ABSTRACT
This chapter serves to introduce and critically review theories of international political economy (IPE). It highlights the limitations of conventional approaches, particularly those associated with variants of neo-realism and neo-liberal institutionalism. The chapter deals with mainstream theories of IPE, with particular focus being directed towards the key debates that have occupied these scholars over the last several decades, including the ideas of transnationalism and interdependence, hegemonic stability and cooperation under anarchy. Undoubtedly, the theoretical and empirical focus of the majority of 'new' IPE scholarship is concerned in one way or another with the issue of economic globalization. For Hettne (1995: 107), the whole phenomenon of economic globalization and, in particular, the emergence of global production systems and a new spatial division of labour, required development researchers to take account of the fact that national economies are now 'penetrated by global phenomena to such an extent as to signify a deepening of the process of internationalization'.
