TRADE POLICY THROUGH A LENS:THE CONTRIBUTION OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY

THE REALIST SCHOOL

1 One of the oldest schools of thought on international relations, which emphasises the role of the state and power. Two variations here - one that has largely留學生dissertation網neglected economic matters, and one that embraces this aspect.

2 Suggests that there is no central authority above nation states; international relations seen as a 'self help' system; international relations dominated by the preservation of national sovereignty and the pursuit of national interest. Power is used to this end, and the pursuit of power is seen as a primary objective. Changes in relative power positions between states are seen as major objectives - international relations as a zero sum game. Powerful nations attempt to shape international institutions to fit their own interests, and these act as arenas for acting out power relations. Foreign policy can be either aggressive or defensive in nature.

Given the emphasis on politics, realists are critical of the idea that globalisation of economic relations is weakening state control - globalisation occurs only to the extent that states allow it to occur. A hegemonic state may be able to create an open and stable economic order that can further the globalisation process.

Mercantilism.
Role of trade policy in developing a strong manufacturing sector - Britain in the industrial revolution.
Post 1945 period - Cold War - supremacy of political rather than economic perspectives.

3 Hegemonic stability theory - a relatively open and stable international economic system is most likely when there is a single dominant or hegemonic state with two characteristics: it has a sufficiently large share of resources that it is able to provide leadership; it is willing to pursue policies necessary to create and maintain a liberal 留學生政治經學dissertation需求economic order. Hegemonic conditions can be identified under Britain in the 19th century and under the US after world war 2. There are different views amongst hegemony theorists on what types of power and control are required: political, economic, cultural, leadership methods and goals (benevolent - creating of public goods - versus coercive hegemony), the ability/necessity of hegemons to create international regimes of behaviour, whether or not US hegemony is declining, and whether a focus on developed states (to the exclusion of developing states) is sufficient e.g. the impact of the rise of OPEC.

THE LIBERAL PERSPECTIVE

1 The most influential perspective in IPE. Pluralist in nature, focuses on a wide range of actors and levels of analysis.

Orthodox liberals - mainly concerned with promoting "negative freedom"
Interventionist liberals - some government involvement necessary to produce equality, fairness and justice#p#分頁標題#e#
Institutional liberals - favour the development of strong international institutions.

2 The liberal perspective takes a bottom up approach to politics and gives primary place in society to the individual consumer, firm or entrepreneur. Individuals have inalienable natural rights that should be protected e.g. Adam Smith and the invisible hand. Post-war international institutions based on liberal principles. International economic relations viewed as mutually beneficial, a positive sum game. LDC's seen as facing the same problems today as the UK etc. faced 200 years ago. Often less concerned with distributional issues - international economic activity aimed at producing the maximum efficiency at the aggregate level.

Politics and economics viewed as separate and autonomous activities. Political activity should be focused on reducing and removing market imperfections.

Orthodox liberalism - Smith, Locke.
Keynes.
Neo-liberalism, Reagan and Thatcher.

3 Interdependence theory - identified reciprocal costly effects of transactions which negate the internal/external policy separation, therefore states not seen simply as unitary rational actors, which has allowed new issues to be broached e.g. the sustainability agenda.

Game theory - individual state interest and the role of international instutions.

4 Regime theory - with the growth of interdependence, states have established some principles, norms and rules to regulate each others' behaviour, normally associated with international organisations e.g. WTO principles. Some theorists argue that an international hegemon is required to form and apply a regime, but regimes may arise through international negotiations. But what is the ultimate effect of regimes?

5 Liberals most closely adhere to the view that domestic societal pressures effect state policy e.g. in foreign policy making.

6 In terms of the North-South debate, Liberals do not have distributional issues as a major area of concern; interdependence seen as beneficial to LDC's; many problems of LDC's are associated with inappropriate policies e.g. import substitution, use of NTB's and the lack of export led growth.

THE HISTORICAL STRUCTURALIST PERSPECTIVE

1 Includes a wide range of theoretical approaches including Marxism, dependency theory, world-system theory and Gramscian analysis. Most theoretical approaches are rooted in Marxism.

留學生dissertationStructuralist – reflects a focus on the structural means of exploitation – class, North V South etc. Historical – focus on the evolution of class domination over a period of time.

