6 ECTS credits
170 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1021098BER for all students in the 2nd semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester
2nd semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Possible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Enrollment Requirements
Students who want to enroll for this course, must have obtained at least 30 ECTS-credits at bachelor level
Taught in
English
Partnership Agreement
Under interuniversity agreement for degree program
Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool
Department
Political Science
External partners
Universiteit Gent
Educational team
Mattias Vermeiren (course titular)
Activities and contact hours
30 contact hours Lecture
140 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

The course aims to deepen the student’s insights into the social and political dimensions of contemporary economic processes. More specifically, it offers a systematic analysis of two interlinked transversal developments: the rise in inequality and increasing financial instability (culminating into the global financial crisis of 2008). The course aims to develop a thorough understanding of the sources and consequences of these developments from a political economy perspective. After giving a historic overview of the international economic system and the main schools of thought in political economy, various policy domains will be examined, including: socioeconomic policy (social security, labour market organisation and the welfare state); macroeconomic policy (shifts in paradigms in monetary and fiscal policymaking); tax policy (the problem of international tax competition and the battle against tax evasion and avoidance); corporate governance (regulation of firms and multinational organizations); financial policy (the management of financial crises and the regulation of the financial sector).

Course material
Handbook (Required) : Crisis and Inequality, The Political Economy of Advanced Capitalism, Vermeiren M, Polity Press, 9781509537693, 2021
Additional info

Syllabus possibly supplemented with academic papers.

Learning Outcomes

General competences

Learning outcomes:

  • To have a profound knowledge of contemporary political-economic developments and to be to theoretically reflect upon these developments.  
  • To be able to efficiently locate and assimilate literature about the political economy.
  • To always approach the material in a scientific manner, with a constant critical deliberation of the relevant scientific insights, interests and values, even if a value-free approach of this material is often very hard to achieve.
  • To be aware of the role and the responsibility of social scientists in the public debate concerning economic developments and problems.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Written Exam with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

    Note: Closed book

Additional info regarding evaluation

Not applicable.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Communication Studies
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Political Sciences
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Sociology
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Startplan