Gilpin global political economy pdf

Current developments are placed in historical and theoretical perspective. In a book that is deeply thought as well as deeply researched and carefully argued, Gilpin has produced a landmark study.

Robert Gilpin emphasizes the continuing importance of the state and the great impact of variations in state structure and policy around the world.

His book is an impressive attempt to synthesize economic and political analysis to understand the forces affecting globalization, state policy, and the results of their interaction for economic development and international trade, investment, and finance.

Keohane, Duke University. Robert Gilpin. Overview Author s Praise 8. Computing power is increasingly an impetus to the world economy, and technological developments have changed and are changing almost every aspect of contemporary economic affairs.

Gilpin's Global Political Economy considers each of these developments. Reflecting a lifetime of scholarship, it offers a masterful survey of the approaches that have been used to understand international economic relations and the problems faced in the new economy. Gilpin focuses on the powerful economic, political, and technological forces that have transformed the world. He gives particular attention to economic globalization, its real and alleged implications for economic affairs, and the degree to which its nature, extent, and significance have been exaggerated and misunderstood.

Moreover, he demonstrates that national policies and domestic economies remain the most critical determinants of economic affairs. The book also stresses the importance of economic regionalism, multinational corporations, and financial upheavals. Gilpin integrates economic and political analysis in his discussion of "global political economy. In addition, ideas from political science, history, and other disciplines are employed to enrich understanding of the new international economic order.

This wide-ranging book is destined to become a landmark in the field. Although he eschews polemics and writes in a low-key, analytical style, his forceful points serve as a needed antidote to Thomas Friedman's The Lexus and the Olive Tree and other facile works about the subject.

Robert Gilpin emphasizes the continuing importance of the state and the great impact of variations in state structure and policy around the world. His book is an impressive attempt to synthesize economic and political analysis to understand the forces affecting globalization, state policy, and the results of their interaction for economic development and international trade, investment, and finance.

Keohane, Duke University "[A] scholarly, theoretical framework for examining how markets and the policies of nation-states determine the way the world economy functions. Gilpin's is an authoritative, but modest voice of common sense. Any person interested in international political economy can profit from reading it.

Current developments are placed in historical and theoretical perspective. Because it assumes that the international system is anarchic, this interpretation views the state, in the absence of a higher author- ity, as the principal actor in international affairs.

The existence of anarchy, however, does not mean that international politics is charac- terized by a constant and universal Hobbesian war of one against all; states obviously do cooperate with one another and do create institutions in many areas. Realism, however, insists that the state remain the principal actor. While it follows that power and power relations play the major roles in international af- fairs, power can assume the form of military, economic, and even psychological relationships among states, as E.

Carr has pointed out. Moreover, despite this emphasis on power, other factors such as ideas, values, and norms do play an important role in interstate af- fairs. Power Politics , the liberal beliefs of the Western democracies made them incapable of recognizing and being able to react decisively to the threat of fascism in the s.

Haas, ed. See also E. London: Macmillan, Morgenthau, Scientific Man vs. The major political players, namely Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, are central in even such a highly integrated in- ternational institution as the European Union. Whatever the ultimate shape of the European Union, national governments will continue to be important actors within this regional arrangement.

However, objective factors such as the geographic location of a society and the physical requirements of the economy are of great importance in determining the national interest. My state-centric position assumes that national security is and al- ways will be the principal concern of states. Trading states like Japan and West Germany emerged and grew while protected by American military power; moreover, toward the end of the twentieth century they established and began to maintain an independent military option.

If valid, these ideas undermine not only realism, Marxism, and liberal- ism but also neoclassical economics and much of political science. Although constructivism is an important corrective to some strands of realism and the individualist rational-choice methodology of neo- classical economics, the implicit assumption of constructivism that we should abandon our knowledge of international politics and start 17 Richard N.

Katzenstein, ed. Constructivism, on the other hand, is said to emphasize the role of ideas, social structures, and human volition in political affairs; people can construct a better political and more humane uni- verse than that described by realists.

