analyzing political-economic research questions.
?Read, understand and independently evaluate cutting-edge research on political-economic topics.
?Discuss how political processes and institutions affect economic outcomes, through theoretical and empirical argumentation.
?Discuss how economic factors affect political processes and organization through theoretical and empirical argumentation.
?Independently formulate and analyze political-economic research questions, for example in a master-thesis.

Admission

Students admitted to other Master programs may also be qualified to apply for the course. Please contact the Department of Political Science.

Only students admitted to the course may take part in instruction and tuition and sit for the examination.

Prerequisites

Formal prerequisite knowledge

Bachelor's degree in Political Science or equivalent.

Recommended previous knowledge

Bachelor's degree in Political Science or equivalent.

Teaching

There will be a total of 10 class sessions (each of 2 hours duration), spread over a 5 week period.

This course will be taught at the University of Oslo, Blindern campus. Other locations in Oslo may be used. Fronter will normally be used.

The course is p