Political Economy and the Changing Global Order

Edelgard E. Mahant is a professor of political science at York
University, and co-author of An Introduction to Canadian–American
Relations.

A more appropriate title for this book would be “International
Political Economy: A Canadian Perspective.” Its 33 chapters are
divided into four sections: the first deals with general and theoretical
issues; the second deals with somewhat more specific “global
issues,” such as trade, agriculture, or international finance; the
third focuses on regional developments, such as NAFTA or East and
Central Europe; and the fourth considers specific national issues. This
last section, interestingly, includes two chapters on the United States
and one on the European Community, while gender is included in the
theoretical rather than the specific-issue section. (To know how gender
affects international political economy, read the book!) More than half
of the 38 authors are Canadian, though the editors (one Canadian and one
British) have included pieces by some well-known British scholars,
including Susan Strange, Barry Buzan, and Philip Cerny.

The chapters range from the highly theoretical to the almost totally
factual, and from unabashedly Marxist to mainstream neoliberal. In one
theoretical piece that stands out in terms of clarity and incisiveness,
Stephen Gill destroys the simplistic notion that liberalism and the
mythical market have overcome all other economic and political
ideologies. The more factual or simply analytical chapters deal with a
great variety of topics, from India and Africa to Australia.

Classified on a Left-Right spectrum, many chapters are sympathetic to
the Left. In a lengthy and grandly repetitive introduction, Underhill
displays a pathetic faith in the mythical “state,” and he seems to
think that he is theorizing when he substitutes a generic term, such as
“hegemony,” for names, such as the “United States.” Robert Cox
achieves a more incisive analysis as he describes the decline of the
territorial state and the growth of neomedieval international and
transnational institutions; he sees hope for global change springing
from the activism of social forces, such as the “poor.”

For all their initial attempt at theorizing, the editors did not bother
to write a conclusion. Such a drawing together of what the reader might
have learned about the initial problems would be most useful.

This lengthy book gives a good introduction to the major theoretical
and practical issues facing the student of international political
economy, but it is a book that, for the most part, is meant to be
studied rather than read.