MA International Political Economy (Standard)

Fees for entry in 2027 have not yet been set. For reference, the fees for the academic year beginning September 2026 were as follows:

• MA (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £16,800
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £30,500
• MA (part-time)
  UK students (per annum): £8,400
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £15,250

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

• Learn more about - student finance options for UK students .
• Learn more about - fees and finance for international students .
• Graduates of The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University can receive a 10% discount on their master's degree tuition fees as part of our Manchester Alumni Loyalty Discount scheme.

This course will provide a critical examination of the political economy of globalisation. Students will be introduced to the main debates on the impact of globalisation on world order and of the issues surrounding the historical emergence of a global economy. The course is organised so as to provide a background understanding of international political economy after the Second World War, the global turn towards the ‘free market’, and then to explore a series of major issues that provide windows onto the encompassing process of globalisation: production; money and finance; trade; governance; economic and climate crises; the politics of anti-globalisation and the more recent resurgence of reactionary forms of politics across the world. 

Knowledge and Understanding: Students will develop and have the opportunity to demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of contemporary literatures and debates on the political economy of globalisation.

Intellectual skills: Students will critically engage with theoretically-driven interpretations of contemporary political, economic and social events, and will put these approaches to work in the original critical analysis of central dimensions of globalisation. They will develop an understanding of the basic concepts of the critique of globalisation; possess a knowledge of a range of different issues connected with globalisation and the emergence of a global economy; be able to offer critical analyses concerning issues related to globalisation; and will formulate their own opinions on the political-economic challenges brought about by globalisation. 

Transferable skills and personal qualities: Students will be encouraged to exercise and demonstrate their own independent critical judgement of literature, arguments, and events. The module will foster improved writing, debating, teamwork and presentation skills, as well as the capacity to summarise, criticise and mobilise complex ideas. 

Seminars are central to the learning experience at MA level and attendance is compulsory.  If you know in advance that circumstances beyond your control will prevent you from attending a seminar, you should contact the Course Unit Director (CUD) to explain your absence.  

On this course, we will meet together on a weekly basis in a two-hour seminar. Each seminar after week 1 will be divided into a workshop component followed by a lecture component. 

From week 2 of the course, the first 50 minutes of the seminar will comprise a workshop and discussion of student's responses to material introduced by the CUD the previous week, as well as students' responses to additional learning materials as directed in Blackboard. 

After a short comfort break, the second 50 minutes of the weekly seminar will comprise an introductory lecture by the CUD on the theme of the following week's workshop. 

1.      2,000 word assessed essay (65% of final mark)

2.      1,000 word written assignment (35% of final mark)

Hannah, E. and Ravenhill, J. (eds.) (2024) Global Political Economy. 7th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.