32601

SoSe 23: The American Model of Capitalism: Perspectives from Comparative Political Economy

Jonas von Ciriacy-Wantrup

Kommentar

The course consists of three main parts. In the first part we will discuss the basic logic behind the comparative analysis of capitalism and trace the ideational roots of contemporary approaches in comparative political economy. The second and third part of the seminar are dedicated to the dominant theories for the comparative analysis of capitalism in the last 20 years: ‘Varieties of Capitalism’ (VoC) and the ‘Growth models’ approach. In the second block, we will focus on arguments and methodological considerations of the Varieties of Capitalism literature and conduct a comparative analysis of the core issue areas in the political economy of contemporary capitalism: how capital, labor and product markets are structured. We will build on these themes to discuss the structure of and dynamics of the American model of capitalism. Building upon this, we consider the various critiques of Varieties of Capitalism theory and distinguish VoC from the other main theories of comparative capitalism to transition into the third part on the more recent ‘Growth model’ approach. As in the VoC-block, we will discuss the theoretical underpinning and ideational roots of the theory to then analyze the American model of capitalism through this different lens. After discussing critiques of the growth model theory, we close the course with a wholly application of the competing theories of comparative capitalism to the American model of capitalism to highlight the merits and shortcomings of the two frameworks. Students that want to take this course should be willing to do the weekly readings and have a basic understanding of concepts and theories in political science, sociology, and economics. Schließen