Europe

Knowledge and Structural-Power in the International Political Economy

Mytelka, Lynn K. In Strange Power: Shaping the Parameters of International Relations and International Political Economy, edited by Thomas Lawton, James Rosenau, Amy C. Verdun, 61-78. London: Routledge, 2000.

Keywords: Knowledge; Structural Power, Power; Europe; Political Economy; International Relations

Contributor(s): Lynn K. Mytelka, Editor: Thomas Lawton, Editor: James Rosenau and Editor: Amy C. Verdun
Keywords: Knowledge, Structural Power, Power, Europe, Political Economy, Strange-Influenced Works, 2000's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2000

Who are EU? Ambiguities in the Concept of Competitiveness

Strange, Susan. Journal of Common Market Studies 36, no. 1 (1998): 101-114.

Building on the argument of Robert Reich that the location of economic activity (in a state) was more important for its competitiveness than the ownership of companies (whose production was carried out abroad), Strange suggests that unless European policy recognises the importance of society based competitiveness rather than firm-based competitiveness, Europe's economic problems cannot be overcome. Strange then discusses European trade policy (which needs to be more predictable), investment policy (which should be more open), European Monetary Union (which while stabilising may have little effect on inward investment from non-European investors), and welfare issues (which need to continue to cushion technological-unemployment). Strange concludes that while states (and the European Union) cannot directly intervene in markets successfully, they can act as 'good landlords' to encourage the location of activities on their territory, and by doing so gain the benefits which Reich suggests are possible.

Keywords: Europe; Money and Finance; Production; Trade; European Integration

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Europe, Money and Finance, Production, Trade, 1990's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1998

Why do International Organisations Never Die?

Strange, Susan. In Autonomous Policy Making by International Organisations, edited by Bob Reinalda, Bertjan Verbeek, 213-220. London: Routledge, 1998.

In this concluding chapter of a collection of articles drawn from a series of workshops organised under the auspices of the ECPR, Strange reflects on the legacy of The Anatomy of Influence see (1974b) and suggests that a focus on international organisation remains a largely European enterprise due to the continuing dominance of liberal institutionalism and (neo)Realism. After applauding the project in the first section, she then turns to some criticisms of the collection's contributors. She suggests that some of the authors have been unable to avoid capture by their subjects and are too kind to the self-perpetuating bureaucracies and secretariats of many international organisations. She argues that these bureaucracies have a symbiotic relationship with the members' governments and thus are able to ride out many local problems. Lastly she briefly alludes (again) to the failure to include the impact of changes in market conditions, changes in technology and the role of MNCs in the international political economic analysis of international organisations.

Keywords: Corporations; Europe; International Institutions; Theory; Transnational Corporations

Contributor(s): Susan Strange, Editor: Bob Reinalda and Editor: Bertjan Verbeek
Keywords: Corporations, Europe, International Institutions, Theory, 1990's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1998

Europe's Future in the Global Political Economy

Strange, Susan. In Reflections on the Identity of Europe: Global Transatlantic Perspectives, edited by Thomas Row. Bologna: The John Hopkins University Bologna Center, 1996.

Strange argues in this reflection on the future of Europe that too little analytical attention has been paid to the corporate sector and its role in three important structural shifts in the global political economy: new and faster technological changes that have speeded up the competitive cycle (and reduced the time for investors to recover their outlay on innovation); moves in finance towards a much more globalised financial sector with a reduction in the role of national (or in this case European Union) policy interventions; and a shift in the location of production, facilitated by the other two changes. This, she argues, means that the chief dimension of difference in the global political economy is no longer state political but rather is related to corporate activity and interest. In the face of the relative inaction (caused by political sclerosis at the EU), she argues that to understand the political economy, analysts can no longer ignore or simplify the political economy of the private sector but rather need to include corporations as a central element of their analysis; There is no longer a European orientation to the global political economy separate from the role and activity of international business.

