As we wrap up a rewarding academic year for the Global Political Economy Project (GPEP), we want to take a moment to reflect on the journey we’ve taken—celebrating the rich intellectual conversations nurtured and the scholarly infrastructure built over the past five years.
Launched in 2020, the Global Political Economy Project (GPEP) was founded to rethink how we study globalization and the ways that it has reshaped people’s lives. As GPEP co-founders Professor Kathleen McNamara and Professor Abraham Newman have emphasized, the key issue is no longer simply how much globalization is happening or not, but more exactly, how it is unfolding and with what consequences–and how we might better manage engagement with global markets in a changing world.
“We really felt like there was a desperate need to reimagine the way we study this phenomenon,” Professor McNamara noted in a 2020 interview. Professor Newman added in the same interview, “Whether it’s climate change, digital technology, or the transformation of economic statecraft… there is a whole range of questions that require urgent attention.” And today’s rapidly shifting geopolitics have only made this agenda more urgent.
With generous funding from the Open Society Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation, one cornerstone of GPEP’s impact has been its public programming. The Digital Economy & Security Collaborative (DESC) initiative, a speaker series and public policy panel held at Georgetown between 2021 and 2022, brought together leading scholars from around the world to discuss urgent issues at the intersection of the global digital economy and national security. In April 2023, GPEP convened a workshop in partnership with the European University Institute in Fiesole, Italy on “European Industrial Policy and the New Geopolitics of Markets,” where participants explored the return of active state intervention in markets—particularly in the areas of decarbonization, technology, and security.
The other cornerstone of GPEP has been its mentorship model and commitment to fostering collaboration among young scholars. Over the past five years, GPEP has supported 21 pre-doctoral research fellows. Housed at the Mortara Center, the GPEP community convenes monthly research meetings and participates in various seminars and events hosted by the Center. Professors McNamara and Newman have worked to create an environment marked by regular scholarly exchange and mentorship around the tacit knowledge of navigating the field.
These fellows have gone on to tenure-track positions at leading institutions around the world including Brown University, University of Pittsburgh, Colby College, University of Montreal, and National University of Singapore. Other fellows have gone on to high-impact industry placements at organizations like Google and Clarity Inc.
This vibrant scholarly network has also generated cutting-edge research geared towards reimagining the study of globalization. In 2020, Professors McNamara and Newman initially outlined the GPEP project framework in an anchoring piece published in International Organization. Since then, a growing body of research has emerged from this initiative—both among GPEP fellows and in collaboration with the two directors. These publications have explored topics such as information externalities and internet control, privacy governance on digital platforms, privacy regulatory enforcement, transatlantic privacy politics, European industrial policies, and more.
Reflecting on how the initiative is adapting today amid a changing global political and economic landscape, Prof. McNamara remarked, “We haven’t evolved so much—the world has evolved to catch up with us and our view of the critical role of power and culture in profoundly shaping markets.” The growing scholarly and policy attention to weaponized interdependence, to the resurgence of industrial policies, and to the geopolitics of climate change echoes what the two directors identified five years ago. “The GPEP agenda has been mainstreamed,” Professor Newman said. “What used to be heterodox is now orthodox,” Professor McNamara added.
The project’s scholarly contributions have run in parallel with a set of policy efforts geared to transmit the GPEP agenda into the broader public. Through podcasts, op-eds, and workshops, Professors Newman and McNamara have shaped conversations on major policy events—such as U.S. tariffs, the resurgence of industrial policies, and transatlantic technology competition—through the lens of GPEP’s core themes.
Although the first phase of GPEP has now concluded, both directors underscored the importance of having dedicated research programs like GPEP. Reflecting on the last five years, Professor McNamara emphasized, “there is a real hunger for mentorship.” Professor Newman agreed, adding that their efforts have been geared towards pragmatically advising doctoral students on how to navigate academia so as to share their knowledge, “It can be as simple as how to write a response letter to journals,” he notes.
Indeed, the GPEP legacy will live on, not only through its ideas and its growing network of alumni, but also through the small and steady exchange of tips and guidance passed along to young scholars as they build up their academic and professional portfolio of skills and knowledge. Wherever these scholars’ paths may lead, we hope they continue to hold Georgetown, and the Mortara Center, close to heart.