Hegemony

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

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

Cuba and After

Strange, Susan. In Year Book of World Affairs 1963, edited by George W. Keeton, Georg Schwarzenberger, 1-28. London: Stevens, 1963.

Resisting the prevailing 'informed' analysis that the Cuban Missile Crisis was more an apparent danger than a real one, Strange sides with the 'man in the street' to argue it was a very real moment of possible war and as such profoundly affected the US system of alliances. However, she also suggests that the immediate aftermath appears to have been a retreat into détente, rather than renewed confrontation. She then turns to survey the impact of the crisis on the various strands of the Western alliance(s), and concludes that the inability of Britain to choose between America and Europe is as much a product of an American inability to decide whether it is serious about an Atlantic Union or not. Interestingly as in her later work, Strange was concerned about the manner in which the US was a hegemonic power and the problem of political will when it was threatened outside its traditional regional sphere of domination, or by the needs of multilateralism in the international system.

Keywords: Hegemony; Security; United States; International Relations

Contributor(s): Susan Strange, Editor: George W. Keeton and Editor: Georg Schwarzenberger
Keywords: Hegemony, Security, United States, 1960's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1963

British Foreign Policy

Strange, Susan. In Year Book of World Affairs 1955, edited by George W. Keeton, Georg Schwarzenberger, 35-53. London: Stevens, 1955.

Strange argues that a state whose power is waning is more liable to make fatal mistakes. British economic survival could only be made possible by conditions of expanding world trade, rising standards of living in export markets and a minimum of economic nationalism. Britain's future thus largely depends on the US, as she is no longer as essential as a market and supplier of capital as she once was to the members of the Commonwealth. As she notes, a small fall in American consumption led to a large cut in American imports from the Sterling Area, revealing this dependence. Strange suggests that as a result a major role of British foreign policy is to sustain the US's role in the international economy to ensure continued expansion and growth.

Keywords: Hegemony; Money and Finance; Trade; United Kingdom; United States; Economic Development

Contributor(s): Susan Strange, Editor: George W. Keeton and Editor: Georg Schwarzenberger
Keywords: Hegemony, Money and Finance, Trade, United Kingdom, United States, 1950's and earlier, Susan Strange
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1955

The Economic Work of the United Nations

Strange, Susan. In Year Book of World Affairs 1954, edited by George W. Keeton, Georg Schwarzenberger, 118-140. London: Stevens, 1954.

Strange argues that governments have increased power over domestic economic forces, and feel that this power is necessary and desirable. The UN has generated and publicised debates surrounding economic development, and led indirectly to 'point four programme' financial aid. But the US has in practice been given a paternal right to define and prioritise the economic goals of the UN, and set the agenda of acceptable economic policies. Strange suggests that freedom of trade in the dollar area is seen as much more important to the creation of world free trade than relations between other trading states. She argues that the UN has failed in its over-optimistic aims because the responsibility for economic stability and progress was assumed by its members to take precedence over a wider responsibility for international economic progress and stability.

Keywords: Hegemony; Money and Finance; United States; Economic Development; United Nations

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

Year of Publication: 1954

The Atlantic Idea

Strange, Susan. In Year Book of World Affairs 1953, edited by George W. Keeton, Georg Schwarzenberger, 1-19. London: Stevens, 1953.

Strange discusses the fears of the British and French that the ideals of NATO would break down and be replaced by the domination of US arms and money. Strange suggests that in a bi-polar world, the US must be conciliatory to her allies because it is neither possible, nor does the US wish, to further its ends by force. Strange recognises the force of 'the Atlantic idea' as part of this project, and notes its defining role for these debates.

Keywords: Hegemony; Knowledge; Security; United States; International Relations; Knowledge Production

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

Year of Publication: 1953

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

Point Four. Helping Develop Half a World

Strange, Susan. Peacefinder Series: 7. London: United Nations, 1950.

Strange comments on the UN deliberations concerning the future of Palestine and highlights the central factor that gave the Zionists an in-built advantage at the assembly. While the Arabs were negotiating in a state that was essentially antipathetic to their struggle, their opposite numbers were surrounded by sympathisers and supporters both within and outside the organisation. She also discusses some of the limitations and problems with such negotiations within the forum of the UN, and alludes to structural impediments to the ‘fair’ settlement of differences.

Keywords: Hegemony; United States; International Relations; Economic Development

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Hegemony, United States, 1950's and earlier
Source and Medium: Report

Year of Publication: 1950

Truman's Point Four

Strange, Susan. In Year Book of World Affairs 1950, edited by W. Harold Dalgliesh, George W. Keeton, Georg Schwarzenberger, 264-288. London: Stevens, 1950.

Strange discusses Truman's fourth declared guiding rule of American foreign policy for the years 1949-1953, that 'Our aim should be to help the free peoples of the world, through their own efforts to produce more clothing, more materials for housing and more mechanical power to lighten their burdens', stressing the technical and international nature of future assistance. She notes that American 'internationalism' could be broken under the stresses of changing political and strategic circumstances. While the US needs to remain embedded within the international economy, the costs of technical co-operation are largely borne by the targeted Third World countries themselves. Strange points to the linkage between economics and politics, as a way of highlighting questions concerning the degree of freedom to use funds as recipients of US controlled aid and loans wish.

Keywords: Hegemony; United States; US Foreign Policy; International Relations

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

Year of Publication: 1950