Keywords: Corporations; Europe; Money and Finance; Production; Technology; Transnational Corporations

Contributor(s): Susan Strange and Editor: Thomas Row
Keywords: Corporations, Europe, Money and Finance, Production, 1990's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1996

European Business in Japan. A Policy Cross-roads?

Strange, Susan. Journal of Common Market Studies 33, no. 1 (1995): 1-25.

Contrasting European and American proposals for the perceived difficulty of setting up foreign owned subsidiaries in Japan, Strange argues that this is a central issue for any nascent European foreign policy initiative. She argues that it may now be beyond any nationally elected government (even in the US.) to re-impose its hegemonic intent on other states. But some co-ordinated pressure from Japanese and European policy bodies may support the reintroduction into global politics of a more interdependent (and less free-market) approach to commercial and financial diplomacy. This would be to adopt the policy of 'gaiatsu' (pressure from foreigners) to encourage a less disruptive US. foreign policy in these areas. Also published as EUI Working Paper RSC No.94/10.

Keywords: Europe; Japan; Interdependence

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Europe, 1990's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1995

The Power Gap: Member States and the World Economy

Strange, Susan. In Economic Policy Making and the European Union, edited by Frank Brouwer, Valerio Linter, Mike Newman, 19-26. London: Federal Trust, 1994.

Strange criticises arguments that suggest the European Union is a sui generis political institution. She criticises such claims, self avowedly, not from a lengthy engagement with European political analysis, but from a more global concern with political economy. She suggests that except for the Commission there is little to distinguish the EU from some other intergovernmental organisations. And given the Commission's inability to move on anything but essentially trivial matters she remains sceptical of the entire European project, remaining as she contends merely a sophisticated free-trade area. The problem, however, is not a particularly European one; the decline of state power vis-a-vis the global economy has been evident for some time. Only by recognising the problems for sovereign political authorities in the global political economy and planning for new constitutional developments in Europe to address this problem can this 'power gap' be narrowed. Strange here implicitly draws on the elements of her work that have supported the 'state-in-decline' thesis even though at other times she seems less willing to accept the absolute decline of state power than such arguments suggest.

Keywords: Europe; Global Governance; States; Global System; European Integration

Contributor(s): Susan Strange, Editor: Frank Brouwer and Editor: Valerio Linter
Keywords: Europe, Global Governance, States, 1990's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1994

Europe 1992 - Some Personal Observations (SAIIA occasional paper)

Strange, Susan. Johannesburg: South African Institute of International Affairs, 1990.

In this record of a personal address, Strange suggests the 1992 project served both the European collective interest (in the face of Asian and American competition) and the national interests of the major European states (France and Germany), though as notes Britain's position is less clear cut. Post 1992 Strange suggests the democratic deficit (in European institutions), finance (the European Central Bank, co-ordination of banking regulations and the single currency), defence (and public procurement), reciprocity in international trade, and R&D are areas which are likely to be the most important for governments to attend to. But she also notes that identifying the boundaries of Europe, social (welfare) policy, immigration and national restrictive practices are all problems which though currently marginal will be aggravated by 1992.

Keywords: Europe; European Integration

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Europe, 1990's
Source and Medium: Working Paper

Year of Publication: 1990

The Persistence of Problems in EC-US Relations: Conflicts of Perception?

Strange, Susan. In The External Relations of the European Community, in Particular EC-US Relations, edited by Jürgen Schwarze, 109-118. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlasgesellschaft, 1989.

Strange suggests that the two primary activities of any political organisation are the furtherance of security and the control of money, and it is these issues that remain at the centre of the problem of US-Europe relations. Here Strange again challenges the assumption of a loss of American hegemony (and therefore power) in the global system. This leads her to emphasise the need for both political will by the system's strongest state as well as international and multilateral efforts to attend to the problems of the global system, for it is different perception on either side of the Atlantic of America's potential to act which are causing continued friction. While the Europeans see an America unwilling to act, the US Government claims it cannot act.

