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Global Governance: Purpose, Power, and Performance - POL00009H

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  • Department: Politics and International Relations
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: H
  • Academic year of delivery: 2024-25

Module summary

The module challenges and supports students to critically engage with debates over the nature of global economic governance. Detailed studies of regimes governing labour standards, trade, development, and financial crises provide foundations from which these critical engagements can be made.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 1 2024-25

Module aims

The module begins by exploring the relationship between power, hegemony, and global economic governance. We then consider critical frameworks for analysing global economic governance, reviewing Polanyian scholarship and a range of interrogations of ‘neoliberalism’. The bulk of the module is constituted by empirically-focused investigations of the historic evolution and contemporary operation of regimes of global economic governance. The module will, I hope, help you to build clear insights into the detail of what key international organisations do, and why.

Module learning outcomes

  • Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of debates over the nature of global economic governance, and of literature pertaining to particular sites of global economic governance;
  • Demonstrate independent analysis by critically engaging with concepts and/or claims from relevant established literature on global economic governance;
  • Communicate arguments using advanced ideas through written communication, organised and presented according to established academic conventions in the discipline of Politics and International Studies.

Module content

Likely structure to include:

1 Power, hegemony, and global economic governance

2 Critical approaches to global economic governance

3 Governing labour standards

4 Governing tax and transparency

5 Governing trade and production

6 Governing development

7 Governing financial crises

8 Governing climate change

9 Governing energy

10 Evaluating systematic transformation

Indicative assessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 100

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 100

Module feedback

Students will receive written timely feedback on their formative assessment. They will also have the opportunity to discuss their feedback during the module tutor's feedback and guidance hours.

Students will receive written feedback on their summative assessment no later than 25 working days after submission; and the module tutor will hold a specific session to discuss feedback, which students can also opt to attend. They will also have the opportunity to discuss their feedback during the module tutor's regular feedback and guidance hours.

Indicative reading

There is no Key Text for the module. A useful overview of some themes and cases that are explored through the module is provided by:

Broome, A. (2014) Issues and Actors in the Global Political Economy (London: Routledge).

Gutner, T. (2016) International Organizations in World Politics (London: Sage), Chapter 2, The Intellectual Context: The Evolution of IO Theory.



The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University constantly explores ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary. In some instances it may be appropriate for the University to notify and consult with affected students about module changes in accordance with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.