If you look out of the window at the moment, you can see the effects of an early summer spring burst in nature. Everything is growing, sprouting and blooming. Our newsletter is thriving in the same way and we are proud to present the most extensive issue to date: IPE@WU Newsletter Spring 2024

Our new post-doc colleague Zack Zimbalist analyses the recent African men's football championship and we report on the outreach activities of our colleagues at scientific conferences in Europe and America. Our Administrative Assistant Matthias Kourek introduces himself in the "Meet Our Team" section, and we also have the honour of bringing more of our many dedicated students in front of the curtain: Active students as well as those who have just written their thesis at our institute. Julian Stapel will be presenting his Bachelor's thesis on ownership dynamics in the modern football economy, while Alexander Furtner will be reporting on his Master's thesis on the income situation of indigenous coffee farmers in Colombia. On the teaching side, we present the completely renewed course series "Sustainable Economics" and our colleague Teresa Hübel reports on her first course "Trade, Politics, and Sustainability".

We hope you enjoy reading this issue and thank you for your interest in International Political Economy.

Please feel free to send questions and suggestions to ipe@wu.ac.at at any time.

We cordially invite you to the 7^th edition of our event series "PPP - Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture"!

In this edition of PPP, the film "Das Wunder von Wörgl" (aka "Shillings from Heaven"; starring Karl Markovics and Verena Altenberger, among others) takes us on a journey to the town of Wörgl in Tyrol in the 1930s. The whole world, including Austria, is suffering from the consequences of the global financial crisis. Of Wörgl's 4,000 inhabitants at the time, a good 40% were unemployed and more than 700 people had to claim benefits from the communal welfare system. To alleviate the hardship, the social democratic mayor ventured a financial experiment that was to be extremely successful and go down in history as the "Miracle of Wörgl".

DAS WUNDER VON WÖRGL

The screening followed by a discussion will take place on

Thursday, 18^th April 2024, at 6.00 p.m. in the Department Lounge Strategy & Innovation (Welthandelsplatz 2, Building D5, 6^th floor).

For organisational reasons, please register using the following link: Registration PPP "Das Wunder von Wörgl"

The Institute for International Political Economy would like to thank 15 colleagues who took part in the sixth edition of our event series "Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture". We are particularly pleased that PPP is becoming increasingly well known, even beyond the borders of WU. At this edition, we were able to welcome guests from the Central European University, MedUni Vienna and the Vienna University of Technology.

This time, the screening centred on the science fiction dystopia "Elysium" with Matt Damon in the leading role of production worker Max da Costa. After the screening, the audience discussed why and how much they could or could not identify with the actions of the main character; which economic ulterior motives are embodied in Elysium's two-class system taken to extremes; and which other prejudices and topics such as international migration were implicitly addressed in the different scenes of the film.

The next edition of PPP will take place on 18^th April 2024.

As always, film suggestions for future editions of PPP are welcome in the form PPP Suggestions.

We cordially invite you to the 6th edition of our event series "PPP - Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture"!

Based on the movie "Elysium" by director Neill Blomkamp, this time the often controversially discussed topic of the two-class society is taken up. The concept is frequently used in political discourse to fuel fears of division and unequal treatment. In the film, it is taken to extremes by setting the story in a utopian science fiction world in the year 2154. A privileged class of the super-rich has long since left Earth and lives on the space station "Elysium", while a disenfranchised underclass toils on what remains of planet Earth. Accompany the production worker Max Da Costa in his courageous fight against the Elysium industrialist John Carlyle and against Elysium's unscrupulous defence minister Delacourt.

ELYSIUM

The screening followed by a discussion will take place on

Thursday, 18^th January 2024, at 6.00 p.m. in the Department Lounge Strategy & Innovation (Welthandelsplatz 2, Building D5, 6^th floor).

For organisational reasons, we kindly ask you to register under the following link: Registration PPP "Elysium"

Winter has arrived. And when it is snowing and cold outside, there is more time inside to report on the latest developments and activities at the Institute for International Political Economy. Therefore, we are pleased to present the new issue of our newsletter.

This time we would particularly like to draw your attention to the many new contents on our website. Take a look at our Third Mission section and discover podcasts by our students at IPE@WU Analysis and new exciting interviewees at IPE@WU Careers. You will also find evaluations of our courses in our Teaching section.

As always, the new newsletter is available on our IPE@WU Newsletter page.

You can send questions and suggestions to ipe@wu.ac.at at any time.

