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Susan
Strange
be developed
to
Argument
The
Perhaps
propositions.
between
of the competition
simple
nature
states
in the international
between
towards
is undergoing
another
of diffu
and economy
period
society
or
in which
it became
three centuries
after two
increasingly
sion,
centralized
in the
institution
two
suggest
together
tacit premises
about
The
sitions
offer
may
The
three
propositions
based on
One,
unit of analysis,
conclusions.
important
second?the
studies,
good
for a Cartesian
the basis
in international
paradigms
state.
the
important
quite
the state as the most
is thatmuch ofWestern
out-of-date.
of
a synthesis
which
could
resolve,
incompatible
has bedeviled
academic
of thought
about
discussion?and
international
puzzled
of the twentieth
most
relations
that
a great many
stu
dents?for
When
ritories,
whether
competing
natural
for market
or man-created.
shares
in the world
Now
is Professor
Political
Susan Strange
of International
Economy,
London
School
and Political
Emeritus,
Professor
of Economics
Florence.
sor, European
Institute,
University
55
University
of Warwick;
Science; External
Profes
56
Susan Strange
no
for wealth-creation,
determines
the value
min
of an agricultural
Resources?water,
enterprise.
an
asset
in
the competition
be
for market
etc.?may
erals, forests,
and a handicap.
shares, just as the lack of them may be a constraint
in the
But they, too, are no longer the major
of success
determinant
added
output
competition
or Argentina,
which
have
South
Korea,
between
states.
Indeed,
with
endowed
richly
often been
to win
far slower
are states,
like Australia
land and natural
resources,
like
than resource-poor
states,
or
in products
shares
market
there
services
where
competition,
Imean
that
the nature
of
states
and
industrial
and
their
behavior
trade policy
has
are becom
policy
are
States
and foreign
than defense
important
policy.
to
seek
allies
commercial
rather
than
structural
change
by
obliged
ones. Some of these allies will be other states, as in regional
military
will be foreign-owned
Others
firms. And
economic
associations.1
changed,
ing more
and bargaining
for interstate discussion
the agendas
as
are
in
domestic
issues
the
arising
politics.
ing,
are also
chang
for some
other
society with
not
transnational
(TNCs),
companies
only
including
interpretation,
institutions
like
and law firms, and international
banks, accounting
or
non
but
Fund
also
the International
(IMF)
Inmarsat,
Monetary
or the Olympic
like Amnesty
International
organizations
governmental
associations
of
and
transnational
sports organization
professional
in economy
and
economists,
doctors,
central
of
the state the authority
local
shared
with
and
is, perforce,
increasingly
in short, is that state author
The proposition,
and
scientists.
government
authorities.
regional
ity has leaked away, upwards,
it seems even to have
matters,
realm
of anarchy
in society
Within
sideways,
and downwards.
gone nowhere,
has
and economy
In some
The
just evaporated.
exten
become more
to
the
State
The Defective
57
issues within
tist studies and analyzes
social, or economic
political,
to make
of two
a specific state, or he is content
studies
comparative
or
in
or more national
economies,
societies,
systems of government
in the
forces at work
structural
of the common
blithe disregard
that states
arguing
themselves
in the world
system.
institutions.
or defective,
hollow,
the inner core of
transactions
in society
and
authority
borders
territorial
their defined
is seriously
and
to grow
continuing
to storm,
vulnerability
leaves,
new
shoots,
becoming
unchanged,
over economic
their
within
Collectively
are obsolete.
im
showing signs
or disease,
drought,
Some
and branches.
yet
are
But
the struc
are
authority
of the trends.
to anyone who
in the last twenty or
resolve, will be familiar
might
in studying and teaching
international
thirty years has been engaged
to others. Actually,
it is a very old
But not, perhaps,
relations.
the realists and idealists, but a triangular
debate, not only between
one
in which
whether
Marxist
both
are contested
or Gramscian.
by the radicals
But from
the
or
late
structuralists,
1930s
until
perhaps the 1960s the old debate was eclipsed asWorld War II and
then the Cold War gave the field to the realists, the analysts of
power politics. They despair of changing an international political
system based on territorially defined authorities (states)which claim
from others. They use research
and
and independence
own?to
to
better
with
their
enable
cope
argument
states?usually
use research
in it. Idealists,
the system and to survive
by contrast,
to reduce conflict
to change
the system,
and foster
and argument
sovereignty
to trans
states and by these means
between
gradually
cooperation
are
inter
liberal
labeled pluralists,
form the system. They
variously
The
neofunctionalists.
nationalists,
Basically,
they are reformers.
of
economic
and
radical
structural
social
radicals,
change
favoring
relations,
unjust
58
Susan Strange
now
to engineer
the kind
of change
they would
themselves
and how
a sensible
synthesis
between
is science
and
the three
is possible.
