Article contents
International political economy: problems and issues—Part I
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 October 2009
Extract
Recent years have seen governmental concern with international economic issues attain an intensity previously reserved for the great questions of war and peace. Students of international affairs have followed suit with a revival of academic interest in the complex relationship between the economic and the political in the international arena: hence the resurgence of international political economy.
International economic issues are now ‘high politics’. Alarm at the domestic implications of ‘stagflation’ within the advanced industrial countries (AICs) has prompted calls for reflationary stimulants to trade and economic activity. Domestic economic dislocation has, however, also revived protectionist arguments within certain Western economies.
- Type
- Review Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © British International Studies Association 1981
References
1. For a brief discussion of ‘stagflation’– the mixture of stagnation and inflation – see: Fred Bergsten, C., Toward a New International Economic Order: Selected Papers of C. Fred Bergsten, 1972–1974 (Lexington, 1975), Introduction, esp. p. xiiiGoogle Scholar.
2. See, for instance, Palmer, John, ‘Healey to plead for faster growth’, The Guardian, 17 April 1978Google Scholar.
3. Ibid. ‘Shaping a tough new line on trade’, 11 April 1978.
4. Ibid. Richard Norton Taylor, ‘Rich Men, Poor Men’, 7 March 1977. Since the time of writing the ‘North’ has agreed to a limited Integrated Commodities Programme.
5. See: Luard, Evan, ‘The Law of the Sea Conference’, International Affairs, Iv (1974), pp. 268–278CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and O'Connell, D. P., ‘The Law of the Sea: some reflections on Caracas’, British Journal of International Studies (1974), pp. 20–26Google Scholar.
6. See: Penrose, Edith, ‘Origins and Development of the International Oil “Crisis”’, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, iii (1974), pp. 37–44CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Penrose, Edith, ‘Oil and International Relations’, British Journal of International Studies, ii (1976), pp. 41–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
7. See: Blake, D. H. and Walters, R. S., The Politics of Global Economic Relations (New Jersey, 1976), pp. 91–97Google Scholar.
8. See:, Gilpin, Robert, US Power and the Multinational Corporation: The Political Economy of Foreign Direct Investment (London, 1976)Google Scholar; and, Blake, and Walters, , op. cit. pp. 101–104Google Scholar.
9. See: Mesarovic, Mihajlo and Pestel, Eduard, Mankind at the Turning Point: The Second Report to the Club of Rome (London, 1975)Google Scholar.
10. Fred Bergsten, C. and Mathieson, J. A., ‘The Future of the International Economic Order: An Agenda for Research’, p. 9Google Scholar, in Fred Bergsten, C., (ed.), The Future of the International Economic Order: An Agenda for Research (Lexington, 1973), pp. 1–59Google Scholar.
11. Strange, Susan, review in International Affairs, lvi (1977), p. 272Google Scholar.
12. Keohane, and Nye, , Power and Interdependence: World Politics in Transition (Boston, 1977), pp. 64–65Google Scholar.
13. On mercantilist/neo-mercantilism see: Ellsworth, P. T., The International Economy (New York, 1964), pp. 17–37 and 43–45Google Scholar; and Calleo, D. P. and Rowland, B. M., America and the World Political Economy: Atlantic Dreams and National Realities (Bloomington, 1973)Google Scholar.
14. See: Blake, and Walters, , op. cit. pp. 29–31Google Scholar; and Spero, J. E., The Politics of International Economic Relations (London, 1977), pp. 122–123Google Scholar.
15. See: Blake, and Walters, , op. cit. pp. 36–39Google Scholar; and Spero, , op. cit. pp. 123–124Google Scholar.
16. See: Blake, and Walters, , op. cit. pp. 31–36Google Scholar; and Spero, , op. cit. 124–125Google Scholar.
17. For an excellent introduction to international monetary mechanisms, and issues, see: Hirsch, Fred, Monev International (Harmondsworth, 1969)Google Scholar; and see also Blake and Walters, op. cit. Ch. 3.
18. Spero, , op. cit. p. 58Google Scholar.
19. See: ‘Saudis get IMF board seat as new Big Six is formed’, The Guardian, 5 August 1978.
20. Cooper, Richard N., ‘Prolegomena to the choice of an international monetary system’, in Fred Bergsten, C. and Krause, L. B., (eds.), World Politics and International Economics (Washington, 1975), esp. pp. 69–82Google Scholar.
21. Cooper, , op. cit. pp. 76–78 and 81–83Google Scholar.
22. See the series of three articles: ‘The Day the - Nearly Died’, The Sunday Times, 14 May, 21 May and 28 May 1978.
23. See: the report, ‘Flexing those monetary muscles’, The Guardian, (syndicated from the Washington Post), 19 August 1978.
24. Blake, and Walters, , op. cit. esp. Ch. 5Google Scholar.
25. Spero,op. cit.
26. Charles R. Frank Jr., and Mary Boyd, ‘Foreign Aid: its speckled past and future prospects’, in Bergsten and Krause,op. cit. pp. 133—167.
27. James W. Howe, ‘The Developing Countries in a Changing International Economic Order: A Survey of Research Needs’, in C. Fred Bergsten (ed.), The Future of the International Economic Order: An Agenda for Research, op. cit. pp. 191–264. Interesting discussions of aid are also to be found in: Hensman, C. R., Rich Against Poor: The Reality of Aid (Harmondsworth, 1971)Google Scholar; and Payer, C., The Debt Trap: The IMF and the Third World (Harmondsworth, 1974)Google Scholar; and Wall, D., The Charity of Nations: The Political Economy of Foreign Aid (London, 1973)Google Scholar.