Keywords: Europe; Hegemony; Money and Finance; Security; United States

Contributor(s): Susan Strange and Editor: Jürgen Schwarze
Keywords: Europe, Hegemony, Money and Finance, Security, United States, 1980's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1989

A Dissident View

Strange, Susan. In One European Market? A Critical Analysis of the Commission's Internal Market Strategy, edited by Roland Bieber, John Pinder, Joseph H.H. Weiler, 73-76. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlasgesellschaft, 1988.

A brief article in which Strange argues that in the national competition for market shares within the global economy, there are two important strategies, neither of which at that time could the European Community realistically follow. Firstly, state procurement can be used as a stimulus to research and development and secondly the control of market access can be used as a bargaining lever. Unless the single market is used in this way, and a common defence policy is adopted, along with centralised procurement, then Strange envisages Europe (even with closer union) still loosing out to the Americans and Japanese. Strange reveals her mercantilist side, as she had done in her discussions of protectionism in 'The Management of Surplus Capacity: Or how does theory stand up to protectionism 1970s style?' (1979), 'Protectionism and World Politics' ( 1985) and 'Defending Benign Mercantilism' (1988).

Keywords: Europe; Markets; Trade; Economic Competition; European Integration

Contributor(s): Susan Strange, Editor: Roland Bieber and Editor: John Pinder
Keywords: Europe, Markets, Trade, 1980's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1988

Politics, Trade and Money

Strange, Susan. In Europe, America and the World Economy, edited by Loukas Tsoukalis, 243-255. Oxford: Basil Blackwell for the College of Europe, 1986.

Strange identifies two main obstructions to a constructive dialogue between the United States and Europe over international trade: America's lack of interest in maintaining a steady provision of credit to the interdependent international system; and Europe's inability to take responsibility for its own defence and security, and therefore reducing its dependence on America. This leads Strange to conclude that the U.S. has abused rather than lost its power in the international economy, refusing to allow the separation the international risks from domestic bank activities in developing countries, taking no notice of the Brandt's commissions call for a independent multilateral financial institution, and not taking the role of international lender of last resort. This refusal led to the upheavals which the system was then experiencing. Underlying these problems is the lack of political will on behalf of the United States government to act as a responsible hegemon. Thus the problem is not declining US power, but rather the lack of a counter-balance from Europe, a theme she first explored at length in 'Cuba and After' (1963) and to which she would return to in 'The persistence of problems in EC-US relations: conflicts of perception?' (1989) and elsewhere.

Keywords: Money and Finance; Hegemony; Europe; United States

Contributor(s): Susan Strange and Editor: Loukas Tsoukalis
Keywords: Money and Finance, Hegemony, Europe, United States, 1980's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1986

The Credit Crisis: A European View

Strange, Susan. SAIS Review 3, no. 2 (1983): 171-181.

Strange here uses the term crisis, but notes that the implication that some sort of solution is imminent is less than certain. She suggests that the world economic crisis has three interrelated aspects: unemployment, ‘flagging trade’, and unstable money. As in ‘The Management of Surplus Capacity: Or how does theory stand up to protectionism 1970s style?’ (1979) she shows some scepticism to the arguments that demonise protectionism, and suggests this is an essentially ideological position that would not repay global implementation. After briefly rehearsing the global financial history of the previous decade, Strange suggests that financial regulation which in the last analysis is dependent on certain sovereign states, can never be disinterested. As she would argue in more extended analyses later, she sees the role of the American financial system as destabilising because of the priority it gives to the interests of the domestic political system. Indeed until the United States is willing to ‘lead’ the global system, instead of working in its own interest, those interests will be compromised. Strange, as she would do often in future works, suggests a pragmatic acceptance of American reach over the global system, and suggests a sort of civilising mission to educate them into responsible leadership.