BETWEEN STATES
THE COMPETITION
The
starting
an
aspect
economists
of
taken
for
technology?
by both
granted
sense will
faster
is one
thirty would
1960s
or
even
the
1970s?no
no video
mobile
phones,
no satellite communication
Advances
of telecommunication
technology
man or woman
under the age of
in science
ital costs?in
fax, no
no DNA
shops,
networks.
and
the research
no
computers,
cable television,
personal
tests, no
have
technology
and development
involved
of new
increased
products
to deliver
cap
and
of the means
them
and then in the installation
processes,
to the market.
for investment,
The added capital needed
combined
of the product
life in the market,
with
the shortening
(or process)
meant
in
the sales that could be made
after business
that in business
the national
were
not
within
economy,
to
amortize
enough
the
territorial
the capital
was overtaken
borders
debt
of
the
(in whatever
state,
form)
technological
change.
even more
so of small
of
a small
realized
economy
early on that
South
is an example
of a developing
that is too small?
economy
even with
a highly protected
home market?to
absorb
the output,
or
or
car
on
of
shoe
factories
economies
of
based
scale,
shipyards
Korea
using
up-to-date
technology.
State
The Defective
Thus,
accelerating
technological
not
change,
(as economists
costs,
in the world
tion
relaxes
internationalization
a process which,
economy,
the state over the enterprises
of
the authority
have
the rapid
explains
market
59
of produc
inevitably,
based
and
rise of multinationals,
time. Rather, what
the
than
for a long
around
so-called.
have been
They
is
that
changed
products
has
sectors
firms
or services
products
need
to local
new
to adapt
technologies
their
conditions.
billion3?but
the roughest
indicators
of what
has been
happening. Firms may derive the bulk of their profits from foreign
ever
sales without
faster among
giant
which
small,
The
specialist
enterprises
and
Licensing
and
is
growth
than among
conglomerates.
franchising,
are the growth
involve
any transfer of funds,
only rarely
areas in international
production.
are even more
And
the political
The
consequences
important.
a firm goes into foreign markets
is the symbi
break involved when
otic
corporations
abroad.
up production
setting
the uncounted
one
between
national
government
political masters
and
national
enterprise.
of one, and once
a "good citizen" of host states other
in a political
it becomes
than its state of origin,
engaged
juggling
with
labor
and suppliers
and
act, negotiating
ministries,
organizers,
once.
at
in several countries
distributors
for their
Governments,
the firm has many
it senses that it has to appear
Once
part,
have
become
acutely
aware
that
they
instead
are competing,
as rival
suitors, for the favors of foreign firms. These firms often have
attractive
assets
that native
ones
lack. They
may
have
command
of
to give employment
to local citizens. They
to
and they may have established
may have better
capital,
distribution
them instant access to foreign custom
systems giving
to foreign
set up a local
if they will
ers?and
therefore
exchange
market
shares?and
also
access
60
Susan Strange
production
The
plant.
Chrysler
worldwide
Corporation's
distribu
led
to agree?despite
allow at least
past official
policy?to
cars and parts into the Japanese market.
some American
The result
an
states
is
of competition
between
of state/firm
process
ongoing
Mitsubishi
in which
often offer greater
induce
may
governments
bargaining
more
a
to
to
enter
firm
waive
its
rules
and
ments,
demands,
foreign
a
one
to
to
it
native
The
will
native
stay.
firm, finding
territory than
its market
share eaten away by foreign competition,
may scream for
protection. But there is evidence, from the 1930s, 1970s, and 1990s,
states is often cosmetic,
if only because
of home
the response
in more
and cheaper products
there are other interests
competition
that will cancel out the protectionist
lobby.4
that
The
from
offers
in newly
governments
countries
industrializing
of market
are hun
the NICs
access
that TNCs
In addition,
their
is apt to be at least twice that
expansion,
opposed
3 or 4 percent
in the United
States,
Europe,
and
host states?including
the competition
the
Second,
among
state of any firm?is
effect on two
apt to have an eroding
sources
to tax and the
the power
of state authority:
important
to
labor
and
financial
markets.
