American Power after the Financial Crisis

Jonathan Kirshner

Description

The global financial crisis of 2007-2008 was both an economic catastrophe and a watershed event in world politics. In American Power after the Financial Crisis, Jonathan Kirshner explains how the crisis altered the international balance of power, affecting the patterns and pulse of world politics. The crisis, Kirshner argues, brought about an end to what he identifies as the "second postwar American order" because it undermined the legitimacy of the economic ideas that underpinned that order-especially those that encouraged and even insisted upon uninhibited financial deregulation. The crisis also accelerated two existing trends: the relative erosion of the power and political influence of the United States and the increased political influence of other states, most notably, but not exclusively, China.Looking ahead, Kirshner anticipates a "New Heterogeneity" in thinking about how best to manage domestic and international money and finance. These divergences-such as varying assessments of and reactions to newly visible vulnerabilities in the American economy and changing attitudes about the long-term appeal of the dollar-will offer a bold challenge to the United States and its essentially unchanged disposition toward financial policy and regulation. This New Heterogeneity will contribute to greater discord among nations about how best to manage the global economy. A provocative look at how the 2007-2008 economic collapse diminished U.S. dominance in world politics, American Power after the Financial Crisis suggests that the most significant and lasting impact of the crisis and the Great Recession will be the inability of the United States to enforce its political and economic priorities on an increasingly recalcitrant world.

Sujets

• Histoire
• USA
• 21st century
• International relations
• Globalization
• Political economy
• History of the Americas
• États-Unis

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 08 septembre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801454790
• Langue: English

Extrait

American Power after the Financial Crisis

A volume in the series

CornellStudiesinMoney

edited byEric Helleiner and Jonathan Kirshner

A list of titles in this series is available at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

American Power after the Financial Crisis

JonathanKirshner

CornellUniversityPress IthacaandLondon

Copyright © 2014 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2014 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kirshner, Jonathan, author.  American power after the nancial crisis / Jonathan Kirshner.  pagecsm  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 978-0-8014-5099-0 (cloth : alk. paper)  1. Global Financial Crisis, 20082009Political aspects. 2. United StatesForeign economic relations21st century. 3. United States Foreign economic relations20th century. 4. National security Economic aspectsUnited States. I. Title. HF1455.K56 2014 337.73dc23 2014008088

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood bers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu. Clotphrinting 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To ABS, EJL, DKS, TJC, and REA

Preface

Contents

1.TheGlobalFinancialCrisisasWorldPolitics

2.LearningfromtheGreatDepression

3.FromtheFirsttotheSecondUSPostwarOrder

4.SeedsofDiscord:TheAsianFinancialCrisis

5.TheNewAmericanModelandtheFinancialCrisis

6.TheCrisisandWorldPolitics

7.TheCrisisandtheInternationalBalanceofPower

8.Conclusions,Expectations,andSpeculations

Notes Index

ix

1 18 37 59 82 106 131 157

173 209

Preface

Thisbook,likeallbooks,reectstheintellectualtrajectoryofitsau- thor, and it is especially worthwhile in this instanceor at least, I think, clarifyingto call attention to aspects of my own analytical orientation that provide context for its main arguments. Three elements in particular, all notably unfashionable, have shaped my perspective: my specialization in the economics of national security, an emphasis on the weight of history, and the inuence of some elements of the writings of Keynes. Trainedinitiallyasaneconomist,Iswitchedtopoliticalscienceingrad- uate school. As a specialist in international relations, I retained an active interest in macroeconomics, and, more speci cally, I was not surprisingly drawn toward questions that considered the role of economic factors in questions of war and peace. At that time, scholarship in internationalrela- tions was strictly divided between security studies and international po- litical economy, an academic vestige of the Cold War, which I erroneously 1 predicted would be unsustainable in the postCold War environment. Nevertheless,whenthenancialcrisisdeveloped,Iwasirresistiblydrawn to the question of its effects on national security questions.