Inteational political economy ("IPE"), also known as global
political economy, is an academic discipline within the social
sciences that analyzes inteational relations in combination with
political economy. As an interdisciplinary field it draws on many
distinct academic schools, most notably political science and
economics, but also sociology, history, and cultural studies. The
academic boundaries of IPE are flexible, and along with acceptable
epistemologies are the subject of robust debate. This debate is
essentially framed by the discipline's status as a new and
interdisciplinary field of study.