International political economy is concerned with the ways in which political forces (states, institutions, individual actors, etc.) shape the systems through which economic interactions are expressed, and conversely the effects that economic interactions (including the power of collective markets and individuals acting both within and outside them) have upon political structures and outcomes. The major theoretical perspectives in international political economy are Mercantilsm, liberalism, Marxism and constructivism.

Mercantilsm/realism

Mercantilsm is similar to International relations realism.