Editor: Ernst-Otto Czempiel

Towards a Theory of Transnational Empire

Strange, Susan. In Global Changes and Theoretical Challenges: Approaches to World Politics for the 1990s, edited by Ernst-Otto Czempiel and James N. Roseneau, 161-176. Lexington: Lexington Books, 1989.

In this article Strange offers only her second explicit excursion into the epistemology of international theories, the first being a similar section in States and Markets (1988). She argues that theories must be more than description, taxonomy, importation of models from other disciplines or quantitative and that theories must explain some aspect of the international system not obvious to 'commonsense'. In addition she argues for her own version of non-positivism stressing only that rationality of explanation is required for a theory to be scientific. In the second part of this article Strange argues for a non-territorial theory of imperialism based on her four structures of power. The transnational empire she identifies is centred on the 'court' in Washington DC, and she argues that new studies of empire are needed to understand this new type of transnational empire. What is required is a problem solving theory for such an empire, since it is manifestly in existence. Reprinted in: Political Regulation in the 'Great Crisis', edited by Werner Väth. 25-42. Berlin: Edition Sigma, 1989; and in Authority and Markets: Susan Strange’s Writings on International Political Economy, edited by Roger Tooze and Christopher May. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.

Keywords: Hegemony; Political Economy; Theory

Contributor(s): Susan Strange, Editor: Ernst-Otto Czempiel and Editor: James N. Roseneau
Keywords: Hegemony, Political Economy, Theory, 1980's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1989

Interdependence in the International Monetary System

Strange, Susan. In The Euro-American System: Economic and Political Relations Between North America and Western Europe, edited by Ernst-Otto Czempiel and Dankwar A. Rustow, 31-49. Frankfurt: Westview Press, 1976.

Strange briefly outlines the character of the international monetary system, noting that while it has become at least partially transnational, posited solutions are still conceived at a national level. This leads her to argue that there needs to be a better attempt made to fit the response to crisis to the level at which it is manifest. Having suggested that the central country in the monetary system (the U.S.) could either try to co-ordinate activities, or by its very dominance alleviate the crisis by putting its own house in order, she suggests the best (though least likely) solution would be some form of global central bank. This leads her to conclude by stressing the political issues at the centre of the international financial system and the need to included justice as well as order or security in the academic assessment of the crisis.

Keywords: Hegemony; Money and Finance

Contributor(s): Susan Strange, Editor: Ernst-Otto Czempiel and Editor: Dankwart A. Rustow
Keywords: Hegemony, Money and Finance, 1970's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1976