The rapid growth of the field of international political economy since the 1970s has revived an older tradition of thought from the pre-1945 era. The Contested World Economy provides the first book-length analysis of these deep intellectual roots of the field, revealing how earlier debates about the world economy were more global and wide-ranging than usually recognized. Helleiner shows how pre-1945 pioneers of international political economy included thinkers from all parts of the world rather than just those from Europe and the United States featured in most textbooks. Their discussions also went beyond the much-studied debate between economic liberals, neomercantilists, and Marxists, and addressed wider topics, including many with contemporary relevance, such as environmental degradation, gender inequality, racial discrimination, religious worldviews, civilizational values, national self-sufficiency, and varieties of economic regionalism. This fascinating history of ideas sheds new light on current debates and the need for a global understanding of their antecedents.

Winner, 2024 ISA IPE Best Book Award, International Studies Association

‘Eric Helleiner has done it again – another classic to add to his ample record of outstanding historical scholarship.  His monumental survey of the deep intellectual roots of the field of International Political Economy breaks entirely new ground and will serve as a master study guide for generations to come.  The breadth of coverage is astonishing, introducing us to a huge gallery of long-neglected thinkers and ideas from every corner of the globe.  The book is a must-read for anyone aspiring to literacy in the subject of IPE.'

Benjamin Cohen - University of California, Santa Barbara

‘In a recent series of books, Eric Helleiner has been doing nothing less than rewriting the intellectual history of international political economy. This latest, his most ambitious yet, is a bold and generous work opening countless avenues for the scholars who will follow him.'

Quinn Slobodian - Wellesley College

‘Eric Helleiner has brought together a remarkably wide range of economic thinkers from around the world to illuminate the fractious and contested nature of debates in International Political Economy before 1945. But more importantly, he has also demonstrated that the history of global economic thought should not be read as a one-way diffusion from West to rest, but has rather been structured over time by multidirectional debate and reformulation from many corners of the globe.'

Christy Thornton - John Hopkins University

‘The holy troika of IPE thought - Realism, Liberalism, and Marxism - was always deeply suspect. European scholars often saw realism as an American apology for nuclear dominance, while mainstream US scholars never took Marxism seriously. Helleiner shows us the value of moving beyond such tired touchstones to embrace the real diversity of global IPE. Much of what we think of as new - environmentalism, feminism, (post)colonialism - is in fact quite old and well developed outside of the troika texts. To properly engage the debates of today, we need to understand and build upon rich traditions that we have omitted both by design and by default.’

Mark Blyth - Brown University

‘Recommended.’

R. M. Ramazani Source: Choice

‘Helleiner conducts a masterful and detailed work that is capable of bringing to the surface the intellectual roots of economic thought … The Contested World Economy thus stands as an essential text both for insiders, who can certainly draw inspiration from it but also confirm the internationality of the work they are carrying out, and for novices who can learn the basics of this discipline directly from a broad and global perspective that refers to the great cultural roots but without getting lost in the myopia of Eurocentrism.’

Albertina Nania Source: History of Economic Thought and Policy

‘… while it will be incredibly useful for teaching, this work is, in fact, a major interpretive revision of the history of international political economy, one that fundamentally challenges key assumptions of the field and sets out multiple new agendas for future research.’

Christy Thornton Source: H-Diplo