28. See: Howe, op. cit. pp. 233–234.
29.. Ibid. p. 201.
30. See, in particular, Servan-Schreiber, Jean Jacques, The American Challenge (London, 1968).Google Scholar
31.. See, in particular: Gilpin, op. cit. Ch. 7.
32. Gilpin, op. cit.
33. Ibid. pp. 118–120.
34. Ibid. p. 124.
35. Ibid. pp. 131–133.
36. Ibid. pp. 120–121.
37. Ibid. pp. 45–47.
38. Ibid. p. 61.
39. Ibid. p. 46.
40. Ibid. pp. 127–128.
41. Ibid. pp. 130.
42. Ibid. p. 143.
43.. Ibid. p. 5.
44. Ibid. pp. 156–161.
45. Blake and Walters, op. cit. Ch. 4, esp. pp. 91–107.
46. Gilpin, op. cit. Ch. VII.
47. Vernon, op. cit. pp. 99 and 101.
48. Gilpin, op. cit. esp. pp. 177–182.
49.. Ibid. pp. 171–174. See also: Keohane and Ooms,op. cit. p. 181.
50. viz. the findings of John Dunning, quoted in Blake and Walters,op. cit. p. 100.
51. For further discussions of ITTs operations, especially in Chile, see: Sampson, Anthony, The Sovereign State: The Secret History of ITT (London, 1973)Google Scholar, esp. Ch. 11.
52. Keohane and Ooms, op. cit.
53.. Ibid. pp. 191–192.
54. Mansbach, R. W., Ferguson, Y. H. and Lampert, D. E., The Web of World Politics: Non State Actors in World Politics, (New Jersey, 1976), pp. 204–212Google Scholar.
55. Carlos F. Diaz-Alejandro, ‘North-South Relations: the economic component’, pp. 213–241, in Bergsten and Krause,op. cit.
56. For a discussion of the OPEC case, and the varying circumstances of other potential producer cartels, see: Connelly, P. and Perlman, R., The Politics of Scarcity: Resource Conflicts in International Relations (London, 1975)Google Scholar, Ch. 5.
57. Bergsten,Toward a New International Economic Order, op. cit. p. 9.
58. Morse, E. L., ‘Interdependence in World Polities’, pp. 660–681 in Rosenau, J. N., Thompson, K. W. and Boyd, G. (eds.), World Politics: An Introduction (New York, 1976).Google Scholar
59. Morse, Edward L., Modernization and Transformation of International Relations (New York, 1976)Google Scholar.
60. Keohane and Nye,Power and Interdependence, op. cit. esp. Ch. 2.
61. Rosecrance, R., Alexandroff, A., Koehler, W., Kroll, J., Laquer, S. and Stocker, J., ‘Wither Interdependence’, International Organization, xxxi (1977), pp. 426—427.Google Scholar
62. Ibid. p. 42S.
63. Ibid. pp. 427–429.
64. Keohane and Nye,Power and Interdependence, op. cit. esp. Ch. 1.
65. Ibid. p. 8.
66. Ibid. p. 8.
67. Ibid. p. 13.
68. Ibid. p. 13.
69. See: L. B. Kxause, and J. S. Nye, ‘Reflections on the economics and politics of international economic organizations’, pp. 323–342 in Bergsten and Krause,op. cit. esp. p. 325.
70. Morse, Modernization and Transformation, op. cit. p. 116.
71.. Keohane and Nye,Power and Interdependence, op. cit.
72. Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J., and Behrens, W. W. (eds.), The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome's Project on the Predicament of Mankind (London, 1974).Google Scholar
73.. Mesarovic, M. and Pestel, E., Mankind at the Turning Point: The Second Report to the Club of Rome (London, 1975).Google Scholar
74. See, particularly: Cole, H. S. D., Freeman, C., Jahoda, M. and Pavitt, K. L. R., Thinking About the Future: A Critique of ‘The Limits to Growth’ (London, 1974)Google Scholar.
75. On which see: Gosovic, B. and Ruggie, J. G., ‘On the creation of a new international economic order: issue linkage and the Seventh Special Session of the UN General Assembly’, International Organization, xxx (1976), pp. 309–345Google Scholar; and Hirsch, Fred, ‘Is there a new international economic order?’, International Organization, xxx (1976), pp. 521–531CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
76. On which, see: D. P. O'Connell, ‘The Law of The Sea’, op. cit. and Evan Luard, ‘The Law of the Sea Conference’,op. cit.
77. With the notable exception of Joseph Nye-see: Nye, J. S.‘Collective Economic Security’. International Affairs, IV (1974), pp. 584–598CrossRefGoogle Scholar
78. The classical study is Claude, Innis L., Swords into Ploughshares: Problems and Prospects of International Organization (New York, 1956)Google Scholar.
79. See: Olson, Mancur Jr, The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups (Cambridge, Mass., 1965)Google Scholar. Olson's ideas have been developed in: Frohlich, N. and Oppenheimer, J. A., ‘I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends’, World Politics, xx (1970), pp. 104–120CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Frohlich, N., Oppenheimer, J. A. and Young, O. R., Political Leadership and Collective Goods (Princeton, 1971)Google Scholar; and Frohlich, N. and Oppenheimer, J. A., Modern Political Economy (New Jersey, 1978)Google Scholar, Ch. 2.
80. See. Olson, Mancur Jr, and Zeckhauser, R., ‘An Economic Theory of Alliances’, The Review of Economics and Statistics, 48 (1966), pp. 266–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 4
- Cited by