Keywords: Europe; Hegemony; Money and Finance; United States

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Europe, Hegemony, United Staes, Money and Finance, 1980's
Source and Medium: Jounral Article

Year of Publication: 1983

Germany and the World Monetary System

Strange, Susan. In West Germany: A European and Global Power, edited by Wilfrid L. Kohl and Georgio Basevi, 45-62. Lexington: Lexington Books, 1980.

Strange suggests that for any major state in the global system, such as Germany there are five roles that could be adopted by its government: ‘leader of the system’, ‘obedient ally’, ‘bigemonist partner’, ‘lone ranger’ or ‘leader of the opposition’. After discussing recent developments in the political economy of German and Europe, Strange suggests that it is time for Germany to consider a role more like that adopted briefly by De Gaulle’s France in the early 1960s, that of ‘leader of the opposition’. Essentially, Strange suggests that increasingly Germany must find the political will to match its growing economic importance in the global system.

Keywords: Europe; Money and Finance

Contributor(s): Susan Strange, Editor: Wilfrid L Kohl and Ediotor: Georgio Basevi
Keywords: Europe, Money and Finance, 1980's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1980

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

The Sterling Problem and the Six

Strange, Susan. London: Chatham House/PEP, 1967.

In this small pamphlet Strange analyses the twin roles of sterling in the international economy - that of reserve currency and of vehicle currency (in which transactions are carried out), in a precursor to her typology of currencies in Sterling and British Policy (1971). She argues that while the City has benefited from the expansion of the ‘Euro-currency’ markets, in its ‘middleman’ role, this has led to a number of problems for sterling both in the wider context of the international economy and, more specifically, the context of the emerging European Community. Sterling had become more vulnerable to changes elsewhere. She is sceptical about the possibility of Britain enjoying any financial benefit from joining the ‘six’, noting that the CAP payments and the IMF repayments together would form an unendurable strain on the exchequer.

Keywords: Europe; Money and Finance; United Kingdom; European Integration

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Europe, Money and Finance, United Kingdom, 1960's
Source and Medium: Book

Year of Publication: 1967

The Sterling Question

Strange, Susan. In Britain and the Common Market, edited by Anthony Moncrieff, 43-50. London, BBC, 1967.

In this text of a radio talk first broadcast on 19th February 1967, Strange summarises the arguments she made in The Sterling Problem and the Six (1967). Discussing the links between Britain and the European Community, she examines the international position of sterling in a time of monetary crisis. Noting both the lack of reserves held by the British government and Britain’s extra-European financial commitments, Strange argues that de Gaulle may be correct in thinking it is impossible for Britain to act ‘like good Europeans’. Thus, one proposed solution to the sterling problem, monetary association with Europe, would have little support on the Continent. Strange finally focuses on the British government’s economic philosophy and its lack of political will as the key problems; issues she would return to frequently, not least of all in her later criticisms of American foreign economic policy.

Keywords: Europe; Money and Finance; European Integration

Contributor(s): Susan Strange and Editor: Anthony Moncrieff
Keywords: Europe, Money and Finance, 1960's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1967

The Schumann Plan

Strange, Susan. In Year Book of World Affairs 1951, edited by George W. Keeton, Georg Schwarzenberger, 109-130. London: Stevens, 1951.

Again discussing the linkage between politics and economics, Strange points out that economic integration could not be achieved without political control from above, that it is not possible for economic integration to move forward without the political will for it to happen. However the clear aim of the Schumann Plan was to redress the balance of economic power in Western Europe in favour of France and at the expense of Germany, rather than necessarily provide for increased integration.

Keywords: Europe; Hegemony; Political Economy; United States; International Relations; European Integration

Contributor(s): Susan Strange, Editor: George W. Keeton and Editor: Georg Schwarzenberger
Keywords: Europe, Hegemony, Political Economy, United States, 1950's and earlier
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1951