Course Catalogue

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Law and Political Economy thematises how the law shapes the contemporary organisation of the political economy and how the ever changing political economy in turn shapes legal change. Based on Karl Polanyi's classic scheme, the course will focus on three pillars of the political economy - labour, nature/land and money - which Polanyi famously and influentially identified as the three 'fictitious commodities'. The first part of the course will provide an in-depth overview of how the main authors of modern political economy understand the role of law in the economy (namely: Smith, Marx, Keynes, Hayek). Parts two, three and four will be devoted to an extended analysis of the legal regulation of labour, money and land/the environment.

One 2-hour seminar per week, 10 seminars per semester.

This course is only available to LLB students. There are no mandatory or recommended requirements.

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Summative assessment is comprised of a summative essay (40%) and a final exam (60%).

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

To introduce students to key concepts, practices and contemporary debates in law and political economy, and to engage them in close reading and discussion of important authors and texts; To assist students to appreciate the complexities of governing economic behaviour and enable them to apply those insights to current regulatory issues in the market; To enable students critically to discuss and evaluate for themselves the regulation of governance in particular markets and to assess and evaluate prospects for reform.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Discuss and explain the origins and forms of market economy, and the particular demands that these origins and forms create for governance

■ Identify governance issues in contemporary political economy and explain why these issues present particular challenges for governance actors

■ Critically evaluate patterns of economic behaviour by applying theory and regulatory perspectives, giving sound explanations in theory and law for positions adopted

■ Understand and analyse scholarly works applying the LPE framework across a variety of legal fields

■ Understand, contextualize, and analyse the history and development of the study of law as it relates to questions of political economy

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.