The Waterloo Political Economy Group (WatPEG) brings together faculty, graduate students and researchers at the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, the Balsillie School and CIGI who are interested in the study of political economy. WatPEG also serves as the Balsillie School’s Global Political Economy research cluster.

WatPEG members embrace a variety of approaches to the study of international, comparative and domestic political economy. We work on issues including international trade, money and finance, transnational production and corporations, the world food system, resource politics, the links between the global economy and environmental issues, regional and global economic institutions, the rise of “emerging powers” in the world economy, global social policy, international economic diplomacy, and international development. WatPEG faculty have research expertise in a wide range of countries and regions, including East Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and North America.

WatPEG meetings take place regularly during the academic year. The meetings provide an opportunity for faculty and graduate students in the Waterloo region to learn about cutting-edge research and to discuss political economy issues. WatPEG has also hosted a number of PhD Dissertation Workshops in Global Political Economy (see below).

2021-22 Co-coordinator: Eric Helleiner (University of Waterloo)

If you are a graduate student or faculty member interested in finding out more about WatPEG or joining our email list, please email Mengyun Zhang at [email protected].

International Political Economy and COVID-19 Bibliography

WatPEG has compiled a bibliography of political economy research on the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications. The bibliography is continuously updated and the live version, hosted on Zotero, can be found at the following link:

A PDF of the sources in the bibliography (organized by topic) that was generated in January 2021 can be downloaded here:

If you know of research on the political economy of COVID-19 (including your own!) that is not listed in the bibliography, please email a link to it to us at [email protected] and we will consider it for inclusion. Please note that our focus is on longer pieces (peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, reports for international organizations or NGOs or think tanks, etc.) and that we do not usually cover journalism, op-eds, or blog posts.

Balsillie School PhD Workshop in Global Political Economy

WatPEG and the Balsillie School have hosted six PhD Dissertation Workshops in Global Political Economy. At these workshops, doctoral students present either a dissertation proposal or a draft thesis chapter and receive comments from the other student participants and from faculty. The workshop format is designed to maximize the quality of feedback and the time available for discussion. All participants read all of the submitted papers before the workshop, and there are no oral presentations. On the first day, authors are not allowed to speak during the sessions on their papers.

The Sixth Balsillie School PhD Dissertation Workshop in Global Political Economy was held from April 28 to 30, 2021.”