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Political Economy of World-Systems 2002 Conference Riverside, California |
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Abstract The Pax Britannica, American Hegemony and the International Economic Order, 1846-1914 and 1941-2001 Patrick K. O'Brien Social scientists, contemplating the role played by the United States in the international political and economic order since its entry into the Second World War in 1941, have attempted to formulate a 'theory of hegemony'. They anticipate that the theory might justify, explain and possibly predict the behaviour of the American government operating diplomatically and strategically as the hegemonic power within a system of competing nation states. In order to offer some kind of general theory, scholars have attempted to represent the status and model the behaviour of other states, particularly Britain, but also the United Provinces and a succession of Italian city states (Venice, Florence, Genoa and Milan) as well as the rulers of the early modern empires of Portugal and Spain in order to widen the sample for generalisation and deepen our understanding of the rise, decline and actions of other great powers who have historically exercised varying degrees and forms of power over Europe's traditional system of antagonistic nation states. |
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27th Annual Conference of the Political Economy of World-Systems Spring Hosted by the Institute for Research on World-Systems at the University of California, Riverside |