Power in the International Political Economy

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Session Description

International relations scholars have often seen the benefits of cooperation as the key driving force explaining international economic outcomes. International institutions and cross-border trade, financial exchange and information flows were the cornerstones of a global liberal order that was perceived as benefiting all of its members. These assumptions are increasingly under challenge. A burgeoning body of scholarship examines how national markets and institutions provide some states with greater bargaining power than others. A new body of work examines power relations beneath the level of the state, asking precisely which actors are empowered by international economic relations, and how. Finally, scholars are beginning to reinvigorate the ideas of Susan Strange and her colleagues about the relationship between systemic factors and power. These sometimes conflicting and sometimes complementary perspectives provide a valuable lens on international political economic relations as they become more overtly conflictual than in the past, in addition to allowing scholars to re-examine the role that power relations played in the submerged conflicts of the old order. In this roundtable, we bring together scholars examining these questions from a variety of perspectives. Daniel Drezner examines how some of the structural components of the current economic order are more robust to revisionist and revanchist challenges than others, and how this affects the future of interdependence. Henry Farrell will present a new research project examining how global economic networks such as SWIFT and dollar clearing are being weaponized for political purposes, and how states are reacting to this weaponization. Stacie Goddard will discuss how economic and political institutions can enable—and not simply restrain—the revisionist behavior of rising powers. Susan Sell explores how 21st century trade is increasingly dominated by the role of intangibles such as financial products and intellectual property, and how this shifts economic and political power towards those intangibles’ owners. Thomas Wright Wright will talk about the way in which interdependence exacerbates and shapes modern geopolitical competition between the major powers. Erik Voeten examines the interaction between power and ideology in shaping cooperation and competition between states.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 16: International Political Economy

Chair

• Abraham Newman Georgetown University

Presenters

• Henry Farrell George Washington University

• Daniel W. Drezner Tufts University

• Thomas J. Wright Brookings Institute

• Stacie E. Goddard Wellesley College

• Erik Voeten Georgetown University

• Susan K. Sell Australian National University