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Although the subprime crisis regenerated interest in and stimulated debate about how to study the politics of global finance, it has not sparked the development of new approaches to International Political Economy (IPE), which remains firmly rooted in actor-centered models. We develop an alternative network-based approach that shifts the analytical focus to the relations between actors. We first depict the contemporary global financial system as a network, with a particular focus on its hierarchical structure. We then explore key characteristics of this global financial network, including how the hierarchic network structure shapes the dynamics of financial contagion and the source and persistence of power. Throughout, we strive to relate existing research to our network approach in order to highlight exactly where this approach accommodates, where it extends, and where it challenges existing knowledge generated by actor-centered models. We conclude by suggesting that a network approach enables us to construct a systemic IPE that is theoretically and empirically pluralist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real exchange rate movements are robustly related to the rise and fall of trade protectionism. I demonstrate this by presenting a theoretical model that incorporates the real exchange rate into a standard factor proportions model of trade policy preferences. The model demonstrates why some firms' trade policy preferences, and thus total demands for protectionism, change in response to real exchange rate movements. I evaluate the model with data on antidumping investigations in six industrialized countries between the late 1970s and 2004. The exercise suggests that the real exchange rate hypothesis offers a more compelling explanation for protectionist waves than the business cycle hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing Eurozone crisis has brought to the fore the discourse of “austerity.” A number of countries, most dramatically Greece, have been called upon to institute policies of fiscal austerity as a condition of further support from the international financial community. The situation has generated some serious disagreements among economists, policymakers, and indeed important financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. Mark Blyth’s Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea speaks directly to these ongoing current debates. We have invited a range of political scientists working on related issues to comment on the book’s arguments and their relevance to the work that they do. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]