The 1970's

Works from the years 1970 to 1979

Debt and Default in the International Political Economy

Strange, Susan. In Debt and the Less Developed Countries, edited by Jonathan David Aronson, 7-26. Boulder: Westview Press, 1979.

Explicitly linking back to 'Debts, Defaulters and Development' (1967) Strange examines the contemporary political economy of international debt, but also seeks to put this situation into a longer historical context than merely the previous ten years. Suggesting that states can choose to grow by direction (the socialist route) or via debt, she argues that recently the combination of the welfare state and more complex credit system has allowed many states to reduce the debt risk they explicitly face and therefore expand through the extensive use of credit. In the second part of the chapter she places the recent debt crises into the context of international credit since the mid-nineteenth century, and concludes that despite the supposed risks of default, historically the best growth rates have been in those countries extended the greatest credit (in Latin America). Furthermore, provided it is well managed there is nothing to indicate that a larger pool of credit (and therefore indebtedness) is any more problematic than a smaller pool, explicitly modifying her conclusion regarding the links between risky loans and political conflict in 'Debts, Defaulters and Development'.

Keywords: Money and Finance

Contributor(s): Susan Strange and Editor: Johnathan David Aronson
Keywords: Money and Finance, 1970's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1979

The Mamagement of Surplus Capacity: Or How Does Theory Stand up to Protectionism 1970s style?

Strange, Susan. International Organisation 33, no. 3 (1979): 303-334.

In this article, which is a clear precursor to The Politics of International Surplus Capacity (with Roger Tooze, 1981), Strange discusses the management of surplus capacity in three sectors of the international economy - steel, textiles and shipbuilding, and the recourse to protectionism. She then goes on to discuss the problems this implies for mainstream theories of international economics. She argues that Liberalism, theories of development, and organisational or functionalist theories do not offer satisfactory explanations for the resurgence of tariff barriers. This is partly because none of these theories deal with economic power satisfactorily, though Strange offers little in the way of a corrective. She concludes by again arguing that it is increasingly difficult to draw a line between international and domestic policy, and thus theories that only deal with one or other side of this duality will by implication fail in their analysis. An earlier version was presented at the Tokyo meeting of the ISA, BISA and the Japan Association of International Relations in October 1977.

Keywords: Production; Theory; Trade; Structural Power, Power

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Production, Theory, Trade, Structural Power, 1970's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1979

The Management of Surplus Productive Capacity

Strange, Susan. In Economic Issues of the Eighties, edited by Nake M. Kamrany and Richard H. Day, 226-246. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979.

This chapter is a lightly edited version of 'The Management of Surplus Capacity: Or how does theory stand up to protectionism 1970s style?' (1979).

Keywords: Production; Structural Power, Power; Theory; Trade

Contributor(s): Susan Strange, Editor: Nake M. Kamrany and Editor: Richard H. Day
Keywords: Production, Structural Power, Power, Theory, Trade, 1970's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1979

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

International Monetary Relations

Strange, Susan. In International Economic Relations in the Western World 1959-71, edited by Andrew Shonfield, 18-25. London: Oxford University Press, 1976.

While much more than an expanded and internationalised version of Sterling and British Policy (1971), this work covers much of the same period and material. Strange spends little time here developing further her theories and refers the reader to 'International Economic Relations I: The Need for an Interdisciplinary Approach' (1972) for her thoughts regarding the discipline of international studies. After an extended narrative of international monetary relations for the period, she concludes that the increasing politicisation of the international monetary system, indicates that there is an emerging international political economy, interdependent though dominated by the United States, where bargains between actors are struck through the operation of both political and economic power. However what later would be ‘structural power’ is not theorised at this stage, although the central role of ‘bargains’ emerges as a subject of concern.

Keywords: Hegemony; Money and Finance; Interdependence

Contributor(s): Susan Strange and Editor: Andrew Shonfield
Keywords: Hegemony, Money and Finance, 1970's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1976

International Shipping and the Developing Countries

Strange, Susan, Richard Holland. World Development 4, no. 3 (1976): 241-251.

Focusing on the importance of sea transport for developing countries that need to gain access to other markets (both for imports and their own exports) Strange and Holland examine the political economy of liner conferences by which international shipping capacity is managed. This private management system does not serve the developing states well leading UNCTAD to press for fairer international rules of conduct for international shipping. On one side the authors suggest that developing countries, where possible may need to develop national carriers to allow them to influence the management of shipping as well offering an secure avenue for their own trade. However, the authors also stress that a political response to the problems is required from the developed states before the problem leads to major disruption in international trade. The authors conclude that a form of international shipping authority needs to be set up to replace the market driven liner conferences.

