Government 688

Political Economy and National Security

Jonathan Kirshner

Spring 2007

This seminar considers the relationship between economics and national security. While
considering a broad number of issue areas, the principal theme of the course is the way in which
economic factors (and political economy) fundamentally influence the national security of states,
and the way in which those factors shape and constrain the strategies chosen to pursue that
security. This is a research seminar that is, our focus is how to evaluate and conduct research
related to questions of political economy and national security.
Some of the books have been made available at the Campus Store. All the readings are on
reserve in Olin 405. You will find books on a shelf and articles in a box labeled "688". Many of
the articles are in journals such as International Security and World Politics that are shelved in
405, and will not be in the box. (Others are readily availably on-line a label on each weeks
folder will tell you what is where.) Please use the reserve readings only in 405 and put the
photocopies back in the appropriate folders after you are finished with them.
This course has three principal requirements: 1)A short paper, due before Friday, March
16 (17%); 2)Class participation: Students are also expected to come to class prepared to discuss
the required readings (33%); 3)A research paper, due at the end of the semester (50%)

Week 1: Introduction (January 24)

Viner, "International Finance and Balance of Power Diplomacy, 1880-1914", Political
and Social Science Quarterly IX:4 (1929), pp. 408-451.
Gilpin, Economic Interdependence and National Security in Historical Perspective, in
Knorr and Trager, Economic Issues and National Security (1977), pp. 19-66.
Mastanduno, Economics and Security in Statecraft and Scholarship, International
Organization 52:4 (1998), pp. 825-54.
Kirshner, The Political Economy of Realism, in Kapstein and Mastanduno, Unipolar
Politics (1999), pp. 69-102.

Week 2: The Economic Bases of National Power (January 31)

Gilpin, War and Change in World Politics (1981), pp. 50-185.
Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery (1976), pp. 97-202.
Kennedy, "The First World War and the International Power System", International
Security 9:1 (1984), pp. 7-40.
Harrison, The Economics of World War II (1998), pp. 1-40.
Andrews, Monetary Power and Monetary Statecraft, in Andrews (ed.) International
Monetary Power (2006), pp. 7-28
Cohen, The Macrofoundations of Monetary Power, in Andrews, International
Monetary Power, pp. 31-50.

Week 3: Grand Strategy and the Budget Constraint (February 7)

Barnhart, Japan Prepares for Total War (1987), pp. 17-147.
Pollard, Economic Security and the Origins of the Cold War (1985), pp. 1-32, 59-106.
Schuker, The End of French Predominance in Europe (1976), pp. 31-123, 383-93.
Mommsen and Kettenacker (eds), The Fascist Challenge and the Policy of Appeasement
(1983), pp. 209-223, 236-45.
Dooley, Great Britains Last Battle in the Middle East: Notes on Cabinet Planning
During the Suez Crisis, International History Review 11 (1989), pp. 487-517.

Week 4: Economics and War (February 14)

LaFeber, The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion (1963), 150-241.
Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919), 5-16, 143-59 (CW version).
Einzig, Behind the Scenes of International Finance (1931), pp. 75-90, 141-54.
Feldman, The Great Disorder: Politics, Economics and Society in the German Inflation
(1996), pp. 837-858.
Nowell, Imperialism and the Era of Falling Prices, Journal of Post-Keynesian
Economics 25:2 (Winter 2002-3) 309-329.
Humphreys, Natural Resources, Conflict, and Conflict Resolution, Journal of Conflict
Resolution 49:4 (August 2005), pp. 508-37.
Kahler, "External Ambition/Economic Performance", World Politics 40 (1988), 419-51.
Week 5: Interdependence and Rivalry (February 21)
Oneal and Russet, The Classical Liberals Were Right: Democracy, Interdependence, and
Conflict, 1950-1985, International Studies Quarterly 41:2 (1997), pp. 267-93.
Papayoanou, "Interdependence, Institutions and the Balance of Power" International
Security 20:4 (1996), pp. 42-76.
Blanchard and Ripsman, "Commercial Liberalism Under Fire: Evidence From 1914 and
1936", Security Studies 6:2 (1997), pp. 4-50.
Kennedy, The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism 1860-1914 (1980), pp. 291-320.
Matthews, "Current Gains and Future Outcomes: When Cumulative Gains Matter",
International Security 21:1 (1996), pp. 112-46.
Liberman, "Trading With the Enemy: Security and Relative Economic Gains",
International Security 21:1 (1996), pp. 147-75.
Abdelal, National Purpose in the World Economy (2001), pp. 1-44.

Week 6: Economic Sanctions and Statecraft (February 28)

Baldwin, Economic Statecraft (1985), pp. 96-144, 224-89, 311-335.
Rowe, Economic Sanctions Do Work: Economic Statecraft and the Oil Embargo of
Rhodesia, Security Studies 9:1/2 (1999/2000), pp. 254-87.
Kirshner, Economic Sanctions: The State of the Art, Security Studies 11:4 (summer

2002), pp. 160-79.

