This course studies competing explanations for the evolution and operations of the international political economy from the origins of the industrial era in the late 18th century through the "information economy" of the 21st. It focuses on four functional areas: international trade in goods and services, the management of currency exchange and international monetary policy, the pattern and flow of investment capital, and the pattern and structure of global production.

In Rome, this course deals with the interaction between political and economic processes at the international level, through the analysis of the International Political Economy (IPE) and the advanced knowledge of the main actors, processes and issues at stake in global political-economic relations (trade-security and trade-democracy nexuses, multinational investment and its geo-political implications, political and economic risk, the politics and performance of poverty reduction, financial crises and the management of power asymmetries in the international system, global governance issues).