The module provides a critical overview of major paradigms in international political economy and employs them to evaluate certain economic policies and institutions, nationally and internationally. It examines the basic operation and concepts of the market economy at the national and international level from the standpoint of its liberal and neo-liberal advocates as well as its social democratic, Marxist and Green critics. The normative standards implicitly or explicitly used in evaluating the alternative models of political economy and policy outcomes. They are considered and applied in examination of certain key issues and debates, such as poverty and inequality within and between nations, economic growth and sustainable development, and effective provision of public and private goods in the era of ‘globalisation’.