Page 30 - Global Political Economy_Understanding The International Economic Order

THE NEW GL OBAL E CONOM IC ORD ER
affairs. Because it assumes that the international system is anarchic,
this interpretation views the state, in the absence of a higher author-
ity, as the principal actor in international affairs. The existence of
anarchy, however, does not mean that international politics is charac-
terized by a constant and universal Hobbesian war of one against
all; states obviously do cooperate with one another and do create
institutions in many areas. 12 Anarchy means rather that there is no
higher authority to which a state can appeal for succor in times of
trouble. In addition, although the state is the primary actor in interna-
tional affairs, realism should acknowledge the importance of such
nonstate actors as multinational firms, international institutions, and
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the determination of in-
ternational affairs. Realism, however, insists that the state remain the
principal actor.
The central concerns of the state are its national interests as defined
in terms of military security and political independence; however,
state-centric realism does not reject the importance of moral and
value considerations in determiningbehavior. While it follows that
power and power relations play the major roles in international af-
fairs, power can assume the form of military, economic, and even
psychological relationships among states, as E. H. Carr has pointed
out. Moreover, despite this emphasis on power, other factors such as
ideas, values, and norms do play an important role in interstate af-
13
fairs. The criticism, for example, that all realists are unaware of the
role of ideas or intellectual constructs in international affairs is pat-
ently false. As Morgenthau argued in his classic Scientific Man vs.
Power Politics (1946), the liberal beliefs of the Western democracies
made them incapable of recognizingand beingable to react decisively
to the threat of fascism in the 1930s. Recognizing the importance of
ideas, Morgenthau warned that it was dangerously unwise to place
one’s faith solely in the power of ideals. 14
In this book I define “global political economy” as the interaction
of the market and such powerful actors as states, multinational firms,

12
An important critique of the realist emphasis on anarchy is Alexander Wendt,
“Anarchy Is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics,” Inter-
national Politics 46, no. 2 (spring1992): 391–425.
13
On the role of ideas or “epistemic communities” in international affairs, consult
Peter M. Haas, ed., “Knowledge, Power, and International Policy Coordination,” In-
ternational Organization 46, no. 1 (special issue; winter 1992). See also E. H. Carr,
The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 1919–1939, 2d ed. (London: Macmillan, 1951).
14
Hans J. Morgenthau, Scientific Man vs. Power Politics (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1946).
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