Aims

- An understanding of the main long-term development trends of the main continental and sub-continental groupings of the world economy.
- An awareness of the complexity spread of many centuries of processes of interaction between the main groupings in the north and the south.
- Putting relationships between economic development theories and a historical study of development processes in the north and south into perspective.

Main themes

The overall objective of the course is to situate the issues of a study of economic and social history in an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective of development processes. These issues are linked to the role played by differences in interpreting the problems of the history of development in the formation and evolution of the main theories of development. In this connection, the theme of the 'globalisation of the economy' is seen as one of the main factors. A long-term historical approach to globalisation of the economy can contribute to a better understanding of complex and contradictory dimensions at the present time.
The specific objectives within this overall framework are:
- to enable students to understand the historical foundations of the main economic groupings currently involved in accelerated globalisation;
- to analyse the stages in this globalisation since the 16th century, and their impact on specific structures of the main European and non-european groupings;
- to highlight the interaction between recent contributions by the various disciplines (economics, history and development) in order to conceptualise problems associated with this evolution.

Content and teaching methods

The introductory section shows how the issue of globalisation has been a meeting-point, and a point of controversy, for various historical and theoretical approaches to development since the Second World War. It provides a historical-systemic method of analysis of the relationships between trends towards globalisation and the specific contexts of groupings at various levels (continental, national, regional and local). Subsequent sections are devoted to putting this method into practice in a diachronic, synchronic and comparative approach to the groupings under examination.
The course is in five parts:
I. the main economic groupings and their relationships between 1500;
II. the 'mercantilist' stage of globalisation from 1500 to 1750;
III. the impact of the 'industrial revolution' and 'imperial policies' in different forms of globalisation from 1750 to 1914;
IV. the problems and contradictions of globalisation from 1914 to 1945;
V. the ways in which globalisation has accelerated, and how they have impacted on the conditions of development of the main economic groupings (1945 to the present day).

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

The course includes additional reading (articles and chapters in books) that focuses on the various parts of the course, and forms part of the subject matter of the examination.

Mandatory additional reading: 12 articles and chapters in books dealing with various aspects of the course.

Other credits in programs