power
including
regulate markets,
Japan.
home
can
In order to show how
of interstate
the nature
competition
of states towards
each
and the behavior
alter the use of state power
we
contrast
must
kind
of
that
the
with
present
other,
competition
the interstate
for centuries?millennia
even?characterized
which
societies
social
institutions,
religion,
folk memories,
and
traditions
autonomy.
differences.
The wish
is almost
that cannot
But
does
not
come
shared
universally
be achieved without
for
perquisites
force
to maintain
that go with
those
And
government.
free. Rulers,
whoever
they are,
over the means
of coer
command
government
demand
payment.
They
require
cive force for internal and external
coercive
to maintain
they need
Internally,
rivals
the
and
against potential
privileges
coercive
need
government.
they
Externally,
purposes.
State
The Defective
forces
Shakespeare's
command
as
of the Roses,
and eliminate
"traitors."
can
then
Only
to acquire
power
military
to their autonomy.
of the two needs:
to deter
suspected
safely
a larger realm?more
he brands
to use
set out
he
61
the
same
land to tax?across
source
main
maintain
of
revenue
of coercive
command
that
has
force has,
to
government
of human history,
allowed
for most
increasing
peasant
The
larger the territory of the state,
to work
available
the land. Marriage,
labor was
the more
if custom
could
the government.
also be taxed
In North
political economist
their route
traders
as a supplement
to the resources
in the fourteenth
century,
Africa
changed
nue dried up, the local rulers
that when
that supplementary
encountered
resistance
and
source
from
of
the
the gold
of reve
the peas
ants if they taxed them too hard. A rapid turnover of rulers resulted
because
the revenue
from
land was
insufficient
to give
the rulers
reiterate,
of
multiplicity
ment
is a means
the wish
for autonomy
from others
in the former
Soviet Union
since 1989, and in Rwanda,
and
other
it seems likely that
many
Vietnam,
Somalia,
places. Thus,
a greater
civil conflict
is becoming
threat to personal
security than
is interstate
states are aware that their afflu
conflict. The affluent
ence depends
on a continued
world
market
share rather than a
the conflicts
authoritarian,
repressive
immune to the moderating
governments
influence of
62
Susan Strange
a middle
class
disregard
the
with
material
of costs
imbalance
and whose
aspirations,
in going
and benefits
rulers
can
to war.
states
the affluent
Yet,
States, Britain,
(i.e., the United
France,
to
continue
and Germany)
their
spend vast sums on maintaining
comes
Part
of
the
from
the
mili
explanation
military
capabilities.
This was perceived more
than thirty years
tary-industrial
complex.
ever
in
meantime
and
the
has become
ago by President
Eisenhower,
more
in the US economy.
But part also comes
firmly entrenched
of the new game of competition
from the very nature
between
states.
of
industries,
by means
can hope to gain market
shares both for the
contracts,
in the markets
for arms but
for the state, and not only
State
government
firms and
firms
for
support
in defense
also inworld markets for civilian goods and services which benefit
the same
The rationale
for this rather expensive
technology.
as to
in
is
of
market
shares
found
uncertainty
popular
acquisition
war
societies
advanced
industrial
between
whether
really is
major
from
obsolete.
defense
THE NATURE
For
neither
new
of
individual
state
The
federal
nor unusual.
the Empire
ideologies,
state under
States
an
to change
is
very radically
after
the
The French Republic
Revolution,
in their
both radically
different
after the Terror, were
and strategic
from
the
French
institutions,
objectives
the nature
the Bourbons.
underwent
almost
as radical
it became,
II, when
and
substantially
planned
War
great
change,
demographic
or
inflation
depression,
government
a transformation
temporarily,
state-owned
enrichment
even
climatic
manager
of
the United
during World
of a largely state
revolution,
economy.8 War,
or sudden
impoverishment,
can
or ecological
change
that
all?or
nearly
all?states
should
is really
from
Europe,
duction
tion, was
a new
spread
substantial
in
Even
the last big change
phenomenon.
based on a feudal system of agricultural
pro
based on a capitalist
system of industrial
produc
over two or three centuries.
