Suchergebnisse

Thomas Hobbes is regarded as a major intellectual precursor of realist theory. Such veneration has brought about ample reactions from various scholars who aver that the use of Hobbes'vision of anarchy as an analogy for building greater theories of international relations is problematic at best. Yet, while such critiques of the realist analogy have been abundant, they have devoted scant attention to important passages in the Leviathan (that is, the tale of the fool in Chapter 15) that would produce greater clarity about Hobbes' logic regarding the state of nature. Indeed, a careful textual analysis of the tale of the fool demonstrates that as an analogy for a state of war (that is, as an environment devoid of cooperation) Hobbes' vision of anarchy is even more problematic than what previous critiques suggest. The tale strongly re-inforces critical scholarship that embraces ample opportunities for cooperation (covenants) in a Hobbesian state of nature (that is, without a Leviathan to impose order). The precise Hobbesian logic evident in this tale, in fact, reflects both strong neoliberal and constructivist elements in what many would consider a least-likely place: in Hobbes' vision of anarchy. So while Hobbes has been hailed as the first early modern realist, he could also be cited as the first early modern neoliberal and constructivist. In this respect, Hobbes' own synthesis of elements of realism, constructivism and neoliberalism holds much promise for inspiring a new and more sophisticated vision of international relations: Cosmopolitik.

According to theories of evolution, species evolve according to survival imperatives generated by their physical environments. Traits are selected and rejected based on their adaptability to the structures of the physical world in which these species live. Biological differences mirror differences in climate; the acutely developed senses of many species have adapted either for capturing prey or eluding predators, and so forth. So too in economic systems do we observe changes in human behaviour modes and policies that suggest adaptation. With respect to money, scholars continue to look for the most important adaptation mechanisms to explain the evolution of international monetary relations. What was once the preserve of strictly economic analysis has now become open ground for a wider array of social scientific analyses. In only a few short decades the study of monetary relations has developed into a more fully multi- and interdisciplinary enterprise. The four books reviewed here represent some of the latest attempts at constructing a broader social scientific explanation of monetary history. These valuable works complement one another in filling gaps in the literature on a complex and more diverse adaptation of monetary relations. Above all they stand as impressive political economies of monetary relations. Moure and Kettell concentrate on specific cases of monetary policy transformation in the interwar period, while Flandreau et al. and Obstfeld and Taylor cover a broader evolutionary timeline. The value of the contributions lies in several factors.

Over the last century there has been a fundamental change in the economic orientation of industrially advanced democracies, & this has had a pervasive impact on both their macroeconomies & their international economic relations. Changing expectations about prosperity & the role of government as an economic guardian have fundamentally reshaped the structure of the world economy. In humorous tone, it might even be called a "cowardly new world," one in which societies refuse to brave the vagaries of unrestrained markets. This argument presents an alternative to traditional explanations of economic processes & relations in which scholars have studied changes very narrowly & have conceived of them as independent from one another. Here, these processes & relations are looked at as comprising "economic plates," ie, phenomena that are fundamentally linked so that they can be influenced in toto. Macroeconomic processes & international economic relations occupy the same fundamental plate, which has made significant shifts over the past century as a result of strong, underlying forces in the form of changing orientations regarding people's economic fates & governments' relation to the market. 11 Tables, 1 Figure, 125 References. Adapted from the source document.

Internationale Organisationen neigen zu Fehlern beim Management komplexer internationaler Beziehungsgeflechte, in Substitutionsfunktion für andere Akteure, wenn sie internationale Konflikte intensivieren und moralische Maßstäbe in die internationalen Beziehungen einführen. Der gebotene allgemeine theoretische Rahmen soll das Studium internationaler Organisationen erleichtern und Anhaltspunkte zur Vermeidung der gravierendsten Fehlentwicklungen geben. (SWP-Bmt)

Develops a typology of adverse effects exemplified by various political and economic conflicts.

Contributors to the literature on international organization (IO) have traditionally been overly optimistic about the ability of multilateral management to stabilize in-ternational relations and have tended to ignore the destabilizing effects of IO. While recent revisionist scholarship has acknowledged both the potential for organizational failure and the conditionality of management, it has tended to focus on how IO fails within specific issue-areas and institutions. This article offers a typology of the inherent (systematic) failures of IO across issue-areas and institutions and thereby seeks to bridge the gaps in our understanding of why many different institutions and managerial schemes have adverse effects. It argues that IO is prone to failure (1) when it attempts to manage complex, tightly coupled systems of relations and issues; (2) when it serves as a substitute either for more substantive and long-term resolutions to international problems or for responsible domestic or foreign policy; (3) when it intensifies international disputes; and (4) when it generates moral hazard. In offering a general theoretical approach to understanding the destabilizing effects of IO, the analysis is intended to serve both as a focal point for understanding critical approaches to the study of IO and as an alternative rationale for eliminating the excesses of multilateral management.

A modified interest-group model links movements in tariffs to changes in the level of economic activity within nations. This model is introduced and tested for tariff behavior in the 19th and early 20th centuries in three nations: the United States, Great Britain, and Germany. Empirical analysis lends strong support to the model's central thesis, that tariffs are sensitive to movements within a business cycle. Tariff changes occurring in the three nations, with the exception of British tariff increases, generally conform to the expectations of the model. Furthermore, business-cycle sensitivity provides an explanation of the behavior of tariffs superior to two prominent alternatives, those based on ideology and on hegemonic stability.

Ein modifiziertes Interessengruppen-Modell, das Zolltarifänderungen mit dem Konjunkturablauf verbindet, wird an der Entwicklung der Zölle und Zollpolitik der USA, Großbritanniens und Deutschlands im 19. und frühen 20.Jahrhundert getestet. Die Ergebnisse stützen die These, daß Zölle durch Konjunkturbewegungen beeinflußt werden. Zollveränderungen in den drei Ländern, mit Ausnahme der britischen Zollerhöhungen, entsprechen den Erwartungen des Modells. Darüber hinaus liefert die hier getestete Konjunkturempfindlichkeitshypothese eine Erklärung der Zollentwicklungen, die sich gegenüber zwei alternativen Ansätzen, der Ideologie- und der hegemonic stability-Hypothese als überlegen erweist.(SWP-Spb)