A survey of global political economy - Kees van der Pijl

This text aims to present an overview, against the backdrop of the historical development of philosophy and general social science, of the various strands of theory that can be ranged under the heading of Global Political Economy (GPE). I prefer this term over International Political Economy because the latter tends to position itself, by implication, as a sub-discipline of International (i.e., inter-state) Relations (IR) and often boils down to either international economic relations, or to an (economic) theory of consumer choice projected on politics and society.

GPE as understood here, however, self-consciously cuts across the disciplinary organisation of the social sciences. It opens up new possibilities for investigation and insight although it also is bound to provoke distrust among academic authorities and mainstream academics. The reason for this, I have come to believe, is because contesting the disciplinary organisation of the sciences (social as well as natural science) amounts to resisting a more fundamental discipline, the discipline imposed by capital on society.

This survey was written by Kees van der Pijl at the University of Sussex. This version September 2009. Taken from here.