The Institute for International Political Economy is delighted that more than 20 colleagues once again attended our "Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture" event series on 2^nd November 2023.

This time we screened the animated film "The Lorax". Together, the participants explored what economic understanding is discussed in the film, how this is to be evaluated and what role the little orange-haired forest spirit Lorax actually plays in this. As always, all of this was accompanied by plenty of pizza.

Many thanks for taking part. You can find all information about "PPP" on our page IPE@WU PPP. The next edition takes place on 18^th January 2024.

Do you have film suggestions for future PPP evenings? Please let us know using the form "PPP - Suggestions".

The Institute for International Political Economy cordially invites you to the fifth edition of "Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture".

On the programme this time is an animated film: "The Lorax". The Lorax is the small, orange-haired patron saint of the Truffula trees, which are cut down by the so-called "Onc-ler" to produce the wool-like substance "Thneed". What this means for the valley of the Truffula trees and what adventure little Ted plunges into to win the heart of his neighbour Audrey and save the Truffula trees at the same time - this is shown in the film in an easily accessible and humorous way, coupled with a pinch of capitalism criticism.

THE LORAX

The screening followed by a discussion will take place on

Thursday, 2^nd November 2023, at 6.00 p.m. in the Department Lounge Strategy & Innovation (Welthandelsplatz 2, Building D5, 6^th floor).

For organisational reasons, we kindly ask you to register under the following link: Registration PPP "The Lorax"

You can find more information on the page Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture.

The winter semester is not even three weeks old - and we can sweeten the start of the new academic year with a new issue of our quarterly newsletter.

A lot has happened at the Institute again. In our newsletter you will read all about it at first hand. New insights into teaching, new experiences at conferences around the world, new findings from the world of International Political Economy. As always, the new issue is available on our IPE@WU Newsletter page.

Comments and suggestions can be sent to ipe@wu.ac.at at any time. We wish you all the best for the semester and hope you enjoy reading this issue.

We are pleased to introduce another new member of our institute. Teresa joined us in June 2023 as a teaching and research associate (pre-doc).

Teresa comes from Vienna and has pursued her academic career so far at WU Vienna. With her doctoral studies, she is now crowning this path at the Institute for International Political Economy. We look forward to further working with her.

Learn more about Teresa on our page People.

The updated course catalogue for the winter semester 2023/24 is already online.

The Institute for International Political Economy offers five exciting courses in the coming semester, one more as part of the Winteruni. You can find an overview of the current courses on our Courses page as well as in the WU Vienna course catalogue. There you will also find all information on schedules and registration modalities.

Based on our teaching philosophy, we have made it our goal to challenge and encourage our students with innovative teaching methods so that they can find their way in an increasingly complicated world. We are intentionally taking new paths - so it is important for us to learn about students' experiences in our classes and how they evaluate our courses.

We give our students the opportunity to evaluate us at the end of each semester. By filling out anonymous questionnaires, we receive valuable feedback. From now on, we would like to share this data with you on our new page "Teaching quality". In addition to quantitative analyses, you will also find some testimonials from our students, which we are particularly grateful for.

In the future, the page will be updated with new evaluation data after each semester. Have a look and see the results for yourself!

A few days ago, the submission period for the 4^th Call for Proposals of the Austrian-African research network Africa-UniNet started. Ideas and proposals for joint research projects between Austrian and African universities, universities of applied sciences or other research institutions can be submitted by all active member institutions until 30th November 2023.

All information on the Call for Proposals can be found on the website of the Austrian Agency for Education and Internationalisation (OeAD): Africa-UniNet 4th Call for Funding

The submission period for the call also coincides with the 3rd General Assembly of Africa-UniNet, which will take place from 13^th - 15^th September 2023 at the premises of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. The Vienna University of Economics and Business has been a member of the Africa-UniNet research network since its foundation in 2020. Prof. Jonas Bunte is currently also the official representative of WU Vienna to the other institutions involved in the network.

Learn more about Africa-UniNet and OeAD on our page Strategic Partnerships.

Whether on holiday, at home or in the office - it is always good to have some interesting reading material at hand. The new summer edition of our IPE@WU newsletter is perfect for this. In tune with the summer, our newsletter is also appearing in a revised colourful outfit. As always, you can find the new newsletter on our page IPE@WU Newsletter.

Make yourself comfortable and browse through exciting insights into research and teaching at the Institute as well as numerous new success stories from the world of International Political Economy. We are also happy to receive your comments and suggestions via e-mail to ipe@wu.ac.at.

