Production

A Strange Approach to Information, Network, Sharing, and Platform Societies

Bannerman Sara, Angela Orasch. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 53-80. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Susan Strange’s framework for international political economic analysis emphasises the importance of the interrelationships between what she saw as four interlinked structures and sources of power in the global economy: security, production, finance, and knowledge. As change occurs in one structure, it is important to systematically consider the implications of such changes in the other four structures. This chapter provides an overview of how the knowledge structure interacts with the other three structures of power. Second, it assesses the extent to which four major works related to transformations in the knowledge structure—Daniel Bell’s The Coming of the Post-Industrial Society (1976), Manuel Castells’ trilogy The Network Society (first published 1996–1998), Yochai Benkler’s The Wealth of Networks (2006), and Nick Srnicek’s Platform Capitalism (2017)—examine the interrelationships between Strange’s four structures, and the consequences for their overall conclusions.

Keywords: Knowledge; Security; Finance; Production

Contributor(s): Sara Bannerman, Angela Orasch, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Security, Finance, Production, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Power and Counter-Power: Knowledge Structure and the Limits of Control.

David, Matthew, Cynthia Meersohn Schmidt. Sociological Research Online 24, no. 1 (2019): 21-37.

In this article, we explore Susan Strange's multidimensional and non-reductive international political economy (IPE) approach to structural power. Strange's key weakness is the failure to account for her knowledge structure's regulative form relative to her security, production and financial structures. We seek to develop Strange's account through the addition of Manuel Castells' account of digital network structures. Castells' morphogenic structural approach to digital network power helps to clarify the mechanisms by which today's knowledge structure achieves autonomy, internal regulation and generative capacity. This sociological completion of Strange's theory, an international socio-political economy approach as it were, better explains the capacity and limits of today's digital network knowledge structure to resist reduction to other structural interests. Strange's non-reductive structural approach to power is significant for sociology as it helps identify 'social order' in a global age, but an additional sociological dimension is also necessary for the fulfilment of Strange's theoretical project.

Keywords: Knowledge; Production; Security; Money and Finance; General Framework

Contributor(s): Matthew David and Cynthia Meersohn Schmidt
Keywords: Knowledge, Production, Security, Money and Finance, General Framework, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 2019

Precarious Ownership of the Internet of Things in the Age of Data

Tusikov, Natasha. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 121-148. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

The growth of the Internet of Things (IoT)—internet-connected software embedded within physical products—has the potential to shift fundamentally traditional conceptions of ownership and the ways people can access, use, and control information. Drawing upon a knowledge regulation framework influenced by Susan Strange, this chapter argues that the IoT industry exemplifies the central role that knowledge governance now plays in the global political economy. The chapter examines how companies that own the knowledge integral to the IoT’s functionality (the software) control that knowledge through intellectual property laws, especially copyright, and the ubiquitous surveillance of their customers. These companies retain control over the software even after its purchase, meaning they have a newly expanded regulatory capacity to monitor and control how their products are used. The private post-purchase control that IoT companies exert over smart goods represents a significant change in private actors’ regulatory capacity to set rules governing knowledge.

Keywords: Knowledge; Production

Contributor(s): Natasha Tusikov, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Production, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Strange Power: Shaping the Parameters of International Relations and International Political Economy

Lawton, Thomas, James Rosenau, Amy C. Verdun, editors. London: Routledge, 2000.

Focusing on the contribution of Susan Strange to the study of international political economy, this collection forms a unique perspective on the global economy whilst providing tools for the reader to better understand that economic system. The book examines Susan Strange's structural power theories, whilst adding the perspective of the contributor. The combination of approaches and experience provides a multifaceted analysis of international relations and international political economy.

Keywords: Structural Power, Power; Money and Finance; Production; Knowledge; Authority; Markets; Political Economy

Contributor(s): Editor: Thomas Lawton, Editor: James Rosenau and Editor: Amy C. Verdun
Keywords: Structural Power, Power, Money and Finance, Production, Knowledge, Authority, Strange-Influenced Works, 2000's
Source and Medium: Edited Volume

Year of Publication: 2000

The Evolving Global Production Structure: Implications for International Political Economy

Lawton, Thomas C., Kevin P. Michaels. In Strange Power: Shaping the Parameters of International Relations and International Political Economy, edited by Thomas Lawton, James Rosenau, Amy C. Verdun, 79-96. London: Routledge, 2000.

Keywords: Political Economy; Production; Theory; International Relations; General Framework

Contributor(s): Book Chapter
Keywords: Political Economy, Production, Theory, Strange-Influenced Works, 2000's
Source and Medium:

Year of Publication: 2000

Theorizing the 'No-Man's Land' Between Politics and Economics

Cutler, A. Claire. In Strange Power: Shaping the Parameters of International Relations and International Political Economy, edited by Thomas Lawton, James Rosenau, Amy C. Verdun, 181-196. London: Routledge, 2000.

