THE NEW POLITICAL-ECONOMY

Political economy has been an extremely diverse field of study, embrac ing a large number of different approaches and methodologies. The fadi ng of old ideological and methodological disputes and the development of new intellectual agendas in response to far-reaching changes in the economic and political structures of the world system have created th e possibility of a new political economy which promises a reconstructi on of the field and the overcoming of the methodological division betw een economics and political science. Recent critiques of established l iteratures in international political economy, state theory, comparati ve government-industry relations, and public choice are contributing t o a new paradigm. Drawing on recent developments in economics such as New Keynesianism it combines the historical and institutionalist analy sis of structure with rational choice analysis of agency.