Finance has a key role in the economy as well as the wellbeing of society and nature. This becomes especially clear with climate and biodiversity crises. At the same time, finance is politics and financial operations in the social and natural systems are a deeply political process determined by structures and struggles of power. What is the current state of global financial affairs? What is the role of markets vs. the state? What are the different worldviews with which we can approach this situation? What is the role of the emerging economies of the Global South?

This interdisciplinary course aims to enable students to orientate themselves in the current global affairs and be able to think about them critically. For this purpose we would go through the following topics (the outline might change):

1. Global finance and politics: state of affairs, key topics, actors and mechanisms
2. Markets vs. state: worldviews and trends
3. Global North vs. Global South
4. Case study #1: Sustainable finance in the EU
5. Case study #2: Market financing of forests in Kenya, Brazil and Thailand

Prior knowledge of finance and/or politics is an advantage but not a prerequisite for this course.