Archive for October, 2005
Some alternative economic and political visions
While filing away some readings from the first trimester of my graduate program in international studies–a period that included courses in international relations theory and international trade–I came across two items that concisely present powerful challenges to prevailing orthodoxies in economics and politics. They are, respectively, a summary of Norwegian economist Erik Reinert’s project [...]
The Cash Nexus
Niall Ferguson. The Cash Nexus: Money and Power in the Modern World 1700-2000. New York: Basic Books, 2001.
In The Cash Nexus, published in early 2001, historian Niall Ferguson endeavors to undermine approaches to history based on economic determinism, replacing them with an interpretation that instead privileges "political events." This approach enables him to dispense [...]
Understanding economics
One of my motivations for enrolling in a course of study in international relations is the opportunity it gives me to fill in the (huge) gaps in my understanding of economics. Studying organizations like the WTO and phenomena like international finance is a good way to get started toward an understanding of how the [...]