ESSENTIAL WEPA

          INTRODUCTION P olitical economy is the study of the role of economic processes in shaping society and history.  Nevertheless, most of the writings in political economy, including the work of Marx, have been concerned specifically with understanding the role of  capitalism (as the prevalence of a specific class arrangement or set of class processes) in shaping society and history. Thus, political economy makes extensive and intensive use of  class analysis  in making sense of society and history, but does so in the context of political, cultural, and environmental processes, as well as other economic processes.  In the architecture of this new form of political economy, all social processes are significant determinants of economic outcomes, the behavior of economic agents and institutions, and the direction of historical change.  In other words, the post-structuralist approach studied in this course  rejects eco...

INTRODUCTION P olitical economy is the study of the role of economic processes in shaping society and history.  Nevertheless, most of the writings in political economy, including the work of Marx, have been concerned specifically with understanding the role of  capitalism (as the prevalence of a specific class arrangement or set of class processes) in shaping society and history. Thus, political economy makes extensive and intensive use of  class analysis  in making sense of society and history, but does so in the context of political, cultural, and environmental processes, as well as other economic processes.  In the architecture of this new form of political economy, all social processes are significant determinants of economic outcomes, the behavior of economic agents and institutions, and the direction of historical change.  In other words, the post-structuralist approach studied in this course  rejects economic determinism  in favor of...

INTRODUCTION P olitical economy (particularly when the word "radical" is added as an adjective) has come to be closely associated with the work of economists who adopted key concepts developed by Marx, in particular his focus on  class processes or relationships, but who rejected the economic determinism of orthodox versions of Marxian theory.  Thus, political economy makes extensive and intensive use of  class analysis  in making sense of society and history, but does so in the context of political, cultural, and environmental processes, as well as other economic processes. For instance, unlike orthodox economic theory or economic determinist versions of Marxian theory, the post-structuralist approach would view cultural processes as no less significant than economic processes in shaping investment decisions.  The same could be said for political or environmental processes.  This point, among others, will be made by essays and papers read duri...

I mperialism describes the domination of a one society or group over another, but this can happen in many different forms beyond colonial territory expansion. The key is that it involves the subjugation of an entire indigenous population. Some European intellectuals like Immanuel Kant and Denis Diderot critiqued imperialism for its cruelty to native populations. Philosophers as disparate as communist Karl Marx and utilitarian John Stuart Mill defended imperialism as an activity that would advance so-called "primitive" groups. Political economy is a term used for studying production and trade, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth. Political economy originated in moral philosophy. It was developed in the 18th century as the study of the economies of states, or polities, hence the term political economy.      Political Economy of Imperialism The process through which a dominant countr...