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

Contributor(s): A. Claire Cutler, Editor: Thomas Lawton, Editor: James Rosenau and Editor: Amy C. Verdun
Keywords: Theory, Production, Structural Power, Power, Knowledge, 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

The Problem or the Solution? Capitalism and the State System

Strange, Susan. In Innovation and Transformation in International Studies, edited by Stephen Gill, James H. Mitelman, 236-247. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Again Strange criticises International Relations for not focusing on the systemic problems, not least of all environmental and financial issues which a concern for inter-state relations misses. Thus International Political Economy is open to approaches from political geography, historical sociology and elsewhere that have not been fixated on the relations between states as the key causal factor in the global system. Globalised production and finance are integrating most areas into a global system and it is the system not states which analysis should focus on in the future.

Keywords: Global Governance; Globalization; Money and Finance; Production; International Relations; Global System

Contributor(s): Susan Strange, Editor: Stephen Gill and Editor: James H. Mittelman
Keywords: Global Governance, Globalization, Money and Finance, Production, 1990's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1997

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

The Politics of Economics: A Sectoral Analysis

Strange, Susan. In Economic Issues and the Atlantic Community, edited by Wolfram F. Hanrieder, 15-26. New York: Praeger, 1982.

Strange here proposes a structural approach that is implied by her argument that an analysis of the global political economy must be concerned with its ‘environment’. However, while suggesting three of her four later structures - here, security, monetary and production structures - she also includes a number of other structures - transport, trade, communication - that would later become in her schema, secondary structures. Strange repeats her critique of the recent history of the discipline of IPE before suggesting that a need for sectoral analysis seems to be gaining currency. She briefly discusses the steel and aerospace sectors, to argue for the need to engage in a structuralist analysis of political economy. She also suggests that the ‘bargains’ that IPE should be concerned with include those between firms and governments and those between labour and firms. That is, she is arguing for an analysis that widens its analysis to include all sorts of non-state actors, and recognition of the global nature of the political economy.

Keywords: Production; Structural Power, Power; Theory

Contributor(s): Susan Strange and Editor: Wolfram F. Hanrieder
Keywords: Production, Structural Power, Power, Theory, 1980's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1980

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

A New Look at Trade and Aid

Strange, Susan. International Affairs 42, no. 1 (1966): 61-73.

In the light of UNCTAD’s problems, declining optimism over foreign aid and the unfavourable terms of trade for developing states, Strange suggests that ‘Prebisch’s thesis’, allowing subsidised exporting by developing states, and the dropping of tariff barriers, while unpopular would be a useful way forward. She suggests an ‘import bounty’ system, to diffuse opposition, paid for through a tax on developed states domestic and exporting manufacturers. While encouraging industry in developing states, instead of commodity exports, this would reduce the ‘loading of the dice’ identified by G77. Even if not achievable multilaterally, bilateral implementation would help revive help to the developing world and help developed state’s industry to revive through competition. Strange posits the structural problems of international trade, while suggesting the way forward through a combination of economics and politics. 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: Production; Trade; Economic Development

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Production, Trade, 1960's, Susan Strange
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1966

Changing Trends in World Trade

Strange, Susan. In Year Book of World Affairs 1962, edited by George W. Keeton, Georg Schwarzenberger, 139-158. London: Stevens, 1962.

Here Strange notes that since 1945 although manufacturing growth has accelerated expanding the trade between developed states there has been less growth in the demand for raw materials and agricultural goods. This distorted or uneven growth in trade had not only had an unsettling effect of world trade, but has also required developing states to take out loans to support their development. Strange suggests that in the long term such an approach is not sustainable, especially if the benefits of international trade are unevenly enjoyed. This leads Strange to suggest four international economic policies to alleviate these problems: the stabilisation of commodity prices to reduce the risks of underdeveloped states' trade; the opening of developed markets (the reduction of tariffs) to the products of the developing states; the use of developed states agricultural surpluses to aid industrial development in poorer states; and international exchange rate co-ordination to stabilise the terms of trade. As so often Strange identifies not a lack of policy choice in developed state inaction but rather a lack of political will.

Keywords: Production; Trade; Economic Development

Contributor(s): Susan Strange, Editor: George W. Keeton and Editor: Georg Schwarzenberger
Keywords: Production, Trade, 1960's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1962

The Soviet Trade Weapon

Strange, Susan. London: Phoenix House, 1959.

This pamphlet appeared in Background Books series. Taking a rather optimistic (though at that time widespread view) of the Soviet Bloc’s economic situation vis-à-vis the West, Strange concludes that Soviet economic (and political) influence is reliant on economic ‘trouble-spots’ and the aversion by many developing states to the West’s recent history of colonialism. This leads her to suggest that money then spent on military aid might be better spent helping developing countries deal with agricultural surplus capacity in the global a market, a theme she would return to in 'The Management of Surplus Capacity' (1979). Furthermore, the economic cycle in the developed states could be better managed to reduce the destabilising effects on primary producers. Thus political activism by the West could do much to counter the ‘war without weapons’ represented by the contemporary Soviet trade and aid policy.

Keywords: Production; Security; Trade; International Relations

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Production, Security, Trade, 1950's and earlier
Source and Medium: Book

Year of Publication: 1959