Review essay by Leonard Seabrooke

Published in Review of International Political Economy (RIPE)

30/04/2007

The journal
Review of International Political Economy

(RIPE) has published a review essay by
Leonard Seabrooke, Associate Professor at International Center for Business and Politics, on recent conceptual trends in the study of ideas, institutions, and political economy.

The piece is titled: ‘Varieties of Economic Constructivism in Political Economy: Uncertain Times Call for Disparate Measures’, and appears in volume 14, issue 2, pages 371-385.

  • Jacqueline Best (2005)
    The Limits of Transparency: Ambiguity and the History of International Finance, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

  • Pepper D. Culpepper (2003)
    Creating Cooperation: How States Develop Human Capital in Europe, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

The two books view political and economic activity as fundamentally an intersubjective experience. Uncertainty, and the management of knowledge that may potentially mitigate it through institutional forms, also provides a common thread. Both books draw upon, and critique, constructivist insights to frame how they treat uncertainty. As such, the two books make critical contributions to what may be considered a growing body of 'economic constructivist' literature that seeks to place greater stress on ideational and normative factors that contribute to institutional change. Most distinctly, the two books offer alternative paths to economic constructivism through how they treat the
rationalization of uncertainty. The books provide different understandings of institutional change, ranging from identifying and tracing changes in deliberation among interest groups, to the diffusion of knowledge within macrostructures of governance and the influence of particular individuals and their economic ideas on change in the world economy.

The Review of International Political Economy8RIPE) ranks 24th out of 84 among all Political Science journals for its 'Impact Factor'. Within the study of political economy it is one of the key transatlantic journals.

The article can be accessed here:
(pdf)

Sidst opdateret: Sekretariat for Ledelse og Kommunikation // 30/04/2007