Keywords: International Institutions; Trade; Transportation; International Development

Contributor(s): Susan Strange and Richard Holland
Keywords: International Institutions, 1970's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1976

Review of Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye (1977) Power and Interdependence: World Politics in Transition and Edward L. Morse (1976) Modernization and Transformation of International Relations

Strange, Susan. International Affairs 53, no. 2 (1977): 270-273.

In this short review of two important books in the development of International Political Economy, Strange briefly suggests the position which she would adopt more forthrightly later in her career: that IPE was not a sub-discipline of International Relations, but rather sought to completely redefine what it is to study the global system.

Keywords: Political Economy; Theory; International Relations

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Political Economy, Theory, 1970's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1977

The Study of Transnational Relations

Strange, Susan. International Affairs 52, no. 3 (1976): 333-345.

Published alongside 'Who Runs World Shipping?' (1976). In this article Strange sets out an outline method for sectoral analysis in the international economy. This is prefaced by a critical engagement with the Nye and Keohane 'transnational politics' approach. After stressing the inseparability of politics and economics, and the crucial authority/market trade-off, she suggests three analytical questions that must be asked in any sectoral analysis; questions about the loci and distribution of power over economic processes, the who, why, and how of economic intervention, and the question of the consequences, and benefits. Only by building up from systematic sectoral analyses can the asymmetrical bargaining processes, the impact of technology, the influence of markets and the politicisation of the international political economy be understood.

Keywords: Political Economy; Structural Power, Power; Theory

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Political Economy, Structural Power, Power, Theory, 1970's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1976

Who Runs World Shipping?

Strange, Susan. International Affairs 52, no. 3 (1976): 346-367.

Published alongside 'The Study of Transnational Relations?' (1976). Based on the theory developed in that article, Strange's sectoral analysis (of world shipping), which carries some material forward from 'International shipping and the developing countries' (with Richard Holland, 1976).

Keywords: Theory; Trade; International Institutions; Transportation; International Development

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Theory, Trade, International Institutions, 1970's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1976

The Financial Factor and the Balance of Power

Strange, Susan. In Foreign Policy: Policy Making and Implementation, edited by James Barber, Josephine Negro, Micheal Smith, 35-46. Milton Keynes: Open University, 1975.

Strange presents the Soviet-American balance of power alongside the balance of power in the international monetary system to make links between supposedly different sectors of the international system. While these balances function in different ways, Strange prefaces her remarks with a short argument for an International Political Economy approach to problems rather than a predominantly political or predominantly economic account. This short piece illustrates her argument about the applicability of her IPE approach, but does not include her more usual extended criticism of previous analyses from International Relations or International Economics.

Keywords: Money and Finance; Political Economy; Structural Power, Power

Contributor(s): Susan Strange, Editor: James Barber, Editor: Josephine Negro and Editor: Michael Smith
Keywords: Money and Finance, Political Economy, Structural Power, Power, 1970's, Susan Strange
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1975

What is Economic Power, and Who Has it?

Strange, Susan. International Journal 30, no. 2 (1975): 207-224.

Here Strange commits to print an early version of the structure of power theory which she would develop over the next thirteen years. In this manifestation, there are three dimensions of power in the international political economy - security, 'ideology' and economic. There is more concern, though, with a location of four level or stages at which economic power is apparent - the world market structure; international co-operative relations; national/governmental control of markets; and the operational level of the economic transactions themselves. The importance of the history of bargains for the international structure is identified, but not developed fully. This is based on a paper given to the ISA Conference in March 1973 entitled 'The Market as an International Actor - The Case of the Eurocurrency Markets.' Reprinted in: Authority and Markets: Susan Strange’s Writings on International Political Economy, edited by Roger Tooze and Christopher May. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.

Keywords: Political Economy; Structural Power, Power; Theory; International Economics

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Political Economy, Structural Power, Power, Theory, 1970's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1975

Arab Oil and International Finance

Strange, Susan. The Ditchley Journal 1 (1974): 10-23.

Essentially a conference report, Strange discusses the meeting held at Ditchley in December 1973 to discuss the financial prospects and problems for industry and government in the world economy, and the inescapable problem of the oil crisis. Discussing the various aspects of monetary order, from balance of payments problems and trade barriers, to financial flows, she argues that at this point too little work had been done to understand the effects and causes of shifts in monetary flows. In a repeated theme of much of Strange’s work on finance she argues strongly for a move away from an exclusively economic/financial analysis of the problem, and a (re)introduction of political analysis. Again Strange, although less explicitly than elsewhere, argues for a ‘new’ International Political Economy.

Keywords: Hegemony; International Institutions; Money and Finance; Structural Power, Power

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Hegemony, International Institutions, Money and Finance, Structural Power, Power, 1970's, Susan Strange
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1974

IMF: Monetary Managers

Strange, Susan. In The Anatomy of Influence: Decision Making in International Organisation, edited by Robert W. Cox and Harold K. Jacobson, 263-297. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974.

