The branch of international political economy (IPE) stands for the patterns and practices that tend to regulate and describe international relations in terms of economic welfare aimed at minimizing the tension and securing benefits for every nation tackled. The three conventional theoretical approaches to IPE include liberalism, mercantilism, and the Marxist theory, also referred to as structuralism. Hence, the notion of liberalism stands for the promotion of the significance of a free market that empowers competition and secures competitive advantage that provides society with the freedom of choosing a better option and expressing their perception of the economy (Bennett & Johnson, 2017). Mercantilism, for its part, views state and national welfare as primary actors in the establishment of economic stability across the state and, potentially, fostering productive relationships with other countries and national leaders (Oatley, 2018). Finally, the idea of Marxist analysis in IPE emphasizes the significance of social classes and socio-economic hierarchy in general in the formation of national markets and international economic trends.
Currently, there is a series of modernized approaches to IPE. Namely, institutionalism implies that IPE and economics, in general, tend to be internally governed by established rules and traditions, whereas the state’s intervention in these rules tends to distort the economic ecosystem (Kuzemko, 2019). The new understanding of the political economy, for its part, underlines the significance of the diachronic development of the economy, which is rooted in self-reflection rather than a rationalist reaction to the environment. Finally, the idea of Constructivist approach to IPE focuses on the idea that the economy as a phenomenon is not given by nature, and all the ideas and patterns of shaping the international economy stem from shared ideas and views on the issue that later transform into a regularity.
References
Kuzemko, C. (2019). Re-scaling IPE: Local government, sustainable energy and change. Review of International Political Economy, 26(1), 80-103.
Marlin-Bennett, R., & Johnson, D. K. (2017). International political economy: Overview and conceptualization. Oxford research encyclopedia of international studies. Web.
Oatley, T. (2018). International political economy (6th ed.). London: Routledge.