2 Basic ideas:

Class antagonism - the state as an agent of the dominant class; international relations as conflictual and zero sum game; Lenin – imperialism, delayed the downfall of capitalism in traditional Marxist analysis because the colonies supplied the “metropole” states with cheap inputs into the production process, and provided an outlet for goods; neo-colonialism, political control gives way to economic control; Dependency theory sees the world as hierarchically organised, with the leading capitalist states in the centre or core of the global economy exploiting the poor states in the periphery, only the core states can make autonomous choices about domestic and foreign economic policies, and market mechanisms reinforce political and economic inequalities; NIE economic growth is a form of dependent development; reject the idea that there can be a meaningful redistribution of power and wealth within the capitalist system.#p#分頁標題#e#

The state – instrumentalist Marxist views and structuralist Marxism.

Marx and IPE – e.g. in India, England performed a dual function in destroying the old Asiatic society and in providing the foundation for Western society in Asia; the move to a capitalist mode of production as a ‘necessary evil.’

Lenin – argued that capitalism contributes to overproduction and underconsumption, to lower wages and employment for the working class, and to falling rates of profit for capitalists; this limits purchasing power and states have to look to other states abroad as an outlet for excess goods and profits; this allowed state elites to delay the collapse of advanced capitalist economies, as workers here could be temporarily bought of with higher wages (labour aristocracy); competition between states would lead to wars between imperialists. Capitalism does develop third world countries, by exporting capital, but this leads to further conflict as developing countries out-compete developed nations.

3 Dependency theory - reject the optimism of liberal modernisation theorists and maintain that the advanced capitalist countries either underdevelop or prevent Third World countries from achieving genuine autonomous development.

Origins – Marxism and Latin American structuralism; a fundamental emphasis on North South and Third World issues. Developed countries opposed to the development of Third World countries and foreign capitalists form alliances with elites in LDC’s to prevent this. Prebisch – Third World countries suffered from declining terms of trade, could develop only through government intervention and import substitution policies.

Basic tenets – the source of third world problems is related to the structure of the international economy and not the inefficient policy choices of developing countries; LDC possibilities for development, can be determined or constrained by developed states e.g. although some NIE’ have prospered workers in these countries often receive lower wages and produce technologically less sophisticated goods than those produced in the industrialised core, the production of capital goods is also limited, and ultimately they depend on imports of machinery, technology and foreign investment from the core; change may only occur via a breaking of linkages with the core countries.

Critiques – are terms defined accurately e.g. are there degrees of dependence, different forms of dependence, core versus periphery; is capitalism the major form of domination or powerful states; are there different Western versus Soviet models of domination? Is too much emphasis given to the international system and not enough to the dynamic of internal politics? Can dependency theory explain the development of China? Are prescriptions for change defined in appropriate detail?

4 World-System theory – start with the global system and then move to an analysis of individual countries; concerned also with relations between states in the core and the rise and fall of hegemonic states, take a long term historical perspective.#p#分頁標題#e#

The world system – a unit with a single division of labour and multiple cultural systems. World-systems can be of two main types: world-empires, which have a common political system, and world-economies, which do not have a common political system. Today there is only one world-system, a world-economy that is capitalist in form, which appropriates the surplus of the whole world-economy by core areas. States are not meaningful actors in their own right and neither the internal or external strength of a state can be viewed separately from its position in the world economy. However, a limited number of countries can ascend to the semi-periphery – the more advanced exemplars of dependent development. It is possible for states to change status in both an upwards and downwards direction. The semi-periphery contributes to the stability of the world economy; the continued expansion of the core combined with some growth of the semi-periphery has contributed to a less polarised and more politically stable capitalist world economy, although contradictions remain which threaten its long term survival.

Criticisms – places two much emphasis on external state factors and too little on internal ones; over-emphasis upon economic relations and underplays the role of the 留學生dissertation網state e.g. late industrialisers have often demonstrated successful development because of strong state leadership.

5 Gramscian analysis – to understand capitalist domination, the student must be familiar with the political, legal, cultural and ideological aspects of class struggle. Hegemony viewed in terms of class relationships – when a dominant class legitimates its power through institutions and makes concessions to encourage subordinate groups to support the existing social structure – for Gramsci, struggle should take the form of building a counter hegemony among subordinate groups.

In terms of international relations, the period 1945-65 is referred to as a hegemonic world order under the US, with world institutions founded upon and shaped by principles of political and economic liberalism.

Despite the solid foundations of the current transnational historic bloc, there are indications that dissatisfaction with transnational liberal forces could eventually stimulate a counterhegemonic response e.g. the IMF, World Bank structural adjustment programmes which are linked to pressures for privatisation, deregulation and trade liberalisation are creating resentment in some Third World recipient countries.