Transatlantic Politics and the Transformation of the International Monetary System

Michelle Frasher shows how the 1970s marked a watershed in the transformation of international monetary affairs that forced significant changes in the state-market relationship, and created the conditions for currency crises for the past forty years. Through archival documents and interviews, she brings the reader into the negotiating room as American, French, and German officials confronted the encroachment of the global market upon their domains of power. The result was a system that has allowed national and market interests to exert a greater influence on financial affairs to the detriment of global stability. She argues that the current system discourages interstate cooperation, despite deep interdependencies among states and markets, except when prompted by crisis. Yet in this analysis, the state's role in international finance has not diminished, it has evolved. Governments are becoming managers in the global economy, and crises are important for states to learn these managerial roles. This viewpoint presents a new paradigm for American, European, and global financial power that uncovers the inherent weaknesses in the system, and emphasizes the importance of interstate cooperation and consultation. Frasher's work places the 2008 and European debt crises into historical perspective, showing that these events, like the turbulent 1970s, represent another episode in the evolution of the international economy and the state that will continue through the 21stcentury.