Our Institute Head, Prof. Jonas Bunte, attended the 13^th Annual Conference of the European Political Science Association in Glasgow, Scotland, last week. The conference took place from the 22^nd to the 24^th of June. He represented our institute there with a talk on his current research project "Emissions, Audits, and the U.S. EXIM Bank".

In addition to the conference, there was also time for some informal meetings. There is hardly a better place than this to exchange views on the latest developments in the field of political science and international political economy with top-class colleagues from all over Europe and beyond. Prof. Bunte was also able to exchange ideas with: Prof. Erica Owen, Associate Professor of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh; Prof. Thomas Sattler, Associate Professor of International Relations and International Political Economy at the University of Geneva; Dr. Natalya Naqvi, Assistant Professor of International Political Economy at the London School of Economics; Dr. Ben Cormier, Assistant Professor and Chancellor's Fellow at the School of Government and Public Policy of the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow; and Dr. Patrick Shea, Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Global Governance at the University of Glasgow and a long-term research partner of Prof. Bunte. Also present from Leiden University were Dr. Matthew di Giuseppe, Associate Professor of International Relations, and two PhD students, Kathleen Brown and Alessia Aspide.

The Department of Socioeconomics invites you to the book presentation of the new edition of the textbook for the course series "Sustainable Economics". As part of the discussion series "WU matters. WU talks.", the authors, Andreas Novy, Richard Bärnthaler and Magdalena Prieler, will first briefly present the textbook, followed by a high-level discussion on the topic of "Sustainable Economics":

• Vice chancellor Werner Kogler - Federal Minister for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport

• Margarethe Rammerstorfer - Vice Rector for Academic Programmes and Student Affairs

• Andreas Novy - Head of the Institute for Multilevel Governance and Development (MLGD)

• Presentation: Karin Heitzmann - Head of the Research institute Economics of Inequality

You can find more information about the event and the possibility to register on our page Events.

For the fourth time, the Institute for International Political Economy invited to "Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture" in the Department Lounge Strategy & Innovation in building D5 of WU Vienna. We are pleased that many students attended our film evening for the first time.

Supplied with the best Neapolitan pizza, we watched the movie "Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei" (aka "The Edukators") by Austrian director Hans Weingartner. Besides some amusing scenes, the film also provided the basis for a lively discussion afterwards.

We will continue again in the winter semester: On the 2^nd of November 2023, we look forward to the next edition of PPP! You can find all the information on our website: IPE@WU PPP

We proudly present the first video of our IPE@WU Careers series. You can find all relevant information about our initiative under the "Third Mission" tab.

Meet Edith Predorf in this video. Ms. Predorf graduated from the Vienna University of Economics and Business in 2005 and is currently teh Austrian Commercial Counsellor at the Foreign Trade Centre of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

Ms. Predorf's core tasks include supporting Austrian companies in their trade activities in Kenya and the entire region, as well as advising Kenyan companies on economic opportunities in Austria. The Foreign Trade Centre in Nairobi thus supports trade and economic relations between Austria, Kenya and ten other countries in the region: Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Rwanda, the Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia.

The Institute for International Political Economy cordially invites you to the fourth edition of "Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture".

This time, PPP features the film "Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei" (aka "The Edukators") by the Austrian director Hans Weingartner from 2004. We dive into the lives of three young people. The two flatmates Jan and Peter as well as Jule, Peter's girlfriend, are the three main characters. The politically very committed group from Berlin has made it its mission to scare the "rich bigwigs" of the city with symbolic burglaries, but they don't take any loot. Their system is thrown into turmoil when one of the burglaries gets completely out of hand. The film took part in the Cannes Palme d'Or competition, and Daniel Brühl (alias Jan) was also nominated for the European Film Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

DIE FETTEN JAHRE SIND VORBEI (aka "The Edukators")

The screening followed by a discussion will take place on

Thursday, 1^st June 2023, at 6.00 p.m. in the Department Lounge Strategy & Innovation (Welthandelsplatz 2, Building D5, 6^th floor).

For organisational reasons, we kindly ask you to register under the following link: Registration PPP "Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei"

You can find more information on the page Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture.

From the 27^th - 29^th April 2023, the 6^th Interdisciplinary Sovereign Debt Research and Management Conference (DebtCon 6) took place at the School of Public and International Affairs of the renowned Princeton University in the US state of New Jersey. The Institute for International Political Economy was represented by our head Prof. Jonas Bunte.

In a talk, Prof. Bunte also presented the latest results of the research project "Selling Sovereignty - International Coercion, Debt Relief, and Land Transfers". In addition, the conference provided an excellent framework for scientific exchange and academic networking with numerous colleagues. Conversations were possible with Prof. Layna Mosley, Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University; Dr. Alexandra Zeitz, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Political Economy at Concordia University Montréal and co-author with Prof. Bunte of a research project on export credit agencies; Prof. Peter Rosendorff, Professor of Politics at New York University; and Dr. Bradley Parks, Director of the AidData Research Laboratory at the College of William and Mary.

We are very happy to present the latest issue of our IPE@WU newsletter. You can find it on our page IPE@WU Newsletter.

The Spring 2023 issue is again full of interesting news from our Institute and the world of International Political Economy. Have a look and let IPE inspire you. We are also happy to receive your comments and suggestions.

In the winter semester 2023/24, the reformed Bachelor's programme in Economics and Social Sciences at the Vienna University of Economics and Business will start with the new study branch "Economics - Environment - Politics". All information on the new Bachelor's programme can already be found on the website of the Department of Socioeconomics (available in German only).

Students of AHS and BHS upper secondary schools now have the chance to win 1,000€ in the WUPol video competition! WU Vienna is looking for creative videos with ideas and solutions for current challenges in the economy, environment and politics. Videos can be submitted until the 22^nd May, 2023.

The study branch "Economy - Environment - Politics" is also on Instagram: www.instagram.com/wu_wupol

We are pleased to announce a new internal university partnership. As from the 12^th April 2023, our Institute Head Prof. Jonas Bunte, PhD, has also been assigned as a researcher to the Competence Centre for Emerging Markets and Central and Eastern Europe. This long-established interdisciplinary research institution of the Vienna University of Economics and Business focuses on the economic developments in emerging and transition economies, especially in the region of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). We warmly congratulate and wish a successful cooperation with all colleagues in the Competence Centre.

Read more about the Competence Centre for Emerging Markets and Central and Eastern Europe on its website: wu.ac.at/en/emcee

Learn more about the cooperation of our Institute with other research partners on our page Strategic Partnerships.

On the 23^rd of March, 2023, the third edition of our event series "Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture" took place. Once again, numerous colleagues came together to watch a film, eat free pizza and then discuss together. This time, "Erin Brockovich" was on the agenda.

Of course we are already working on the next edition. Ideas and suggestions for films to be shown at PPP can be submitted at any time via this form: Proposals PPP.

All information about PPP can also be found on our website: PPP - Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture

The next edition of PPP will take place on the 1^st of June, 2023.

We thank all participants and look forward to seeing you again.

The Institute for International Political Economy is pleased to invite you to the third edition of the event series "Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture".

Join us this time in the USA of the 1990s. We look at the impressive story of Erin Brockovich. The single mother uncovered a huge environmental scandal in California, brought a lawsuit against one of the biggest US energy providers and won. Julia Roberts was honoured with an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her portrayal of the dedicated legal assistant.

ERIN BROCKOVICH

The screening followed by a discussion will take place on

Thursday, 23^rd March, 2023, at 6.00 p.m. in the Department-Lounge Strategy & Innovation (Welthandelsplatz 2, Building D5, 6^th floor).

For organisational reasons we ask for registration under the following link: Registration PPP "Erin Brockovich"

You can find more detailed information on our Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture page.

Are you interested in writing your Bachelor's thesis at the Institute for International Political Economy? But you are still looking for a suitable topic and need some inspiration?

Then our new list of potential topics for bachelor theses can certainly help you. Take a look at the various possible questions. If we have piqued your interest, do a little research and feel free to contact us with an interesting research idea.

General information on writing Bachelor's theses and all relevant guidelines can be found on the Theses page.

We are pleased to present a new initiative of the Institute for International Political Economy:

IPE@WU has questions for ...

Academic work at a university does not only consist of teaching, a lot of reading and administration. University is more and the communication of content plays an increasingly important role. We not only want to keep our students and interested friends of our institute up to date - we also want to bring them closer to exciting stories of interesting personalities and offer them well-founded insights into professional opportunities in the field of international political economy. This is the commitment we want to underline with our new initiative.

We are currently preparing the first video in our new series. Look forward to meeting Edith Predorf, the Austrian commercial counsellor in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Soon you will find much more information here on our website!