Although I cannot do justice in several paragraphs to these ideas, several comments are in order. Constructivism makes too great a distinction between realism, at least as I use the term in this book, and constructivism with respect to the role of ideas, ideology, and constructs. What better example than the powerful idea of nation- alism and the importance of national identity that have been staples of realist thought since Machiavelli and Hobbes! While constructiv- ists are right in stressing the importance of shared ideas and the social construction of the world, it is not clear how far they are willing to take this position.

Ideas are obviously important, but the world is composed of many economic, technological, and other powerful con- straints that limit the wisdom and practicality of certain ideas and social constructions.

Any theory that seeks to understand the world must, as do liberalism, Marxism, and realism, seek to integrate both ideas and material forces.

According to constructivists, realists neglect the impor- tance of identity and focus only on material interests and power con- siderations. In some cases, this criticism is valid. As I have already men- tioned, I myself emphasize the importance of the national system of political economy in determining the economic behavior of individual states. Morgenthau also emphasized the importance of identity.

However, in a highly integrated global economy, states continue to use their power and to implement policies to chan- nel economic forces in ways favorable to their own national interests and the interests of their citizenry. These national economic interests include receipt of a favorable share of the gains from international economic activities and preservation of national autonomy.

Power Politics. Yet the nation-state remains of su- preme importance even though there is no certainty that it will exist forever.

The state arose at a particular moment in order to provide economic and political security and to achieve other de- sired goals; in return, citizens gave the nation-state their loyalty.

When the nation-state ceases to meet the needs of its citizens, the latter will withdraw their loyalty and the modern state will disappear as did the feudal kingdoms, imperial systems, and city-states that it displaced. However, there is no convincing evidence that such a trans- formation in human affairs has yet occurred.

On the contrary, the world is witnessing a rapid increase in the number of nation-states accompanied by creation of powerful military forces. Economic issues certainly have become much more important since the end of the Cold War and have displaced, for the United States and its allies, the prior overwhelming concern with military security.

It is misleading, however, to draw too sharp a distinction between international economic and security affairs. While the weight placed on one or the other varies over time, the two spheres are intimately joined, always have been, and undoubtedly always will be. At the end of the century there were nearly They all seek to possess the accoutrements of nationhood: currency, airlines, and national armies.

Obviously, statehood is attractive. The ways in which the world economy functions are determined by both markets and the policies of nation-states, especially those of powerful states; markets and economic forces alone cannot account for the structure and functioning of the global economy.

The interac- tions of the political ambitions and rivalries of states, including their cooperative efforts, create the framework of political relations within which markets and economic forces operate. How- ever, economic and technological forces also shape the policies and interests of individual states and the political relations among states, and the market is indeed a potent force in the determination of eco- nomic and political affairs.

The relationship of economics and politics is interactive. While other values and goals may be important, they are not of fundamental concern to economists qua economists. The basic task of economists is to instruct society on how markets function in the 24 Ralph G.

A more recent and excellent discussion of the relationship of power and plenty is Theodore H. How societies then choose to distribute that wealth among al- ternative ends is a moral and political matter lying outside the realm of economic science.

The question of pur- pose is at the core of political economy, and the answer is a political matter that society must determine. The purpose that a particular society domestic or international chooses to pursue in turn deter- mines the role of the market mechanism in the economy.

Whether a society decides that the market or some other mechanism should be the principal means to determine the allocation of productive re- sources and the distribution of the national product is a political mat- ter of the utmost importance. The social or political purpose of eco- nomic activities and the economic means to achieve these goals cannot be separated.

In every society, the goals of economic activities and the role of markets in achieving those goals are determined by political processes and ultimately are responsibilities delegated by so- ciety to the state. Therefore, the market and economic factors do impose limits on what states can achieve. Conclusion The functioning of the world economy is determined by both markets and the policies of nation-states.

The political purposes, rivalries, and cooperation of states interact to create the framework of political re- lations within which economic forces operate.