Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
1. Explain and critically evaluate the key concepts, theories, and approaches to political risk and its implications for multinational corporations (MNCs) and foreign investment.
2. Analyse the political, economic, and institutional factors that generate political risks for MNCs, including expropriation, nationalisation, economic nationalism, protectionism, regulatory change, and geopolitical tensions.
3. Evaluate the relationship between political institutions, regime types, governance, and FDI, and assess how these factors influence the investment decisions and strategies of multinational corporations.
4. Apply causal chain analysis and other analytical approaches to identify, assess, and explain the emergence and evolution of political risks in different country and sectoral contexts.
5. Critically assess contemporary political risk issues affecting MNCs, including risks in extractive industries, human rights concerns, extraterritoriality, and changing investor–state relations.
6. Evaluate political risk assessment and risk management strategies used by multinational corporations to identify, mitigate, and respond to political risks in international operations.
7. Apply theoretical and empirical insights to real-world cases to assess how political risks can affect the performance, investment decisions, and strategic objectives of multinational corporations.
Indicative Module Content:
The key topics that will be addressed in this module include:
FDI theories, the relationship between governance and foreign investors, economic nationalism; natural resource sector and political risk, security risk, expropriation and nationalization; regime type and political risk. The other key topics include: political risk analysis and identifying various types of instruments which help multinational companies stave off political risk.
Virtual career sessions:
The module Political Risk and FDI is designed as a job-oriented module, offering students valuable insights directly relevant to the employment market. This module equips students with analytical skills relevant to careers in risk analysis, research, consulting, and international business. It bridges academic learning with practical industry applications, preparing students for roles such as research analysts, consultants, or policy advisors in the political risk and investment sectors.
Career opportunities in this field range from internships to analyst positions, and in fact, some of my past students have successfully pursued careers in political risk after taking this module. To give you practical exposure, I will be organizing two virtual career sessions with a risk analysis from an investigative MNC headquartered in the US who will speak on “Career Opportunities in Risk Consulting for Politics Students” and engage in an interactive discussion with you. Similarly, I will be inviting a former student of mine to talk about his experience of working in the political risk industry. The date and time of these events will be shared in class.
PLEASE NOTE THAT ATTENDING THESE VIRTUAL SESSIONS IS MANDATORY.