DECO 27A23 - Varieties of Regulatory Capitalisms

This course will explore the systemic reasons for the necessity of regulation of land, labor and money in capitalism, its distributional implications and its practical difficulties. It will then look at the different modes of regulation in different national capitalisms in Europe and the US in the context of globalization, with a particular emphasis on finance.

Objectives: To provide students with the theoretical background and analytical tools to comprehend the history and effects of regulatory arrangements in present capitalism. To practice short presentations in class and the guidance of discussions.

The target group of the course are students of the Bachelor program in social sciences and interested students from history, economics and anthropology who have already obtained some knowledge in Sociology. The class will be held in English, so the ability to read, discuss and write in English is a prerequisite. Since our sessions will be based on an interactive method of teaching, every student is expected to participate actively in working groups and discussions. Therefore, regular preparation of the readings is required. Note that only required readings marked with a star are necessary, optional readings are suggested for those preparing a presentation and those writing a paper on the topic. A course manual, including compulsory readings and course instructions, will be available when the term begins.

The students will prepare a class presentation (in pairs of 2), lead the discussion in the week and hand in a written version of the presentation of no less than two and no more than 6 pages. This will account for 40%. Students will write a research paper at the end of the class. This research paper is a short report of maximum 10 pages (+ references) on a topic related to the class discussions and the theoretical readings. Students are encouraged to talk with the instructor about the topics of choice. The paper explains clearly the topic, illustrates it with examples and draws a critical analysis. This paper will account for 45% of the grade. Informed and active participation in the seminar discussion is desired and will account for 15% of the final grade.