This is a detailed case study of the IMF, which Strange uses to back up her warning that there can be no justification for an analytical division between the economic and the political. She argues that the IMF can only be understood within its international political context, and suggests that any institutional changes will reflect the continuing development of the international economy. It is important to recognise that the US is its chief initiator of policy and influence, both directly through its constitutionally predominant position in the organisation and through its wider impact on the international environment in which the IMF operates. Although not a full argument for structural power, this article recognises that relational power is insufficient to fully explain power relations within the IMF.

Keywords: Money and Finance; Political Economy

Contributor(s): Susan Strange, Editor: Robert W. Cox and Editor: Harold K. Jacobson
Keywords: Money and Finance, Political Economy, 1970's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1974

International Business and the EEC

Strange, Susan. In The Eruopean Economic Community, edited by James Barber, 82-95. Milton Keynes: Open University, 1974.

Strange discusses the relationship between international business and the EEC by briefly examining three partly overlapping assertions: that the main achievements of the EEC have resulted not from the community’s own work but from the impact of international business; that international business is a ‘Trojan horse’ for American influence and interest in Europe; and that the EEC is a necessary response to the problems brought by international business. She then concludes it is impossible to separate politics and economics, and that the indicators used to measure the level of European integration are unable to capture what is actually happening. Furthermore, the impact of international business is becoming a transnational process across states rather than an international process between them. Thus she advocates further moves to political unity in Europe to counter-balance the power of international business.

Keywords: Corporations; Europe; Transnational Corporations; European Integration

Contributor(s): Susan Strange and Editor: James Barber
Keywords: Corporations, Europe, 1970's, Susan Strange
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1974

International Economic Relations I: The Need for an Interdisciplinary Approach

Strange, Susan. In The Study of International Affairs: Essays in Honour of Kenneth Younger, edited by Roger Morgan, 63-84. London: RIIA/Oxford University Press, 1972.

Strange’s second major attack on the discipline of international economics as it then stood, see also 'International economics and international relations: a case of mutual neglect' (1970). She derides the academic ‘apartheid’ that separates off political considerations from the economic and argues that what is required is a single international studies discipline that encompasses both the politics and economics of international relations (what would eventually become International Political Economy). The only part of international studies that has moved in this direction is ‘development economics’. Their openness to the insights of other approaches needs to be adopted by other sectors of study. She argues that this should start in the universities with more emphasis on multi-disciplinary training.

Keywords: Political Economy; Theory; International Economics; International Development

Contributor(s): Susan Strange and Editor: Roger Morgan
Keywords: Politcal Economy, Theory, 1970's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1972

Review of: R.J Barber The American Corporation: Its Power, Its Money, Its Politics

Strange, Susan. International Journal 27, no. 2 (1972): 308-309.

Strange feels that the author overstates the political power and influence of multinational in themselves. She identifies a close connection between the US government and larger corporations. Interestingly this is a position that she gradually moves away from in subsequent work, identifying transnational firms as actors in their own right by 67), arguing for their major importance as actors in the international political economy.

Keywords: Corporations; Hegemony; Transnational Corporations

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Corporations, Hegemony, 1970's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1972

The Dollar Crisis 1971

Strange, Susan. International Affairs 48, no. 2 (1972): 191-216.

Using the 'Dollar Crisis' as a way of examining the problems which beset academic approaches to international relations Strange suggests that: foreign policy analysis seems unable to recognise the centrality of economic problems for states; (Neo)functionalism is far too optimistic concerning the possibility of international integration; much 'abstract theorising', such as game theory, seems to have no connection with what is happening in the international system; and international economics has diverted attention away from international political problems. Strange forcefully argues that: political economy is crucial to understanding international relations; the US is dominant due to its financial power, not its military or economic might; internationalisation (or now 'globalisation') diminishes the prospective advantages of regional economic solutions; the 'market' must be understood as an actor! Bearing these ideas in mind she then examines the 'Dollar Crisis' concluding that international institutions were revealed as powerless when the US wished to follow a specific policy (revealing its power). Strange would continue to refine this position during the next two decades.

Keywords: Hegemony; International institutions; Markets; Money and Finance; Political Economy

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Hegemony, International Institutions, Markets, Money and Finance, Political Economy, 1970's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1972

The Multinational Corporation and the National Interest

Strange, Susan. In Decision Making in Britain, edited by James Barber, 165-178. Milton Keynes: Open University, 1972.

In one of her earliest pieces to deal directly with multinational companies or corporations Strange argues that an analysis of the companies not only leads to both domestic and foreign policy making but also into the realm of international (regulatory) policy making. Much of the text is taken up with a discussion of the likely conflicts in interest between governments and corporations with multinational operations (as she prefers to term them). In the main she is concerned to note the national interest in control and the difficulty of trying to control non-national companies, but she notes the already troublesome problems of taxation and regulation. She concludes that rather than threats by other states, the main problems that states need to deal with are linked with the operations of international business in one way or another.

