PLSC 380U Lecture 2 PDF

Definition: Field of study examining the interaction between politics and economics The Hunch: Political behavior and political outcomes are usually shaped by the economic interests of powerful actors Explaining the 1890-91 decision to build a battleship fleet Background: - USS Indiana, the firs...

Definition: Field of study examining the interaction between politics and economics The Hunch: Political behavior and political outcomes are usually shaped by the economic interests of powerful actors Explaining the 1890-91 decision to build a battleship fleet Background: - USS Indiana, the first modern US battleship, entered service in 1893 - US wanted to dominate the western hemisphere, exclude all the European great powers - Battleships are the tool to do this 1) The pursuit of prestige and status - National prestige and its uses - Battleships could unite people and promote national solidarity with a lot of immigrants coming into US - National symbol of power - Sent the ships around the world to demonstrate technological breakthroughs, especially Japan - Social Prestige for US National Leaders - Cecil Spring Rice - Henry Cabot Lodge 2) The appeal of navalist ideology - Alfred Thayer Mahan: Control of ocean made country powerful, highly in favor of battleships, argued for fleets concentrated in one place - Britain had a strong navy 3) The Political Economy of Foreign Policy - Battleships used to enforce market access in less developed areas - US wanted to make sure European powers didn’t claim more colonies in South America or the Caribbean - The Battleship fleet is the core, and also needed marines, other stuff that goes with it - Winner: Manufacturing Sector - Less developed markets did not produce manufactured goods, US had high tariffs on manufactured goods = less developed countries (export raw materials) - Loser: Export Agriculture - Southerners hate battleship fleets, opposed program Strengths of the Political Economy Explanation - More fundamental than most other accounts of political motives - Can help explain the origins of navalist ideology - By looking at the interests of the navy - Economic interests have clear policy implications - Economic actors know when a policy will hurt/help them - Economic interests carry political resources with them - State action is required to facilitate private economic activity - Market activity requires government action - Negotiating with other states for market access - Providing conditions of economic exchange: have a strong legal system, reliable enforcement of contracts - Private actors need state to prevent interference from other states - Consistent with several causal mechanisms - More uncommon, state officials don’t share economic interests of actors - Economic actors are trying to appeal to someone that doesn’t have same economic interests - Cigar manufacturers had leverage because it was a big industry, not ignored by policymakers - Structural power - Ideological hegemony: the things that economic actors needed get folded into common sense, ideas taken seriously compared to others Weaknesses of Political Economy Explanations - Reductive account of political motives: reducing people’s ideological claims to make economic interests the most dominant thing - Too much focus on structure, neglect contingency and the agency of historical actors - (Industrialization, doesn’t focus on actors like Theodore Roosevelt)