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Nominations open for the International Political Economy Working Group Book Prize 2025

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The International Political Economy Group (IPEG) is pleased to open nominations for the annual IPEG book prize. The prize is one of the most prestigious awards in the field of IPE, not just in the UK but beyond. 

IPEG especially welcomes nominations from and of academics who fall into minority groups in such terms as gender, sexuality, race and disability.

IPEG is one of the largest and most active working groups in BISA, with membership drawn from across the globe. As such, it is a prominent part of international studies research and a highly significant forum for IPE scholars both in the UK and internationally.

To be eligible, the book must have been published in 2024.

To make a nomination please use the Google form. Only one nomination per person is allowed, and the nominator must be a member of BISA and IPEG. When doing so, please provide a short explanation (up to 300 words) of why you consider the book to be worthy of the prize and the best book published within IPE in 2024. This element is crucial: the more you can explain to the committee why this is the best book published in IPE over the past year, the more that will help with the shortlisting process. Make your nomination now.

The deadline is 5pm Monday 30 June.

Further details

There are four conditions that need to be fulfilled when nominating: (i) the book must have been published in the previous calendar year (i.e. 2024); (ii) the book cannot be an edited volume; (iii) only one book can be nominated by each individual; (iv) the person nominating the book must be a member of BISA and IPEG. We would like to remind IPEG members of the importance of renewing their BISA membership and showing support for your professional association, particularly in a time of crisis. For the membership renewal pages, please log in and make sure to subscribe to the BISA-IPEG mailing list.

Self-nominations are welcome. 

In July the committee (members listed below) will create a shortlist, before reading all shortlisted books over the summer. The winner will be announced around September. 

The winner will be invited to give a talk in a suitable format to all IPEG members. Details on this year’s talk will be coming out soon.

The criteria guiding the verdict of the Book Prize judges include: conceptual innovations; depth of empirical analysis; contribution to IPE as a discipline; contribution/connection to broader social science literatures; clarity of exposition; quality of argument. Of course, such criteria will not apply to all books in the same way, and in this sense they represent more a guide than a template. Nevertheless, it is intended to facilitate the judges’ votes and deliberations.

This process combines membership participation and committee judgements on the book’s quality. The monographs of previous winners have enjoyed considerable esteem. As such, the IPEG Book Prize has become a notable event and mark of status within and beyond IPE.

The 2025 Voting Committee will consist of:

  • James Scott (Chair), King’s College London
  • Maha Rafi Atal, University of Glasgow
  • Matthew Bishop, University of Sheffield
  • Phil Cerny, University of Manchester
  • Melissa Johnston, University of Queensland (and last year’s winner)

Past winners

2024 – Melissa Johnston, Building Peace, Rebuilding Patriarchy (Oxford University Press, 2023)

2023 - Sushmita Pati, Properties of Rent. Community, Capital, and Politics in Globalising Delhi (Cambridge University Press, 2022)

2022 – Liam Campling and Alejandro Colás, Capitalism and the Sea: The Maritime Factor in the Making of the Modern World (Verso, 2021)

2021 – Susanne Soederberg, Urban Displacements: Governing Surplus and Survival in Global Capitalism (Routledge, 2020)

2020 – Kate Bedford, Bingo Capitalism: The Law and Political Economy of Everyday Gambling (OUP, 2019)

2019 – Adam Hanieh, Money, Markets, and Monarchies: The Gulf Cooperation Council and the Political Economy of the Contemporary Middle East (CUP, 2018)

2018 – Ilene Grabel, When Things Don’t Fall Apart: Global Financial Governance and Development Finance in an Age of Productive Incoherence (MIT Press, 2017)

2017 – Cornel Ban, Ruling Ideas: How Global Neoliberalism Goes Local (OUP, 2016)

2016 – Alex Anievas and Kerem Nisancioglu, How the West Came to Rule: The Geopolitical Origins of Capitalism (Pluto, 2015)

2015 – Susanne Soederberg, Debtfare States and the Poverty Industry: Money, Discipline and the Surplus Population (Routledge, 2014

2014 – Samuel Knafo, The Making of Modern Finance: Liberal Governance and the Gold Standard (Routledge, 2013)

2013 – Jacqui True, The Political Economy of Violence Against Women (Oxford University Press, 2012)

2012 – Adam David Morton, Revolution and State in Modern Mexico: The Political Economy of Uneven Development (Rowman & Littlefield, 2011)

2011 – Jamie Peck, Constructions of Neoliberal Reason (Oxford University Press, 2010)
2010 – Penny Griffin, Gendering the World Bank: Neoliberalism and the Gendered Foundations of Global Governance (Palgrave, 2009)

2009 – William Robinson, Latin America and Global Capitalism: A Critical Globalization Perspective (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008)

2008 – Matthew Paterson, Automobile Politics: Ecology and Cultural Political Economy (Cambridge University Press, 2007)

2007 – Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets (MIT Press, 2006)

2006 – Graham Harrison, The World Bank and Africa: The Construction of Governance States (Routledge, 2004)

Make a nomination now