Mediating Globalization: Domestic Institutions and Industrial Policies in the United States and Britain and Economic Interdependence and Conflict in World Politics

Extract

Mediating Globalization: Domestic Institutions and Industrial Policies in the United States and Britain. By Andrew P. Cortell. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2006. 243p. $70.00 cloth, $22.95 paper.

Economic Interdependence and Conflict in World Politics. By Mark J. C. Crescenzi. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005. 173p. $65.00 cloth, $24.95 paper.

Given the context of globalization, these two books generate and answer substantive puzzles in security, trade, and industrial policy. Building on the Kantian hypothesis, Mark Crescenzi asks: “Does economic interdependence lead to peace or conflict?” Taking off from the neoliberal convergence hypothesis, Andrew Cortell asks if globalization entails the end of state-led industrial policies or economic intervention. The “it depends” answers that may be expected come down to “it depends on the domestic bargains and opportunity costs for states,” therefore providing us with a common conceptual anchor for adjudicating together the quality of these works. For Crescenzi, interdependence poses exit costs in terms of the relative scope, ranking, and importance of the trading relationship for the two countries.