It did not take place
states
to states
undergo
The Defective
State
63
as quickly
or as evenly as the changes
recently
experienced
by the
vast majority
of states over the last twenty or so years.
reasons
rate of scientific
here?the
The
accelerating
suggested
the shift from land, labor, and
and technological
change;
discovery
tion
tion
information,
and national
economic
society that experienced
changes. No national
remained
and development
insulated
from these changes.
structural
growth
experienced
of
these
Even
the states with
changes.
planned
in the process
of joining
the world
the same experiences.
are now
which
economies,
market
economy,
shared
these
structural
the authority
Just how
changes have undermined
I believe,
the legitimacy
of the state can be summa
and ultimately,
one. The first major
rized in three major hypotheses,
and one minor
a
is
that
in the asymmetries
there
has
been
increase
great
hypothesis
state
In other words,
while
of
the US government
may
authority.
have suffered some loss of authority, the loss has been to the
not
markets,
to other
for other
states; whereas,
their vulner
states,
ability not only to the forces of world markets but also to the
greater global reach of US authority has markedly increased.
The second hypothesis is that some authority over less politically
sensitive
authorities
and
of various
commercial
"upward"
The minor
has
has
issues
been
shift
shifted
from
national
kinds,
both
interstate
organizations.
of authority
hypothesis?not
states
in many
There
states
to
international
institutions
and private
been, one could say, an
as the first "sideways"
one.
has
as well
so universally
a "downward"
that there
experienced?is
shift of authority,
from
world
power
of
all
states
structural
as a result of
changed
commonly
experi
The
of increased
changes.
hypothesis
asymmetric
is one which
has
academic opinion
in the United
States has
64
Susan Strange
to accept.
it has been nearly
Indeed,
twenty
a
to
social scientists
of
loss of
years since American
began
complain
in
in
American
world.
And
it
the
has
been
the
last
three
power
only
found
most
difficult
have
perceptions
painful,
been
always
very
even
different,
its passage.
study
Concerned
of
international
with
relations
relations
between
and
states,
Iwould
between
of power
not
has
states,
on
helped
it naturally
this
issue.
to
tended
states
and
other political authorities on the one hand and markets and society
on
among Marxists
Except
over
both markets
exercised
power
over the way
influence
structures,
by
the idea of
and dependistas,
social relations
through
are made,
decisions
agendas
are conducted,
and negotiations
has not
the other.
are
and
from
Gulf War,
state power
be appreciated.
can best be illustrated
by some
of
simple examples:
In the
and two from world markets.
politics
on
to
when
and
how
attack
decisions
the key
Iraq were
international
Cold War
exercised
in a series
allies
as a consequence
relations.
of the relational
power
the funda
In Yugoslavia
of bilateral
mental imbalance of military force between the Serbs and the Bosnians
was indirectly the result of two ways in which the United States
exercised
its structural
power
in matters
of security.
First,
as part of
that
army
the
second
largest
in Europe.
Sec
ond, the United States used its influence with other allied govern
ments
to institute
and maintain
an arms embargo
against
the Bosnians.
State
The Defective
65
of
power,
is a major
to resist.
is hard
security
once called
the "arms ba
what
Moreover,
Sampson
Anthony
trade by manufacturers,
the private
and govern
dealers,
zaar,"
ments
in weapons
of great technical
and
destructive
sophistication
feature
of the global
structure.
security
and manufacturers
States, whose
taxpayers
in expanding
And this lethal
sales.
marginal
the United
of
interest
vested
It could
trade,
as
current
bestsellers,
American
attitude
sold
The
freely on
oil market
is another
of
example
a world
market
that
is
has been
the world
states have
given
extraordinarily
free financial rein to the oil majors. Only after the Exxon Vaidez oil
spill inAlaska did the US government, through the courts, demand
more
accountability
states
other
which
business
civilization
decisionmakers
on
modeled
My
Here,
have
not
that now
example
the
Altogether,
the world
for the
prevails
throughout
is one shaped by and
and in business
been
in government
the business
civilization
slow
to follow.
of America.10
structure?the
what
in the conduct
knowledge
structure
are made
in which
choices
about
power
to
is acquired,
and
and
whom.
stored,
disseminated,
universities
and American
The number
of
professional
in
US
and
universities
foreign
colleges
compared
or Japanese
in European
with
those
enrolled
universities
is an
in
of the American
indication
dominance
of the world
market
students
enrolled
associations.
