Course Catalogue

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Law and Political Economy thematises how the law shapes the contemporary organisation of the political economy  and how the ever changing political economy in turn shapes legal change. Based on Karl Polanyi's classic scheme, the course will focus on three pillars of the political economy - labour, nature/land and money - which Polanyi famously and influentially identified as the three 'fictitious commodities'. The first part of the course will provide an in-depth overview of how the main authors of modern political economy understand the role of law in the economy (namely: Smith, Marx, Keynes, Hayek). Part two will focus on the concept of money.

One 2-hour seminar per week, 10 seminars 

Admission as a visiting Law student

Law and Political Economy LAW4190

None

Summative assessment is comprised of two written essays: a short one (1000 words, which counts for 20%) distributed during the fourth week and a longer one (3000 words for 80%) which will be distributed during the same week of the 40-credit course and will be a slight variation of that essay

To introduce students to key concepts, practices and contemporary debates in law and political economy, and to engage them in close reading and discussion of important authors and texts; To assist students to appreciate the complexities of governing economic behaviour and enable them to apply those insights to current regulatory issues in the market; To enable students critically to discuss and evaluate for themselves the regulation of governance in particular markets and to assess and evaluate prospects for reform. 

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Discuss and explain the origins and forms of market economy, and the particular demands that these origins and forms create for governance

■ Identify governance issues in contemporary political economy and explain why these issues present particular challenges for governance actors

■ Critically evaluate patterns of economic behaviour by applying theory and regulatory perspectives, giving sound explanations in theory and law for positions adopted

■ Understand and analyse scholarly works applying the LPE framework across a variety of legal fields

■ Understand, contextualize, and analyse the history and development of the study of law as it relates to questions of political economy