Structural Power

The 'Fall' of the United States: Peace, Stability, and Legitimacy

Strange, Susan. In The Fall of Great Powers: Peace, Stability and Legitimacy, edited by Geir Lundestad, 197-211. Oslo and Oxford: Scandinavian University Press and Oxford University Press, 1994.

Once again Strange argues at length that the notion of American decline in the global system is mistaken if examined through her structural perspective. She presents a brief history of the previous fifty years to explore how America's 'fall' can be proposed and why this misunderstands power in the global system. She uses this insight to argue for an International Political Economy approach to the problem of American hegemony, but she also warns that technological changes feeding into structural changes may make drawing lessons from the decline of previous hegemons difficult if not impossible. She concludes that while structural change may offer the best chance for a more just and peaceful system, it may also open up the possibility of extensive disorder and insecurity in the future, leading to problems of legitimate rule and authority.

Keywords: Hegemony; Structural Power, Power; United States

Contributor(s): Susan Strange and Editor: Geir Lundestad
Keywords: Hegemony, Structural Power, Power, United States, 1990's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1994

Defending Benign Mercantilism

Strange, Susan. Journal of Peace Research 25, no. 3 (1988): 273-277.

In this review of Robert Gilpin's Political Economy of International Relations, Strange again argues against 'Hegemonic Stability Theory', see 'The persistent myth of lost hegemony' (1987), but has started to develop a theory of transnational empire to explain the structural power of the United States. Part of this argument is the increasing non-territoriality of structural power, which is developed in a number of works below.

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

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Hegemony, Structural Power, Power, Theory, Trade, 1980's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1988

The Global Political Economy, 1959-1984

International Journal 39, no. 2 (1984): 267-283.

After discussing some terms she would like to see the back of (‘actors’, ‘issue-areas’), reviewing years of the Global Political Economy, Strange proposes four structures that condition change. These are Security, Production, Knowledge and Finance, and though at this point this is only used as a taxonomy for looking at changes in the GPE, it represents the first time the structures of her theory appear in their final configuration. Strange also stresses that while the four structures are not hierarchical, she believes it is disruptions in the financial structure that has caused most upheavals over the period examined.

Keywords: Money and Finance, Structural Power, Power

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Money and Finance, Structural Power, Power, 1980's, Susan Strange
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1984

Structures, Values and Risk in the Study of the International Political Economy

Strange, Susan. In Perspectives on Political Economy, edited by R.J. Barry Jones, 209-230. London: Francis Printer Journals, 1983.

In this article Strange argues for the centrality of questions surrounding the nature of risk and how it is mitigated, managed and transferred in the international economy. In addition she suggests five structures of power in IPE, noting that she is adding to the Marxist concept of a production structure. The others are the financial, security and knowledge structures she would continue to use as well as an element she termed the ‘welfare structure’. This fifth structure was to account for politically determined arrangements which allocate the risks to human life and contentment. The structural theory of States and Markets (1988) is emerging in this chapter, but is as yet not fully developed.

Keywords: Structural Power, Power; Theory

Contributor(s): Susan Strange and Editor: R.J. Barry Jones
Keywords: Structural Power, Power, Theory, 1980's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 1983

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

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

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