66
Susan Strange
The
higher
education.
rights
world
in medicine
and pharmaceutical
a structural
demonstrates
similarly
In the financial
structure,
the tremendous
that directly
power
affects
laws on patents
and property
research
the
throughout
of US
influence
in trade
growth
in futures,
discussion
recently
and
swaps,
options,
Reserve,
mission
have
danger
practice,
wide
and
the transnational
no other
in the market,
ensured
at national
it has
that
attempt
gathered
speed. Any
the United
States would
only move
regulation
offshore.
outside
There
are many
structural
and competition
other
on
power
to
ways
the unequal
the business
the consequences
of
of national
governments
illustrate
ability
be managed
to implement
and
to devise
then
national
economy
and mea
policies
For example,
those perceptions.11
while
the
on Taiwan
to put pressure
to revalue
the power
or even to improve
its protection
its currency
of native wildlife,
over
or environ
US
Taiwan
has no countervailing
power
monetary
United
States
mental
policies.
human
fact of
This
has
as with
on China over
the US pressure
Sometimes,
rights, there are seen to be limits to the global reach. But the
states is undeniable.
increased
among
asymmetry
sovereign
means
that
the notion
of
the
sovereignty
of
state
the
in
law was
Even
the
tion
of the state
of Hyderabad.
Forty
years
later, no one
seriously
state of Panama.
in creating
Now
an open
world
economy
States has
in its own
in the
largely
liberal
State
61
preferences
and
The Defective
and
image,
to
according
patterned
its own
value
judgments, the fig leaf of equal sovereignty even before the law has
more
become
flimsy
than
ever.
world
of the conventional
modifications
state authority,
and economy
model
are coterminous,
in which
some
territory,
for
authority
first
the
of established,
collectivity
from states as a
away
authority
to
authorities
other sources of
legitimate
shift
of
the Commission
of
the European
and also nongovern
Union,
sans
like Amnesty
M?decins
International,
or
the Children
also
Fund,
Greenpeace.
They
mental
organizations
the Save
Fronti?res,
include the growing
of TNCs
number
engaged
or processing
of traded goods
and the service
and
law, accounting,
associated
with
About
them
consulting
but playing
the "upward"
diffusion
both
intergovernmental
nizations,
little to say. Not
because
in the manufacture
such as
enterprises
the
financial
firms,
operators
a somewhat
different
role.
and
to international
of authority
and nongovernmental,
it is an unimportant
orga
I have
but
to labor
being
either
proliferating
of
the
central
institutions
of many
states
to
local
or
Bern
to the cantons
has
always
been
jealously
guarded
and
68
Susan Strange
of authority
territorial
control
on other
sources
in the
power
to transnational
If one
of power.
international
and associations
enterprises
is heard
saying
it is often
economy,
political
as
that
the
"multinational"
meaning
preted
the
role
of
the
usurped
state?sovereignty-at-bay,
that governments
and all that?so
nationals
hands
of corporate
managers.
firm
have
misinter
has
somehow
footloose
multi
are mere
in the
pawns
sterile debate
is an old and
That
based
that TNCs
from
My hypothesis
and
ownership,
and export
and
late
tion of
at the London
Business
International
observed
1990s
early
import
of
the operations
and accommodating
coming
came about
changes
firms over the means
governments
We
argued
in the
from
markets,
state
developing
home
protected
to liberalization,
privatization,
or restric
exclusion
antipathetic
more wel
firms to an altogether
foreign
were
no
All these
accident.13
posture,
from
exercised
the control
through
to the end of earning
foreign
desperately
needed
other way
than by negotiation
firms.
"new
This
School.
countries
substitution
and
promotion,
Business
in so many
diplomacy,"
and were
unable
by those
exchange
to achieve
termed
foreign
which
it, was
any
the foreign
based
on
the
by states.
to foreign markets
coveted
asset was
the
the most
important
Perhaps
customers
it would
and
which
take inex
69
for themselves.
acquire
to-date
which
technology,
other
obvious
experience
In addition,
Nations.
