Corporations, capital, and money play a central role in contemporary politics, both domestic and international. While firms have always been influential political actors, the scope and power of money in politics has exponentially grown in recent years. The politics of capital thus play an increasingly central part in driving relations between countries, as well as political and policy outcomes domestically. This course will examine the relationship between money and politics in a variety of manifestations and forms. We will examine how money, firms and capital influence politics through political finance and contributions to parties and politicians, international investment, economic inequality, corruption, and through impact on the environment and social issues. We will evaluate both the role of capital in domestic politics in developed and developing countries, as well as the international influence of multinational firms and international investors. The focus of this class will be to bring together social science research from Political Science, Economics and Sociology to better understand the political economy of capital. As part of the course, students will be asked to complete and a present a research project on the topics discussed in the class.
About Professor Tomashevskiy
Andrey Tomashevskiy received his BA from Kean University, MA from New York University and PhD from the University of California, Davis. His research investigates the politics of foreign direct investment, international capital flows and corruption. He is also interested in social science applications of statistical, formal and network analysis methods.