Robert Gilpin

Robert Gilpin (July 2, 1930 – June 20, 2018) was an American economist, and Professor Emeritus of Politics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, known for his contribution in the field of political economy and international relations, especially the effect of multinational corporations on state autonomy.

There is a pressing need to integrate the study of international economics with the study of international politics to deepen our comprehension of the forces at work in the world. - Robert Gilpin, 1987

Quotes

War and Change in World Politics (1981)

• A precondition for political change lies in the disjuncture between the existing social system and the redistribution of power toward those actors who would benefit most from a change in the system.

• The relative stability of the system is... largely determined by its capacity to adjust to the demands of the actors affected by changing political and environmental conditions.

• Powerful groups set constraints on and may even determine the actions of state authority. They constitute the society that is protected by the state; their particular concept of justice reigns. The definition and functioning of property rights tend to advance their interest and welfare. ...the basic domestic function of the state is to define and protect property rights of individuals and groups. ...The primary external function of the state is to protect the property rights and personal security of its members vis-à-vis the citizens and actions of other states.

• It would be premature to suggest that the nation-state is dead or dying.

• Both the control of territory and the political domination of one state over another have profound consequences for international economic relations. However... market power or economic power has itself become a principal means by which states seek to organize and manipulate the international division of labor to their own advantage.

• Until the modern era there was no single international system, but rather several international systems, with little or no contact with another.

• [In] the definition of international system... There is some "form of control" that regulates behavior and may range from informal rules of the system to formal institutions. ...A view prevalent among many scholars of political science is that the essence of international relations is precisely the absence of control... a condition of anarchy...

• Every dominant state, and particularly an empire, promotes a religion or ideology that justifies its domination over other states in the system.

• Ultimately...the hierarchy of prestige in an international system rests on economic and military power.

• One of the principal functions of war, and particularly... hegemonic war, is to determine the international hierarchy of prestige and thereby determine which states will in effect govern the international system.

• How can the human race, whether for selfish or more cosmopolitan ends, understand and control the seemingly blind forces of history?

The Political Economy of International Relations (1987)

• I was certain that I was not a Marxist, but I did believe firmly that a connection between economics and politics existed.
  • Preface, p. xii

• There is a pressing need to integrate the study of international economics with the study of international politics to deepen our comprehension of the forces at work in the world.
  • Introduction, p. 3

• These two opposed forms of social organization, the modern state and the market, have evolved together through recent centuries, and their mutual interactions have become increasingly crucial to the character and dynamics of international relations in our world.
  • Introduction, p. 4

• The parallel existence and mutual interaction of "state" and "market" in the modern world create "political economy"; without both state and market there could be no political economy.
  • Chapter One, Nature of Political Economy, p. 8

• Does the functioning of the world economy tend to concentrate wealth and power, or does it tend to diffuse it?
  • Chapter One, Nature of Political Economy, p. 14

• One reason for the primacy of the market in shaping the modern world is that it forces a reorganization of society in order to make the market work properly . When a market comes into existence, as Marx fully appreciated, it becomes a potent force driving social change.
  • Chapter One, Nature of Political Economy, p. 19

• When once asked what was missing from his classic textbook, Nobel laureate Paul Samuelson is reported to have responded, "the class struggle."
  • Chapter One, Nature of Political Economy, p. 22

• A market is not politically neutral; its existence creates economic power which one actor can use against another.
  • Chapter One, Nature of Political Economy, p. 23

• The core of the Marxist critique of capitalism is that although the individual capitalist is rational (as liberals assume), the capitalist system itself is irrational.
  • Chapter Two, Three Ideologies Of Political Economy, p. 37

The world economy diffuses rather than concentrates wealth.

• The world economy diffuses rather than concentrates wealth.
  • Chapter Three, Dynamics Of Political Economy, p. 85

• The opposing tendencies of concentration and spread are of little consequence in the liberal model of political economy.
  • Chapter Three, Dynamics Of Political Economy, p. 94

• A prolonged and massive increase in aggregate wealth per capita has taken place over several centuries.
  • Chapter Three, Dynamics Of Political Economy, p. 100

• The clustering of technological innovation in time and space helps explain both the uneven growth among nations and the rise and decline of hegemonic powers.
  • Chapter Three, Dynamics Of Political Economy, p. 109

• The dreams of "leaving it up to the market" or of returning to a politically neutral gold standard cannot succeed because the nature of the monetary system has a profound impact on the interests of powerful groups and states. Affected groups and states will always try to intervene in the operation of the system to make it serve their interests.
  • Chapter Four, International Money matters, p. 170

• Trade is the oldest and most important economic nexus among nations. Indeed, trade along with war ha been central to the evolution of international relations.
  • Chapter Five, The Politics Of International Trade, p. 171

• Many critics see international trade as a form of cultural imperialism that must be strictly controlled.
  • Chapter Five, The Politics Of International Trade, p. 172

• Specialization makes the welfare of the society vulnerable to the market and to political forces beyond national control.
  • Chapter Five, The Politics Of International Trade, p. 189

• In many societies the domestic social costs of adjustment to changing patterns of comparative advantage are believed to outweigh the advantages of further trade liberalization.
  • Chapter Five, The Politics Of International Trade, p. 228

• The multinational corporation and international production reflect a world in which capital and technology have become increasingly mobile, while labor has remained relatively immobile.
  • Chapter Six, Multinational Corporations, p. 260

• Structuralism argues that a liberal capitalist world economy tends to preserve or actually increase inequalities between developed and less developed economies.
  • Chapter Seven, Dependence And Economic Development, p. 274

• The competitive nation-state system, with all its capacity for good and evil, is spreading in the Third World and is transforming that world.
  • Chapter Seven, Dependence And Economic Development, p. 304

• Through exploitation of its influence over global financial affairs, the United States has been able to cover the costs of its hegemonic position, preserve a false domestic prosperity, and mask the consequences of its relative political and economic decline.
  • Chapter Eight, International Finance, p. 308

• In the abstract world of American economists, equations run both ways; they believe that by changing the sign of a variable from plus to minus or from minus to plus or the price and quantity of x or y, the direction of historical movement can be reversed.
  • Chapter Eight, International Finance, p. 336

• In short, the elimination of the financial legacy of Reaganomics could force the United States to make some exceptionally difficult choices indeed.
  • Chapter Nine, transformation Of The Global Economy, p. 349

• The historical record suggests that the transition to to a new hegemon has always been attended by what I have elsewhere called hegemonic war.
  • Chapter Nine, transformation Of The Global Economy, p. 351

• The economic success of the Reagan Administration was largely dependent upon the pyramiding of massive debt and the siphoning of capital from the rest of the world.
  • Chapter Nine, transformation Of The Global Economy, p. 362

• Despite its increased dependence on the international economy, America continues to behave as if it were either a closed economy or the leader whom everyone else should automatically follow.
  • Chapter Ten, Emergent International Economic Order, p. 369

Japanese refer to Europe as a "museum" and America as a "farm.

• Japanese refer to Europe as a "museum" and America as a "farm."
  • Chapter Ten, Emergent International Economic Order, p. 378

• Liberal economists conceive of societies as black boxes connected by exchange rates; as long as exchange rates are correct, what goes on inside the black box is regarded as not very important.
  • Chapter Ten, Emergent International Economic Order, p. 393

• Among the many factors that make a return to halcyon days of the first decades of the postwar era virtually impossible is the decline of clearly defined political leadership.
  • Chapter Ten, Emergent International Economic Order, p. 406