United
access
to the financial
re
demonstrated
or Asea
Matsushita
would
their
Brown
or
But General Motors
way.
no
had
Banks
such problems.
painful
Boveri
to pay, or underwrite
their promises
in the eyes of
issues. They were
creditworthy
as governments
were
countries
of many
developing
lend to them,
shares or bond
the market
securitize
not.14
To
the nature
understand
of
the
shift
to
it is necessary
look
in the political,
to the purely
activities
economic,
and
the
When
community.
transnational
firm,
or
German
or to the Asian
is not
consequences
of
consequences
be a major
transfer of manufacturing
from
capacity
to
of America,
economies
and
what
Europe,
Japan
as LDCs.
to markets,
to be known
effect
Firms,
responding
will
predicted,
the "developed"
used
have
done
economy
than
programs
this is one
assuming
international
in nearly
aid
organizations
a century. Firms are also?and
of the "Japanese
miracle"?
half
consequence
important
a much
greater political
in the global
and bilateral
role
in the provision
of welfare.
Not only are the pensions, bonuses, and fringe benefits provided by
much more
for their employees
state
the
but more
anything
provides,
firms
is essentially
dispensers
a political
of charity,
role
for
as sponsors
important
in many
firms
cases
than
see what
"progressive"
as
in the community,
themselves
as providers
of sport and culture,
70
Susan Strange
or other
of medical
the factory
By
to the community
services
or
the office
beyond
gates.
with
comparison
the
literature
on
international
production
Political
functions
which
economy,
capitalist
under close state regulation,
service
sectors?accountancy
insurance
of a kind
central
to be exercised
used
are now
being
to any market-based
either by the state or
exercised
by firms in
large transnational
and management
consultants.
companies,
law firms,
firms,
CONCLUSION
of this essay that two conclu
paragraph
the analysis
here. Actu
briefly presented
are
more
nature
con
in the
of questions.
One
ally, they
suggested
clusion was
that Western
social science?and
social sci
especially
I suggested
sions might
in the opening
from
emerge
at long
between
the violent
and
system?had
conflict
between
states
as the core
was
of the system. The second suggested
conclusion
the probl?matique
of international
studies could re
last the opposition
of paradigms,
of the
the dialogue
and
in the
idealists
and
realists,
optimists
pessimists,
lead
to ques
or war
is no longer
that peace
the core
not
"If
then
what
the
poses
that,
is, or are,
question,
probl?matique
is on the way out, that is, incidentally,
the issues?"15 If interstate war
one very good reason for the declining
of the state. The
authority
state was once the guardian
its
of national
security;
right to loyalty
The
first
conclusion
and
and obedience
its authority
to levy taxes
rested
fundamentally
by the welfare
as guardian
against
economic
inse
and par
illness, pregnancy
unemployment,
is
its
little
wonder
that
declines.
age?it
authority
takes the place of the old. There
is a
But a new probl?matique
a
states
world
but
territorial
and
world
still claim
economy
society,
curity?whether
or old
enthood,
a sovereignty
as they used
from
of exercising
part, capable
they are not, for the most
to. It is also a system, as my first hypothesis
suggested,
The Defective
in which
of power
between
means
that the most
the asymmetry
This asymmetry
creased.
states
State
has
71
in
greatly
are able to
powerful
in
of
exercise
issues of the
veto,
any
block,
authority
global
or
of
of
financial
the
universal
environment,
regulation,
provision
of basic needs for food, shelter, and health care.
even
this asymmetry of
or dominant
If the hegemon,
either will
power.
power,
not or cannot play its stabilizing,
is
role, what
confidence-building
answer
to be done? Ten years ago, my
would
have been that itmust
was
in its own
the
it
be persuaded
that
argument
by
long-term
structural
interest to play the hegemonic role. But that was during the Cold
War, when the balance of power, the need to hold theWestern
affluent
to the centrally
in opposition
together
planned
one strong motive
of the Soviet bloc, provided
for good
Now
from Washington.
there is no such check on the
alliance
economies
government
global governance
as it must
hegemonic,
be,
do-nothing
is that
veto
the only
on better
on European-Japanese
but embracing
wherever
cooperation
some
the
Latin
and
who
share
Africans
Americans,
Asians,
possible
of the same interests and concerns
the
future.
for
based
The
a new
and
second
that because
conclusion
of realism
synthesis
idealism
for the future
the probl?matique
has changed
the international
economy
political
of mankind
becomes
raises a
possible
about
series of questions.