Cortright, Millar and Lopez, Smart Sanctions in Iraq, in Cortright and Lopez (eds.)
Smart Sanctions: Targeting Economic Statecraft (2002), 201-24.
Andreas, Criminalizing Economic Sanctions: Embargo Busting and Its Legacy,
International Studies Quarterly 49:2 (June 2005), pp. 335-60
Jentleson and Whytock, Who Won Libya? The Force-Diplomacy Debate and Its
Implications for Theory and Policy, International Security 31:1 (2005/6), 47-86.
Marikov, Do Economic Sanctions Destabilize Country Leaders?, American Journal of
Political Science 49:3 (July 2005), 564-76.
Week 7: The Political Economy of Influence and Dependence (March 7)
Hirschman, National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade (1945), pp. 3-40, 53-116,
143-51.
Abdelal/Kirshner, "Strategy, Economic Relations and the Definition of National
Interests", Security Studies 9:1/2 (1999/2000), pp. 119-156.
Kirshner, Currency and Coercion: The Political Economy of International Monetary
Power (1995), pp. 1-20, 115-215.
Helleiner, Below the State: Micro-Level Monetary Power, in Andrews, International
Monetary Power, pp. 72-90.
Cooper, The Limits of Monetary Power: Statecraft within Currency Areas in Andrews,
International Monetary Power, pp. 162-83.
Spiro, The Hidden Hand of American Hegemony (1999), pp. 103-126

Week 8: Economic Interests and the National Interest (March 14)

Narizny, The Political Economy of Alignment: Great Britains Commitments to Europe,
1905-39, International Security 27:4 (spring 2003), pp. 184-219.
Trubowitz, Defining the National Interest: Conflict and Change in American Foreign
Policy (1998), pp. 1-95, 235-45.
Fordham, "Economic Interests, Party, and Ideology in Early Cold War Era U.S. Foreign
Policy", International Organization 52:2 (1998), pp. 359-96.
Strange, Sterling and British Policy: A Political Study of an International Currency in
Decline (1971), pp. 298-325.
Cohen, In Whose Interest? International Banking and American Foreign Policy (1986),
pp. 3-80, 177-203, 239-52;

Week 9: Globalization and National Security (March 26)

Kirshner (ed.), Globalization and National Security (2006), pp. 1-33, 75-104, 171-200,
202-229, 293-320, 320-40.
Mousseau, Market Civilization and Its Clash with Terror, International Security 27:3
(Winter 2002/03) 5-29.
Ripsman and Paul, Globalization and the National Security State: A Framework For

Analysis, International Studies Review (2005) 7, 199-227.

Brooks, Producing Security: Multinational Corporations, Globalization, and the
Changing Calculus of Conflict (2005), pp. 47-79.
Cerny, Terrorism and the New Security Dilemma, Naval War College Review 58:1
(Winter 2005), pp. 11-33.
Week 10: Energy (April 4)
Verleger Jr., Energy: A Gathering Storm? in Bergsten (ed.), The United States and the
World Economy: Foreign Economic Policy for the Next Decade (2005), 209-46.
Kalicki and Goldwyn (eds.) Energy and Security: Toward a New Foreign Policy Strategy
(2005), pp. 51-64, 65-96, 127-47, 267-290, 531-52.
U.S. Department of Energy, National Security Review of International Energy
Requirements (February 2006), pp. 1-46
Zha Daojiong, Chinas Energy Security: Domestic and International Issues, Survival
48:1 (spring 2006), pp. 179-90.
Bronson, Understanding U.S.-Saudi Relations, in Aarts and Nonneman (eds.), Saudi
Arabia in the Balance (2005), pp. 372-98.
Aarts, Events versus Trends: The Role of Energy and Security in Sustaining the USSaudi Relationship, in Aarts/Nooneman, Saudi Arabia in the Balance, 399-429.

Week 11: The Economic Rise of China and International Security (April 11)
Bergsten et al, China: The Balance Sheet (Public Affairs, 2006), pp. 18-39, 73-117.
Shambaugh, China Engages Asia: Reshaping the Regional Order, International
Security 29:3 (Winter 2004/05), pp. 64-99.
Friedberg, The Future of U.S.-China Relations: Is Conflict Inevitable?, International
Security 30:2 (fall 2005), pp. 7-45.
Christensen, Fostering Stability of Creating a Monster? The Rise of China and U.S.
Policy Toward East Asia, International Security 31:1 (summer 2006), 81-126.
Ross, Balance of Power Politics and the Rise of China: Accommodation and Balancing
in East Asia, Security Studies 15:3 (July-September 2006), pp. 355-95.
Chung, Chinas Ascendancy and the Korean Peninsula, in Shambaugh (ed.) Power
Shift: China and Asias New Dynamics (Berkeley, 2005), pp. 151-69.

Week 12: Bringing It All Back Home (April 18)

Kirshner, Appeasing Bankers: Financial Caution on the Road to War (2007).
Kirshner, Alfred Hitchcock and the Art of Research PS 29:3 (1996) pp. 511-13.

Week 13: Student Presentations of Work in Progress I (April 25)

Week 14: Student Presentations of Work in Progress II (May 2)