Money and Finance

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

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

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

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

The Meaning of Multilateral Surveillance

Strange, Susan. In International Organisation: World Politics: Studies in Economic and Social Agencies, edited by Robert W. Cox, 231-247. London: Macmillan, 1969.

Taking the relationship between debtor and creditor countries as her starting point Strange argues that multilateral surveillance is not as draconian as it is presented. She notes that military expenditure is seldom included in the requests for debtor country adjustments. Despite the international economic organisations’ role, states were still able to manipulate their creditors through political pressures. Interestingly, Strange notes with great prescience that while at the time states could still play this role, with the continuing internationalisation of money markets (and the emergent technologies that made such developments possible), this would in the future present a strategic problem for states’ governments. The approach she favoured was for the reduction of indebtedness to be borne not by the deficit countries but rather by the surplus countries. That is, the solution to the debt crisis was not more adjustment in the ‘Third World’, but was some form of debt forgiveness.

Keywords: International Institutions, Money and Finance

Contributor(s): Susan Strange and Editor: Robert W. Cox
Keywords: International Institutions, Money and Finance, 1960's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1969

Debts, Defaulters, and Development

Strange, Susan. International Affairs 43, no. 3 (1967): 516-529.

Strange suggests that problems of national debt default have not been solved, merely suppressed by the expansion of credit provision. Developing states dependence on ‘supplier credit’, and frequent rescheduling of other debts will lead to eventual wide-spread default unless action is taken. She suggests that: principles governing international loans should be established; these ‘rules’ should be applied through aid-agencies and other international bodies; technical assistance to finance ministries should be available from multilateral institutions (the World Bank, possibly) to ensure states understand their fiscal position and their options. Strange argues that these measures are necessary to forestall a return to the nineteenth century policies of forced intervention, or economic ostracisation of developing states. Strange identifies the centrality of finance to international relations - a central theme of all her subsequent work.

Keywords: International Institutions; Money and Finance

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: International Institutions, Money and Finance, 1960's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1967

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 Commonwealth and the Sterling Area

Strange, Susan. In Year Book of World Affairs 1959, edited by George W. Keeton, Georg Schwarzenberger, 24-44. London: Stevens, 1959.

Strange discusses the problem of sterling's link with the politics of the Commonwealth, the interactions between the sterling area and the rest of the world economy and policy responses to national pressures. Interestingly she considers the reciprocal arrangements for dollar holding and settlement in London by the Commonwealth nations as approaching a 'socialist' ideal in attempting to provide funds, each to their need, from each as their ability warrants. In addition, Strange is critical of the separation of the national from the international in the analysis of international relations, a theme to which she would return repeatedly.

Keywords: Money and Finance; Monetary Policy; International Relations

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

Year of Publication: 1959

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

International Trade

Strange, Susan. In Money and Trade (A Background Special), edited by Wilfrid Eady, Bertrand Jouvenel, Susan Strange, 53-77. London: Batchworth Press, 1955.

Foregrounding the role of technology in the development of international trade, Strange discusses the difference between the theory of free trade and the actual patterns (and barriers) to international trade in the 1950s. This leads her to emphasise balance of payments problems linked to international monetary flows and political barriers to freer trade. Firmly arguing that expanding international trade will aid the poorest, Strange stresses the need for the rich countries to exploit their knowledge resources and allow manufacturing to progressively move to the under-developed areas of the international system.

Keywords: Knowledge; Money and Finance; Trade; Knowledge Production; Technology

Contributor(s): Susan Strange, , Editor: Bertrand Jouvenel and Editor: Susan Strange
Keywords: Knowledge, Money and Finance, Trade, 1950's and earlier
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