Eat free pizza, watch a movie, discuss politics - that is the motto of our event series "PPP - Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture". On the 19^th of January, 2023, more than 20 colleagues and interested people gathered in building D5 on the WU campus for the second edition of "PPP". This time the film "Parasite" was on the programme. The film by South Korean director Bong Joon-ho won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 and four Oscars in 2020, including in the top category "Best Picture".

We are pleased that the IPE community at WU Vienna continues to grow.

"PPP" will of course continue: the next edition will take place on the 23^rd of March, 2023. We are also constantly collecting suggestions for films to show at future editions of "PPP". You are welcome to submit your film suggestions via the specially created online form: Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture - Suggestions

Don't miss any news - sign up for our newsletter: IPE@WU Newsletter Registration

The Institute for International Political Economy is pleased to invite interested students and friends of our institute to the following event:

PPP - Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture

In the second edition of our new event series, we will put the spotlight on a masterpiece by South Korean director Bong Joon-ho:

PARASITE

The screening followed by a discussion round will take place on Thursday, 19^th January, 2023, at 6.00 p.m. in the Department Lounge Strategy & Innovation (Building D5, 6th floor).

For organisational reasons we ask for registration under the following link: Anmeldung PPP

You can find more information on our Events page.

Are you still looking for a topic for your thesis?

The City of Vienna has launched a new platform so that students can come into contact with the diverse areas of activity of the city administration. Particularly in the area of "Politics & Administration" you will find interesting topics on which final theses can also be written at the Institute for International Political Economy.

If you are interested in one of the topics of the City of Vienna, contact the City of Vienna according to the instructions and get in touch with the Institute: You will find the procedure for registering a thesis and other helpful guidelines on our Theses page.

More information can be found on the thesis platform website: https://stp.wien.gv.at/abschlussarbeiten/app/#/abschlussarbeit.

We are happy about a very successful start for our new event series "Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture" on 10^th November 2022. More than 30 students, colleagues and friends of the Institute for International Political Economy gathered in building D4 on the WU campus for a joint screening of the 1990s film classic "Fight Club" by director David Fincher. This was followed by a discussion on selected topics from the film in the form of a small quiz round.

We thank all participants for coming and for their interesting contributions to the discussion. The Institute team is already looking forward to the next edition of PPP.

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive all the information about the next issue of PPP in good time.

The Institute for International Political Economy is pleased to invite interested students and friends of our institute to the following event:

PPP - Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture

This is the title of a new event series in which we want to shed light on the connection between well-known movies and the topics of international political economy. We will break through the strictly academic setting of a lecture and want to discuss the movie in a pleasant atmosphere. For this purpose, we will also offer all participants free catering with a variety of pizzas. The film screening will be followed by a discussion round to analyse the film together from the perspective of political economy.

We start with a film classic from the 1990s:

FIGHT CLUB
Directed by: David Fincher
Starring: Brad Pitt, Meat Loaf, Helena Bonham Carter, Jared Leto

The first edition of Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture will take place on Thursday, 10^th November, 2022, at 06.00 p.m. in the "Stufenraum" (building D4, entrance B, 1^st floor).

For organisational reasons we ask for registration under the following link: Registration PPP

You can find more information on our Events page.

Our institute's team is growing: On the 1^st of August, 2022, Ashley Simpson started as a new Research and Teaching Associate. Welcome!

Ashley comes from the United States, where she completed her bachelor's and master's degrees in International Political Economy at the University of Texas at Dallas. Her research interests include the political economy of debt and finance, emphasising financial technologies and gender equality. In addition to her work, Ashley enjoys playing volleyball and pickleball.

Learn more about Ashley Blair Simpson and the Institute's team on the People page.

It was wonderful to meet my colleague Prof. Ralf Leiteritz in Vienna. He is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia. His research focuses on global financial relations, with particular attention to Latin America, as well as political and economic relations between China and Latin America. Ten years ago, Prof. Leiteritz was tremendously helpful to our institute director, Prof. Jonas Bunte, during his field research in Colombia. It was great to re-connect!

Professor Paul Vaaler holds the John and Bruce Mooty Chair in Law and Economics, a joint professorship between the law school and the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. It's great to speak with one of the most important scholars in our field whose work addresses the intersection of business, law, and policy. He is one of the experts on how foreign investors manage risks associated with political reform in developing countries and elections. Thank you for visiting.