International Political Economy, the Globalisation Debate and the Analysis of Globalisation Discourse

This paper appraises the study of globalisation within International Political Economy (IPE). It also examines existing analysis, more specifically, on the ideational dimension of globalisation, generally situated within IPE but also found in other branches of political science. As a discipline, IPE is largely founded on the study of globalisation; intra-disciplinary disputes often coalesce considerably with a debate on the nature and implications of globalisation. More recently, a large body of theory has emerged on ‘globalisation discourse’, generally housed within the ‘third wave’ of globalisation theory. This work has both challenged the foundations of IPE but also offered empirical analysis of globalisation as an ideational phenomenon. This paper will assess such work and ask a) what the implications are for ideational analysis within IPE, and b) what we have learned about the nature of globalisation as an idea.