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Business in the
Global Political Economy

Module 1

London, UK 3-15 September 2023 (Class of 2025)

The module introduces multi-disciplinary perspectives on how economic globalization is transforming world markets, how the international rules that govern the world economy are changing, and how political crises and international conflicts impact on business.

TRIUM video insights: Module 1

Introducing Module 1

The LSE Factor

How to interpret information better

Diversity as an Asset

Leadership 4.0

Up next

starting in

Meeting new colleagues

Orientation Day

Key topics and themes

The principal emphasis of this module is upon the interaction between economics and politics, or political economy.

Public policy, both at domestic and international levels, continues to be highly important for economic performance and, in many parts of the world, for political and social stability.

At TRIUM, we believe that business leaders need to develop a nuanced and sophisticated understanding of the global political, social and economic environment for sustained business success in the 21st century – even if the business in question is almost entirely domestically focused.

A secondary theme in this module, continued throughout the program, is Leadership, including the identification and development of the leadership skills necessary to thrive in contemporary business.

Sample courses

Module One consists of 12 courses, 1 keynote and  guest speakers. The following sample is to give you a flavour of what’s covered.

The Political Economy of Globalization

Professor Robert Falkner analyses the major trends shaping the uneven process of global economic integration and fragmentation.

We examine some of the major controversies sparked by economic globalization: Who are the winners and losers? Should we be concerned about rising levels of inequality? How does growing social and political contestation of globalization affect international business? Who governs globalization? And how can business leaders respond to the opportunities and risks that globalization creates?

Introduction to Quantitative Methods and Analysis

We cover the tools and techniques needed to become intelligent consumers of others’ summaries of the analysis of quantitative information, and examine our understanding of risk, uncertainty and causation.

The aim is to enable better decision making through both the ability to intelligently interpret quantitative data summaries, and the ability to assess the roles skill and luck play in business performance.

Global Economy, Emerging Markets and Entrepreneurship

This course provides an understanding of the most important evolving phenomena in the world economy, and to provide a real understanding of the consequences for senior business decision-makers – especially important in these times of political turbulence and economic volatility. The course equips students with the ability to analyse the reasons and implications when new shocks hit the global economy.

The European Union: Between Integration & Disintegration

The EU is the world’s largest economy and the most politically integrated international organization globally. Yet, it faces significant challenges both externally and internally. To understand the EU and its future trajectory, it is essential to examine how national-level politics of member states interacts with that of the EU level of government.

The course introduces students to European and EU politics using a coherent analytical framework of democratic delegation within multilevel politics. The course draws on cutting-edge research to understand some of the most important challenges that national and EU institutions and policy-making face today, such as Brexit, Euroscepticism, populism, democratic backsliding and external threats.

Africa’s Changing Development Prospects And Its Place In The Global Economy

We examine the changing dynamics of African development and its place in the global political economy, focusing on the implications of Africa’s rise for international business.

We consider the possibilities for devising strategic approaches to mitigating risk and opening up realistic business opportunities in this dynamic region.

International Politics in an Age of Uncertainty & Power Shift

This course looks at four big international issues:

  1. How did America become the greatest power on earth and how seriously should we take predictions of a decline of the American ‘empire’?
  2. The role and impact of Russia across the globe. How successful has Putin really been in restoring Russian prestige and power and what influence is Russia likely to wield in the future?
  3. Does the common idea of the power shift from the west to the ‘rest’ stand up to scrutiny?
  4. What is the effect of the global wave of populism and what are its implications for global business?

Featured faculty

Professor Michael Cox

Emeritus Professor of International Relations at LSE

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Professor Michael Cox

Emeritus Professor of International Relations at LSE

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He helped establish the Cold War Studies Centre in 2004 and expand it into IDEAS, a foreign policy centre based at the LSE which aims to bring the academic and policy words together, in 2008. In a 2014 international survey, IDEAS was ranked 2nd in the world amongst the best university affiliated Think Tanks.

Faculty focus

Professor Swati Dhingra

Associate Professor of Economics

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Professor Swati Dhingra

Associate Professor of Economics

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Swati Dhingra is an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics at LSE. Before joining LSE, she completed a PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a fellow at Princeton University. Her research interests are international economics, globalization and industrial policy. Current areas of research include: The impact of trade agreements, Firms in international trade and Industrial development in India.

Professor Saul Estrin

Emeritus Professor, LSE

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Professor Saul Estrin

Emeritus Professor, LSE

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Saul also has considerable practitioner experience. He is currently a Non-executive Director of Barings Emerging Markets and was previously a member of the Academic Panel of the postal regulator, Postcomm. He has been a consultant to the World Bank, European Union and OECD, DfID and NERA. He has taught executive programs for a large number of major companies.

Professor Robert Falkner

Academic Director, TRIUM, LSE (Modules 1 & 5)

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Professor Robert Falkner

Academic Director, TRIUM, LSE (Modules 1 & 5)

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Professor Falkner is a Professor of International Relations at the LSE and a Distinguished Fellow of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at Toronto University. He was the Research Director of the LSE’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment in 2017-22. Robert has published widely on issues relating to international political economy, global business and global environmental politics.

Faculty focus

Professor Sara Hobolt

Sutherland Chair in European Institutions, Department of Government

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Professor Sara Hobolt

Sutherland Chair in European Institutions, Department of Government

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Sara Hobolt is the Professor in the LSE Department of Government and the Sutherland Chair in European Institutions. Previously, she has held posts at the University of Oxford and the University of Michigan. She is the Chair of the European Election Studies (EES), an EU-wide project studying voters, parties, candidates and the media in European Parliamentary elections.

Professor Matt Mulford

TRIUM Capstone Director

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Professor Matt Mulford

TRIUM Capstone Director

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Professor Mulford's research interests include the psychology of judgment and decision, negotiation analysis, experimental game theory, and experimental research design.

Guest Speakers

Each year we feature guest speaker sessions from experts in social and political sciences . Previous speakers have included:

Dr. Minouche Shafik

Director of the London School of Economics

Dr Meredith Crowley

Reader in International Economics, University of Cambridge

Professor Viktor Mayer-Schönberger

Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford

Dr Leslie Vinjamuri

Dean, Queen Elizabeth II Academy for Leadership in International Affairs, Chatham House

Professor Rana Mitter

Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China, University of Oxford

LSE Marshall Building, London

Where you'll be based for Module 1

There is good reason why the TRIUM journey starts at the LSE. It is one of the foremost social science universities in the world, where a total of 18 Nobel Prize winners in economics, peace and literature, and at least 34 past or present world leaders, have either taught or studied at LSE.

Alumni experience

The benefits of TRIUM go beyond just the transformational academic program. By joining our program you will enter a remarkable network of high-achieving global business leaders. The TRIUM Global Executive MBA alumni are among the most qualified and insightful in the international business world.

Fabrizio Siracusano

Italy Class of 2020

TRIUM’s “secret sauce” sits in the wide diverse range of experiences brought on the table by participants, from many and unexpected parts of the world. Together with ever-changing specific focuses on last technology and business trends, this combo generates a free flow of ideas fit to become real business in the real world. That’s awesome and that was my main take away.

View our alumni stories