Author(s): Mohd Rosdi M.S, Richard Jackson
The aim of this study is to examine the history of the world from the perspective of political economy. The focus on this study is to streamline the history of political economy's scholarship in relation to capitalism. Political economy is a field that is very challenging for many scholars to understand, falling between the science of political economy and the science of economics and politics as separate disciplines. Discussion in this field can be complicated when many scholars from various backgrounds contribute their ideas. Therefore, there appear to be two problems. Firstly, the author wondered when research began in the field of the political economy. Were the early scholars of political economy from the economic circle or from the political circle? Secondly, in the clash of ideas as many scholars built a framework of understanding in political economy, who were recognised as the accurate scholars in the field? Based on a study of documents and content analysis, this paper will re-streamline the history of the political economy. From this, political economy can be seen as a field closely aligned with ideology. It can be formed from the capitalist ideology, namely Smith and Ricardo, or from the communist ideology, namely Marxism. From the scholars’ discussion on political economy in capitalism, the author established that the first country to discuss political economy was France in the 16th Century. Following that, the idea was discussed in Spain, Scotland, Britain, Italy, United Kingdom, Austria, Norway, and by American scholars.