The Contested World Economy
The Deep and Global Roots of International Political Economy

A pioneering global history of the pre-1945 debates that forged the field of international political economy.

Eric Helleiner (Author)

9781009337526, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 27 April 2023

320 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.47 kg

'The holy troika of IPE thought - Realism, Liberalism, and Marxism - was always deeply suspect. European scholars often saw realism as an American apology for nuclear dominance, while mainstream US scholars never took Marxism seriously. Helleiner shows us the value of moving beyond such tired touchstones to embrace the real diversity of global IPE. Much of what we think of as new - environmentalism, feminism, (post)colonialism - is in fact quite old and well developed outside of the troika texts. To properly engage the debates of today, we need to understand and build upon rich traditions that we have omitted both by design and by default.' Mark Blyth, Brown University

The rapid growth of the field of international political economy since the 1970s has revived an older tradition of thought from the pre-1945 era. The Contested World Economy provides the first book-length analysis of these deep intellectual roots of the field, revealing how earlier debates about the world economy were more global and wide-ranging than usually recognized. Helleiner shows how pre-1945 pioneers of international political economy included thinkers from all parts of the world rather than just those from Europe and the United States featured in most textbooks. Their discussions also went beyond the much-studied debate between economic liberals, neomercantilists, and Marxists, and addressed wider topics, including many with contemporary relevance, such as environmental degradation, gender inequality, racial discrimination, religious worldviews, civilizational values, national self-sufficiency, and varieties of economic regionalism. This fascinating history of ideas sheds new light on current debates and the need for a global understanding of their antecedents.

1. Introduction and overview
Part I. The Three Orthodoxies in a Global Context: 2. The rise of European classical economic liberalism
3. Economic liberalism from non-European perspectives
4. Neomercantilist reactions in Europe and the United States
5. Neomercantilism elsewhere
6. European Marxist critiques of global capitalism
7. The global diffusion of Marxism
Part II. Beyond the Three Orthodoxies: 8. Autarkic visions of economic self-sufficiency
9. Environmentalist calls for a more sustainable world economy
10. Feminist critiques of a patriarchal world economy
11. Pan-African responses to a racialized world economy
12. Religious and civilizational political economies of Pan-Islamism and Pan-Asianism
13. Distinctive visions of economic regionalism for East Asia, Europe and the Americas
Part III. Ending at a Beginning: 14. The embedded liberalism of Bretton Woods
15. The case for a wider history.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS]