Ralph Pettman and Ipe

Mercantilism, Marxism and liberalism are the three theoretical perspectives of internaitanl political economy presented by Ralph Pettman in his book titled Undersatnding Internaitanl Political Economy with reading for the fatigued. This paper will address these perspectives and their relationships to one another and the role of each in today’s society. Work on opening paragraph.

Analysis of social issues must take two forms to gain real perspective: up-close scrutiny and obtaining the big picture from standing back and looking in. This is the approach taken by Ralph Pettman in his explanation and analysis of international political economy. “It seems to me that responsible research is matter of standing back from IPE to look at it, while standing close to listen as well (Pettman, xiii).” Through this approach, Pettman presents nonacademic points of view along with rational objective views to “construct a kind of double helix of experience and analysis (Pettman, xiv).”

Pettman acknowledges that a topic such as IPE can become boring and even fatigue a reader. His combats this by presenting works from multiple scholars each varying in style. This approach not only makes the read an easier one but also provides credibility and validity to Pettman’s work.

Pettman defines international political economy as the study of the wealth-making dimension of world affairs. He divides world affairs in to three dimensions with wealth-making as the second. First is called “high politics” including diplomats and military personnel. This domain deals with the balance of power and war. The third dimension is hardly recognized by scholars of today. It is the world of ideologists and social movements. The wealth-making domain also known as “low politics” is the domain of entrepreneurs. This domain deals with money, banks, and the “stuff of the study of international political economy”.

Pettman’s decision to separate the dimensions helps create ease in analysis. This helps the reader to better understand IPE and have a grasp on its place in world affairs.

Five words are presented as recurrence

s in each perspective: state, firm, market, capital and labor. The state to Marxists is the “executive committee” that looks after pubic affairs. This committee defends the social disparities that capitalism causes. Mercantilists believe that the state should be strengthened by using protective tariffs to foster production at home. The idea that buying as little as possible from abroad will help the state to accumulate power is the basis of the state for mercantilists. Liberalists on the flip side believe that the more state makers allow free enterprise the better off everyone will be.

The firm is another recurrence

in the debate on international political economy. Liberalists view the market as the conceptual counterpart to the state. Firms to liberalists are merely benign responding to market opportunities for the ultimate benefit of all. Mercantilists worry about the cost of global enterprise. They worry that these firms can compromise independence and security. Marxists see global firms as evil. The firms exploit all for the sake of the corporate few. Funny to note however, Marxists welcome the spread of transnational firms because the faster they