BSocSc Politics and International Relations / Course details

This module explores how different feminist approaches - including liberal, Marxist/socialist, intersectional, queer, post-colonial, and post-structuralist feminisms -  challenge dominant understandings of the global political economy. It seeks to elucidate what feminist approaches to Global Political Economy (GPE) mean when they call for the need to apply a ‘gender lens’ to the global political economy, and discusses the structural and everyday practices revealed by using such a lens.  

The module delves into feminist theories, shows students how to apply feminist critiques of economic practices, and asks them to think about how we might move toward creating a more a more equitable world. There is NO need to have a background in economics or to have previously studied these topics, though some knowledge of feminism and/or GPE will help students engage the material in greater depth. 

The topics covered vary from year to year but may include: domestic labour, social reproduction feminism, gender-based budgeting, the gendered nature of financial crises, masculinities in finance, the heteronormativity of political economy, the ‘business case’ for gender equality, and feminist activism.

The course unit aims to:

• introduce students to feminist, queer and intersectional approaches to theorizing the International Political Economy (IPE)
• familiarize students with the intellectual origins of these approaches and some of the main issues that concern them
• introduce students to different critical epistemologies and methods for studying IPE
• provide an overview of some of the trends and contemporary issues that are of interest to scholars with an interest in relations of gender, sexuality, class, race and more 

On completion of this unit successful students will be able to demonstrate:

• an ability to describe how a feminist lens might be used to critique mainstream and critical approaches to IPE
• an ability to identify the distinctive characteristics of several different feminist approaches to IPE
• an ability to think critically about some of the ways in which gender has intersected with class, race, citizenship and sexuality, historically and up to the present
• an ability to critically reflect on the gendered nature of global markets, the gender biases and other that are created and reproduced through the operation of global markets and the new spaces that have emerged for the negotiation of gender, sexual and racial identities in the contemporary era
• an ability to identify the ways in which macoreconomic policymaking may work to undermine and/or to deepen existing forms of inequality  
• an ability to develop and defend an original argument
• an ability to present research findings in written form at a 3rd year undergraduate level

This module begins with an introductory lecture that situates feminist and other critical approaches to GPE within the broader discipline and offers an overview of some of different approaches and methods that these critical theorists use to analyse structures of power in the global political economy. Subsequent weeks then consist of one three-hour seminar (per week x 9 weeks). I will lecture for about half of this time, and the rest will involve small group discussions, large group discussions, and other tasks/activities. The lectures portion of the seminar is designed to give background information to help students understand the readings and to place them in relation to each other and to the broader themes of the course. The remainder of the seminar is designed to help students understand the specific issues raised in the articles and to give them an opportunity to develop and exchange their own views on the theories and topics. Students should come to weekly seminars having completed all of the required reading in advance and having prepared some comments, questions, and/or critiques of the readings.

A degree in politics and international relations gives you many useful transferable skills including: 

• the ability to research, source and examine information thoroughly; 
• the ability to critically analyse evidence and construct coherent arguments; 
• excellent written and oratory skills; 
• intellectual independence and autonomy; 
• team working skills; 
• a flexible and open-minded approach to work. 

Examples of the types of jobs a Politics and IR degree might be relevant for can be found here: http://www.prospects.ac.uk/options_politics_international_relations.htm

Additional support can be found here: http://www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/students/employable/skills/

Details of how Manchester Politics graduates do can be found here: 

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/search2014/atoz/course/?code=00675&pg=6

This specific module can be useful for students wishing to develop and demonstrate skills that can be applied in a wide range of different jobs, voluntary roles and work placements. For instance, previous students have gone on to take up jobs in think tanks, not-for-profit organizations, and the civil service. They have also taken up jobs in teaching, banking/finance and many, many others.  

Assessment for the module is based on a short assignment of 1,500 words (25%), an essay of 3,500 words (60%), and seminar participation (15%). 

Politics staff will provide feedback on written work within 15 working days of submission.

Students should be aware that all marks are provisional until confirmed by the external examiner and the final examinations boards in June.

For modules that do not have examination components the marks and feedback for the final assessed component are not subject to the 15 working day rule and will be released with the examination results.

You will receive feedback on assessed essays in a standard format. This will rate your essay in terms of various aspects of the argument that you have presented your use of sources and the quality of the style and presentation of the essay. If you have any queries about the feedback that you have received you should make an appointment to see your tutor.

On assessments submitted through Turnitin you will receive feedback via Blackboard. This will include suggestions about ways in which you could improve your work in future. You will also receive feedback on non-assessed coursework, whether this is individual or group work. This may be of a more informal kind and may include feedback from peers as well as academic staff

Bakker, Isabella, ed. The Strategic Silence: Gender and Economic Policy. Ottawa: Zed Books, 1994.

Bedford, Kate, and Shirin M. Rai. "Feminists Theorize International Political Economy." Special issue of Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 36 (1) (2010).

Bezanson, Kate, and Meg Luxton, eds.Social Reproduction: Feminist Political Economy Challenges Neo-Liberalism. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2006.

Brooke Ackerly and Jacqui True (2013), ‘Methods and Methodologies’ in Georgina Waylen, Karen Celis, Johanna Kantola and S. Laurel Weldon (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 135-59. 

Cohen, Marjorie Griffin, and Janine Brodie, eds. Remapping Gender in the New Global Order. London and New York: Routledge, 2007.

Elias, Juanita and Adrienne Roberts, eds. A Feminist Global Political Economy of the Everyday, Special Issue of Globalizations, Available Online, 2016.

Elias, Juanita and Adrienne Roberts, eds. Handbook on the International Political Economy of Gender, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2018.

Ferber, Marianne A., and Julie A. Nelson, eds. Feminist Economics Today: Beyond Economic Man. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Gutierrez, Martha (ed) (2003), Macro-Economics: making gender matter,London: Zed Books. 

Hozic, Aida, and Jacqui True, eds. Scandalous Economics: Gender and the Politics of Financial Crises. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Marchand, Marianne, and Anne Sisson Runyan, eds. Gender and Global Restructuring: Sightings, Sites and Resistances. London and New York: Routledge, 2000.

Mies, Maria. Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International Division of Labour. New York; London: Zed Books, 1998.

Nelson, Julie A. Feminism, Objectivity, and Economics. Routledge, 1996.

Peterson, V. Spike. A Critical Rewriting of Global Political Economy: Integrating Reproductive, Productive, and Virtual Economies. London: Routledge, 2003.

Rai, Shirin M. and Georgina Waylen (eds) (2014), New Frontiers in Feminist Political Economy,London: Routledge.

Steans, Jill. Gender and International Relations: Issues, Debates, Future Directions.Cambridge: Polity Press. 2006.

Young, Brigitte, Isabella Bakker, and Diane Elson, eds. Questioning Financial Governance from a Feminist Perspective. London, New York: Routledge, 2011.