Centre for Global Political Economy : University of Sussex

The Centre for Global Political Economy (CGPE)

Centre for Global Political Economy The Centre was launched in 2000 and is part of the International Relations Department. CGPE is a leading centre for interdisciplinary research on global social transformation and politico-economic change. Based at the University of Sussex, the CGPE provides a venue for innovative theoretical and applied research that moves beyond established disciplinary and conceptual dichotomies such as economic/political, domestic/international, public/private, institutional/everyday. CGPE's staff, associates and visiting scholars are drawn from the fields of International Relations, Development Studies, Economics, Geography, Politics, Sociology and Anthropology. Likewise, the Centre's conferences, seminars and other activities involve participants from a range of disciplines.

The conceptualization of global political economy advanced by the Centre is based on the premise that the traditional distinctions between the economic and the political, the domestic and the international, the public and the private, the institutional and the everyday, create a wholly inadequate framework for analysing world structures and transformations, especially within an era of globalising forces and dynamics. CGPE's aim, in light of this, is to provide a forum for original interdisciplinary research on global politico-economic change.

Each year the Centre organises a wide range of events and hosts at least two visiting scholars. The CGPE welcomes ideas and proposals for collaboration on projects related to its research focus.

Our Purpose

To advance theoretical research and create new ways of thinking about the 'global' and the 'international', and their conditions of existence, reproduction and change. We aspire to develop new theoretical and conceptual tools and categories that are able to capture and analyse the actors, processes, structures and historical dynamics of contemporary global political economy, and the complexity of their (inter)relationship;
To produce cutting edge empirical research on the various multilevel and complex phenomena, manifestations and forms of structure and agency that dominate in contemporary global political economy, its sectors and regions. To inquire into the origins and nature of the contemporary gpe and explore potential alternative orderings;
To monitor the evolution of contemporary politico-economic order, examine its changing nature, and create a venue for thinking on innovative policies and solutions for the urgent problems, threats and opportunities generated by the existing dynamics;
To inform by way of conferences, workshops, seminars, lectures and publications academic researchers, governmental instititutions, and the interested public about our research findings and proposals.

CGPE's Staff

Brighton Pier CGPE consists of a Director, a five-member advisory board and an administrator. A number of Sussex faculty members from different departments contribute to the Centre as associate fellows. CGPE's staff includes also its annual visiting fellows and several doctoral researchers.