Keywords: Corporations; Political Economy; Transnational Corporations; International Economics

Contributor(s): Susan Strange and Editor: James Barber
Keywords: Corportations, Political Economy, 1970's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1972

Sterling and British Policy

Strange, Susan. London: Oxford University Press, 1971.

Strange proposes a four element theoretical framework for international currencies in the international political economy: Neutral currencies; Top currencies; Master Currencies; and Negotiated currencies, where each category exhibits certain economic and political characteristics. A currency may display more than one set of characteristics but will belong predominantly to one category. She then goes on to discuss the development of the international political economy in light of the decline of sterling and the rise of the dollar. The discussion of the sectoral implications for Britain is firmly placed in its international political context, prefiguring Strange’s later argument that sectoral analysis should precede general analysis of the international political economy.

Keywords: Money and Finance; Political Economy; Theory; United Kingdom

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Money and Finance, Political Economy, Theory, United Kingdom, 1970's
Source and Medium: Book

Year of Publication: 1971

Sterling and British Policy: A Political View

Strange, Susan. International Affairs 47, no. 2 (1971): 302-315.

Strange sets the decline of sterling and the rise of the dollar in the context of international politics. She stresses the need to integrate economic studies with those of international relations. Both state behaviour and the behaviour of international society, hitherto interpreted in terms of power and politics should now be extended to take in the monetary factor especially in the light of economic interdependence - the monetary factor is bound to become increasingly important in understanding state behaviour. These views are then developed in Sterling and British Policy (1971) while the importance of monetary factors is a theme which underlies all of her subsequent work.

Keywords: Money and Finance; United Kingdom; Interdependence

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Money and Finance, United Kingdom, 1970's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1971

The United Nations and International Economic Relations

Strange, Susan. In The Evolving United Nations: A Prospect for Peace?, edited by Kenneth J. Twichet, 100-119. London: Europa Publications for the David Davies Memorial Institute of International Studies, 1971.

Contrasting a Unitarian ('one-world') or egalitarian vision of the United Nations mission with a reformist position, Strange argues that despite some early hopes that the UN might remake the global economy, its subsequent history has revealed it to be largely powerless over much of international economic relations. Where it has been able to influence the international economy this has been through symbolic actions rather than by direct intervention. Here, Strange stresses the political embeddedness of international markets, and relates the inability of the UN to intervene to the lack of any overarching international political authority, either represented by the UN or other international organisations.

Keywords: Political Economy; United Nations; International Economics

Contributor(s): Susan Strange and Editor: Kenneth J. Twitchet
Keywords: Political Economy, 1970's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1971

International Economics and International Relations: a Case of Mutual Neglect

Strange, Susan. International Affairs 46, no. 2 (1970): 304-315.

Strange’s first call for the development of International Political Economy as a separate discipline. She identifies a major void between the academic study of international relations and the study of international economics. The failure to fill this void will result in a loss of relevance for the subjects and an inability to deal with the major problems that beset the international economy. This will also lead to the inability to analyse the two main tendencies in the international economic system; growing international co-operation and organisation, and increased domestic defensiveness over national welfare issues. Only by introducing economics into International Relations courses, and politics into International Economics courses could these shortcomings be addressed. Reprinted in: Authority and Markets: Susan Strange’s Writings on International Political Economy, edited by Roger Tooze and Christopher May. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.

Keywords: Political Economy; Theory; Foundational Work; International Relations; International Economics

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Political Economy, Theory, Foundational Work, 1970's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1970

International Money Matters

Strange, Susan. International Affairs 46, no. 4 (1970): 737-743.

Strange uses a survey of a number of recent textbooks (and other writing) on international economics to criticise the economics profession as a whole for taking too little account of politics. Most economists are satisfied with international growth and rising ‘efficiency’ she argues without ever asking questions regarding the evident inequalities in the intentional economy or the political dimensions of the uneven growth between countries. These criticisms were instrumental in her call in other writing around this time for the establishment of a discipline of International Political Economy.

Keywords: Money and Finance; Political Economy

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Money and Finance, Political Economy, 1970's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1970

The Politics of International Currencies

Strange, Susan. World Politics 23, no. 2 (1970): 215-231.

Here Strange argues that because of interdependence states are not so much defenders of national territories or peoples but of national currencies and monetary systems. Conflict can be caused by one monetary system damaging another. The expansion of the international economy requires more and more sophisticated and complex monetary and financial arrangements and the forms of association among them. Strange starts to map out a political theory of international currencies which is developed in Sterling and British Policy (1971).

Keywords: Money and Finance; Political Economy

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Money and Finance, Political Economy, 1970's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1970