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International Organization and the crisis of interdependence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Robert O. Keohane
Robert O. Keohane
Affiliation:
Robert O. Keohane is current Editor of International Organization, and Associate Professor of Political Science, Stanford University.
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Extract

It will cause little controversy in the spring of 1975 to observe that the world is in a profound political and economic crisis, or that interdependence is a palpable and often unpalatable fact. Conflict over formerly latent issues is increasingly evident, as governments try desperately to cope with the effects of other governments' policies, as in the case of oil, or with resource shortages, as in the case of food. Many of the problems from which such issues arise–including also environmental degradation, inflation, and recession–have immediate impacts on people's daily lives. Unlike traditional foreign policy issues, they are not separate from domestic politics, and experienced largely through the mass media, but rather encountered daily on the job and at the market. Domestic and foreign policies are closely intertwined, and important domestic interests are threatened by events abroad. It is becoming clear that ties between national economies can transmit economic evils as well as economic goods.

Type
Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , Spring 1975 , pp. 357 - 365
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1975

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References

1 For a review of the evidence on economic interdependence, see Richard Rosecrance and Arthur, Stein, “Interdependence: Myth or Reality?” World Politics vol. 26, no. 1 (10, 1973), pp. 1–27. The literature on environmental interdependence is voluminous. For a somewhat hyperbolic statement, which demands attention even if only partially correctGoogle Scholar, see Falk, Richard A., This Endangered Planet: Prospects and Proposals for Human Survival (New York: Random House, 1971).Google Scholar

2 Personal correspondence from Karl Kaiser, November 27, 1974.

3 Henry A. Kissinger, “The Global Community and the Struggle Against Famine,” address to the World Food Conference, November 5, 1974. (Press Release, Department of State, November 5, 1974.) I am indebted to Dan Caldwell for calling this quotation to my attention.

4 Interview with James Reston, New York Times, October 12, 1974.

5 David, Easton, “The New Revolution in Political Science,” American Political Science Review, vol. 63, no. 4 (12, 1969), p. 1061.Google Scholar

6 These values are similar to those developed by the World Order Models Project, under the direction of Saul Mendlovitz and Michael Washburn. The internationalist and future-oriented work of the World Order Models Project has been a significant stimulus to my thinking on the questions addressed in this essay.

7 The “design theory” approach of Herbert A. Simon and the broad conception of “policy science” espoused by Alexander L. George contain some interesting suggestions for the development of an approach of this type. See Simon, Herbert A., The Sciences of the Artificial (Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1969)Google Scholar, and George, Alexander L., “Problem-Oriented Forecasting,” in a forthcoming volume on forecasting in international relations, edited by Nazli, Choucri and Robinson, Thomas W. (San Francisco: W. H. Freeman & Co., 1975).Google Scholar

8 Ruggie, John G., “The Structure of International Organization: Contingency, Complexity, and Post-Modern Form,” Peace Research Society Papers, 18 (1971), pp. 73–91.Google Scholar

9 Russell, Robert W., “Transgovernmental Interaction in the International Monetary System, 1960–1972,” International Organization vol. 27, no. 4 (Autumn, 1973).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10 OECD Observer, no. 69 (04, 1974), p. 4.Google Scholar

11 New York Times. 09 30. 1974.Google Scholar

12 Lewis, John P., “Oil, Other Scarcities, and the Poor Countries,” World Politics vol. 27, no. 1 (10, 1974), p. 86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13 Keohane, Robert O. and Nye, Joseph S. Jr, “Transgovernmental Relations and International Organizations,” World Politics vol. 27, no. 1 (10, 1974), pp. 39–62. The discussion in this section draws to a considerable extent on this joint work with Professor Nye.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14 See in particular, Haas, Ernst B., Beyond the Nation-State: Functionalism and International Organization (Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1964)Google Scholar; and Haas, , “The Study of Regional Integration: Reflections on the Joy and Anguish of Pretheorizing,” International Organization, (Autumn, 1970), pp. 607–48Google Scholar. That entire issue of the journal, Regional Integration: Theory and Research, edited by Leon N. Lindberg and Stuart A. Scheingold, provides a useful retrospective view of neo-functional theory.

15 For an interesting discussion of this point, see Maynes, Charles W. Jr, “Who Pays for Foreign Policy?” Foreign Policy no. 15 (Summer, 1974), pp. 152–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16 The Study of Future Worlds, (Free Press, 1975).Google Scholar