These
relate to
rather,
question?or,
over society
the second and third of my hypotheses?that
authority
in a neomedieval
and economy
has become
diffused
and
fashion,
once
now
states
that some necessary
is
exercised
authority
by
different
exercised
mists
by no one.
than
more
first question,
is how much
scientists,
The
by political
and intervention
disputed
by econo
in the way of rules,
is necessary
for
authority
and
would
equity,
stability,
prosperity?I
the issue by saying "growth." What,
in other words,
is the sine qua non of political management
for a capitalist, market
economic
oriented,
system of production,
trade,
credit-dependent
supervision,
the system's
not prejudge
and
investment?
clearly shown
and insecurity,
by political
continued
72
Susan Strange
a measure
of money,
of financial
instability,
to the question,
too
"How much
is
is
much?"
anarchy
in the value
of inflation
the answer
by no means
clear.
To
the question
put
another
way,
how
much
does itmatter to the system, to the people living in and by it, that
half
of Africa
and
in political
sunk
endemic
disease,
remain
famine,
the an
swer, but it does seem that social scientists shirk the responsibilities
that go with their privileges if they fail to think about that question.
even harder question
to
is where
is that authority
second,
we
if
that
the
of
diffusion
of
agree
process
from,
centrifugal
to be reversed. The diffu
away from the state is unlikely
authority
The
come
systems
sources
and
of
welfare
depend
as in the settlement
self-government,
of trade, property,
and
liability
as the possible
basis for a new
international
or
state
is
the
fails
How
government
by
incomplete.
of autopoesis
order
where
of
states?
of these
But unless
can
the intellectuals
and
society,
can
polity,
start
and
thinking
economy,
anew
about
progress
some
of the basic
of any kind
toward
issues
first
step.
of
a sus
is a
The Defective
73
State
ENDNOTES
Charles Oman, Globalisation and Regionalism: The Challenge for Developing
Countries (Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,
1994).
2Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order inWorld Politics (London:
Macmillan,
1977).
3UnitedNations Center on Transnational Corporations, World Investment Report,
1993. The UNCTC is now a part of the UN Economic and Social division, New
York.
to explain
necessary
1918-1939
a competitive
why
interstate
states,
have
all
failed,
and
neither
tion
between
states,
not
of an
the existence
to interstate
alternative
exists.
system
At
ap
interstate
is the crucial
that
system,
question.
6Yves Lacoste, Ihn Khaldun: the birth of history and the past of the Third World
(London: Verso, 1984; translated from the French, Paris:Maspero, 1966).
7John E.Mueller, Retreat from Doomsday:
York: Basic Books, 1989).
8Harold G. Vatter, The US Economy
versity Press, 1985).
The Obsolescence
of Major War
(New
9Joseph S. Nye, Bound to Lead (Boston, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991).
Henry R. Nau, The Myth of America's Decline: Leading the World Economy
into the 1990s (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990). Robert W. Tucker
and David C. Hendrickson, The Imperial Temptation: The New World Order
and America's Purpose (New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1993).
10Susan
Strange,
"The Name
of
the Game,"
in Nicholas
X.
Rizopoulos,
ed.,
Sea
12John Stopford and Susan Strange, Rival States, Rival Firms: Competition
World Market Shares (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
for
13Ibid.
14Theremay be a conceptual problem here for political theorists, though not, I think,
for political economists. It iswhether it is possible to talk of the "power of mar
kets" as distinct from the power exercised by foreign-owned firms (FOFs) be
cause
of
their
reputation
in the markets.
Observing
the contests
in recent
years
between themarkets in foreign exchange and the central banks of states, it seems
more sensible to talk of the power of the market than the power of individual
banks or operators (let alone individual prophets and soothsayers like Henry
74
Susan Strange
Kaufman
through
or George
structures
the
The
Soros).
of the market.
latter
only
exercise
power
over
outcomes
15This is not to say that there is no danger at all of nuclear catastrophe; only that it
ismuch less acute a danger. Nor is it to say that there is no threat of violence to
the security of the individual, only that such threats as there are aremore likely to
be civil,
ring
intra-state
factions,
conflict
or between
either
state
between
forces
and
criminals
dissidents
and
or
police
separatists.
or between
war