Spring 2025 Political Science GR8892 section 001

Firms in International Political Economy

Firms in IPE

Call Number 13436
Day & Time
Location
W 10:10am-12:00pm
To be announced
Points 4
Grading Mode Standard
Approvals Required None
Instructor Calvin N Thrall
Type COLLOQUIA
Method of Instruction In-Person
Course Description

Inspired both by advances in data availability and a growing scholarly appreciation for the political influence of the private sector, firm-level theories and research designs have grown increasingly popular among political economy scholars in recent years. While studying firms allows for the generation of new insights across a broad array of substantive topics, it carries with it several unique conceptual and empirical challenges. For example, how should we conceive of firms as political actors, given their organizational structures? What are firms’ policy preferences? How do they influence politics, and how can we measure their impact? In this course we will review political economy research that centers the firm as the actor of interest; particular focus will be given to recently published work that is innovative in terms of methodology, measurement, and/or data collection. While we will focus primarily on international political economy applications—for example, firm-level studies of trade, in-vestment, and commercial diplomacy—we will also cover less inherently international topics such as lobbying, environmental politics, and private governance/corporate social responsi-bility. In addition to providing preparation for the IR field exam, this course aims to give students the tools to conduct state-of-the-art political economy research at the firm level.

Web Site Vergil
Department Political Science
Enrollment 8 students (20 max) as of 8:06PM Friday, December 6, 2024
Subject Political Science
Number GR8892
Section 001
Division Interfaculty
Note No direct registration; students should join waitlist.
Section key 20251POLS8892G001