Trade

Revisiting Rival States: Beyond the Triangle?

Stopford, John. In International Business and Government Relations in the 21st Century, edited by Robert E. Grosse, 103-116. Cambridge: Emerald Group Publishing Ltd., 2005.

When Susan Strange and I looked into the relationships between firms and States during the late 1980s, we were primarily concerned to signal that the rivalry among States for control over the means of wealth creation had grown to the point where it had overtaken such traditional concerns as control over territory, to become the predominant driver of diplomacy. We argued that States had moved far from the days when suspicion of the multinationals' power had interfered with bargaining relationships, to a position where incentives were being showered on the firms to influence their decisions about where to invest. These were also the days when the UN was still struggling to complete a Code of Conduct for the MNEs (it never succeeded) and when trade talks within the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) were beginning to link trade relationships with the consequences of foreign direct investment (FDI). Under these seemingly benign conditions, attention could (usefully, we argued) be focused on all three sides of the triangle to gain greater understanding of the dynamics of the relationships and the conditions for competitiveness. We called this “new” diplomacy “triangular” to highlight these growing interrelationships. This was occurring in an era when bargaining power and opinion had swung toward favoring the notion that the MNE was essentially a benign force for economic development. Fears of corruption in the bargaining among executives and government officials had receded. So too had fears about the MNEs' undue interference in internal, domestic policy.

Keywords: Corporations; Trade; Money and Finance; Triangular Diplomacy; Transnational Corporations

Contributor(s): John Stopford and Editor: Robert E. Grosse
Keywords: Corporations, Trade, Money and Finance, Strange-Influenced Works, 2000's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2005

Dependency Today-Finance, Firms, Mafias and the State: A Review of Susan Strange's Work from a Developing Country Perspective

Leander, Anna. Third World Quarterly 22, no. 1 (2001): 115-128.

This is an analysis of how the global strategies of Multi-national Enterprises (MNE's) affect the power relationship between MNE's and states in the context of increasing trans-national economic integration.

Keywords: Money and Finance; Trade; Structural Power, Power; Economic Development

Contributor(s): Anna Leander
Keywords: Money and Finance, Trade, Structural Power, Power, Strange-Influenced Works, 2000's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 2001

The United States and World Trade: Hegemony by Proxy?

Goldstein, Judith. In Strange Power: Shaping the Parameters of International Relations and International Political Economy, edited by Thomas Lawton, James Rosenau, Amy C. Verdun, 349-272. London: Routledge, 2000.

Keywords: United States; Structural Power, Power; Trade

Contributor(s): Judith Goldstein, Editor: Thomas Lawton, Editor: James Rosenau and Editor: Amy C. Verdun
Keywords: United States, Structural Power, Power, Trade, 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

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

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 Bondage of Liberal Economics

Strange, Susan. SAIS Review 6, no. 1 (1986): 25-38.

Here Strange returns again to the inadequacy of economics in its analysis of international trade, made in 'International Trade' (1955) and 'International money matters' (1970), and elsewhere. Noting the contradictions between economic models of international trade and what was actually happening in the international economy, Strange argues economists have failed to appreciate that trade is only a secondary international structure. This leads her to briefly lay out the argument that would be developed at more length in States and Markets (1988). Most importantly she firmly concludes that international economics is an ideological construction which serves the interests of the powerful states, most significantly the United States.

Keywords: Economics; Hegemony; Theory; Trade; General Framework

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

Year of Publication: 1986

Protectionism - Why Not?

Strange, Susan. The World Today 41, nos. 8 and 9 (1985): 148-150.

In this short polemic piece Strange argues that states should adopt a pragmatic approach to protectionism (mimicking the practices, if not the ideology of America). With the growth of international production and bi-lateralism it is little wonder that, despite the GATT's claims to the contrary, the actual figures on international trade suggest the overall protectionism has little effect on growth. This suggests that the state (and politically driven preferential procurement) can still play a role in the national links to international trade without fear of disaster.

Keywords: Trade

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

Year of Publication: 1985

Protectionism and World Politics

Strange, Susan. International Organisation 39, no. 2 (1985): 233-259.

In discussing the question of protectionism Strange contends that her structural understanding of the international political economy - with four structures; security, production, finance, knowledge - shows that concerns about trade 'inefficiencies' as a disruptive element within the international system miss the real problem. She argues that trade is only a 'secondary structure' which is influenced and shaped by the primary structures. The disruption in the international system and trade relations is in fact a symptom of disruptions within the primary structures, and especially the financial structure. This article represents a forceful precursor to States and Markets (1988) and is the first time that Strange lays out in its fullest form her structural approach to power within the international political economy, including primary and secondary structures. 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: Political Economy; Structural Power, Power; Trade; General Framework

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

Year of Publication: 1985

GATT and the Politics of North-South Trade

Strange, Susan. Australian Outlook 38, no. 2 (1984): 106-110.

Strange identifies three 'shaky assumptions' underlying the call to revive the GATT negotiations, that protectionism was the main cause of the 1930s depression, that the GATT was a necessary condition of post-war recovery, and free trade was ever a widely followed 'norm'. However, though the alternatives are presented as a hegemonic system run by the US or a multilateral system managed through the GATT, Strange argues that the reality is a cob-web of bi-lateral agreements which accords with many people's desire to have their own state manage their affairs.

Keywords: International Institutions; Trade

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: International Institutions, Trade, 1980's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1984

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

Who Runs World Shipping?

Strange, Susan. International Affairs 52, no. 3 (1976): 346-367.

Published alongside 'The Study of Transnational Relations?' (1976). Based on the theory developed in that article, Strange's sectoral analysis (of world shipping), which carries some material forward from 'International shipping and the developing countries' (with Richard Holland, 1976).

Keywords: Theory; Trade; International Institutions; Transportation; International Development

Contributor(s): Susan Strange
Keywords: Theory, Trade, International Institutions, 1970's
Source and Medium: Journal Article

Year of Publication: 1976

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

The Strategic Trade Embargoes: Sense or Nonsense

Strange, Susan. In Year Book of World Affairs 1958, edited by George W. Keeton, Georg Schwarzenberger, 55-73. London: Stevens, 1958.

Strange argues that the policy of strategic trade embargoes, a central plank of American cold war policy, should be reassessed in light of the launch of Sputnik and Britain's decision to part from the US on an embargo on trade with China. If as she suggests that post-Suez resentment towards America prompted the British relaxation of the embargo on China than surely this policy really played no real strategic role. Neither did it restrict Russian technological advance (as had been hoped), as Sputnik had shown. This leads to Strange to review the policy, as set out in the Battle Act as well as the political psychology underlying it, before arguing that it should be dispensed with, at has proved neither particularly useful not effective.

Keywords: Knowledge; Trade; Technology; Knowledge Production

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

Year of Publication: 1958

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