State, Market, and Society
F05, F06
Geoffrey Pigman
The coalescence of individuals into civil society, the emergence of states and other organs of governance, and the evolution of markets and other structures through which we regulate the distribution of goods and services and provide for our needs and wants all have been crucial determinants of how we live our lives. Hence, developing an understanding of the basic relationships between states, markets, individuals, and the civil societies in which they function is an essential basis for understanding international relations, international political economy, and conflict resolution. How do individuals organize to provide for their wants and needs? Do economic relationships define society? What is the role of the state in structuring and regulating markets? What should it be? Is there a natural progression of stages of economic development in a society? What is the relationship between social class, politics, and managing the economy? How is the identity of individuals, societies, and states constituted? What is the relationship between identity and markets? The course will survey major theoretical approaches from classical political economy (Adam Smith, Ricardo, List, Marx, Lenin) to 20th-century critics of market society (Gramsci, Polanyi), neorealism (Gilpin), neo-liberalism (Krasner), structuralism (Wallerstein, Strange), post-positivism (Harvey, Steve Smith), and social constructivism.