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2019 | Book

Introduction Read chapter Read first chapter

Capitalising Economic Power in the US

Industrial Strategy in the Neoliberal Era

Author: Dr. Mattia Tassinari

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Book Series : International Political Economy Series

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

This book examines the American industrial strategy, from the late 70s to the present day, in what is now known as the ‘neoliberal era’. The author illustrates the ways in which the protection and promotion of American companies and industries took place in the context of the international ‘free market’. He provides clear evidence of how the economic power of the United States – wielded to influence the formal and informal institutions of the neoliberal order – has been used as a tool for enhancing its competitive advantage against other world economies.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
This chapter outlines the relationship existing between economic power, institutions and industrial development. It uses these theoretical categories to introduce the role of the US economic power in the context of the global institutional order as an active force in promoting the interest of the American industry. In this framework, this chapter introduces the fundamental elements of the American industrial strategy in the neoliberal era: a rhetoric fostering a widespread consensus for a “free market” regime, the influence in defining the rules of the international economic game, and the activism, at domestic level, in protecting and promoting the national industrial system. Overall, this chapter lays the foundations to understand the evolution of the US industrial strategy over the past 40 years.
Mattia Tassinari
Chapter 2. Contextualizing the American Industrial Strategy in the Neoliberal Era
Abstract
This chapter is devoted to contextualizing from a historical perspective the American industrial strategy in the neoliberal era, which has marked the global governance for the last 40 years. The goal of this chapter is to outline the key elements which have characterized the role of the government in the US industrial development before the neoliberal era. This discussion is organized considering three different “American industrial strategies” implemented during the period running from the US independence to the beginning of the neoliberal era: the Hamiltonian Strategy (1791–1861), the Oligopolistic Strategy (1861–1914) and the Keynesian Strategy (1914–1973).
Mattia Tassinari
Chapter 3. The Rise of the Neoliberal Rhetoric: Reaganomics and Its Contradictions
Abstract
This chapter begins the inquiry on the American industrial strategy in the neoliberal era. It focuses on the 1980s, when in the United States the debate over the necessity to adopt a national industrial policy arose for the first time. In this context, an irruptive neoliberal sentiment took its first steps under President Reagan’s rhetoric. The main questions addressed in this chapter are the following: how actually did the economic role of the government change during this period? Which role did the neoliberal rhetoric of that period play? Why should we care that a possible gap between rhetoric and practice existed? Did the rhetoric itself have any causal impact on policy outcomes? Why would successive governments feel the need of embracing pro-market rhetoric?
Mattia Tassinari
Chapter 4. The End of the Cold War and the New Neoliberal Order
Abstract
This chapter outlines the actions and initiatives conducted by the United States at international level during the 1990s, in the context of many areas of high relevance: the establishment of the World Trade Organization, the negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement and other important regional agreements, the process of supranational integration in Europe, the economic transition in post-communist countries and structural reforms in developing countries. During these years, the American government played a major role as a regulator, by actively participating in the definition of supranational and international rules. This chapter describes the role played by the United States in shaping the new neoliberal order of the 1990s and the actions implemented in order to take advantage of the changing global system.
Mattia Tassinari
Chapter 5. Industrial Strategy During the New Economy
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the industrial development initiatives implemented at a national level by the US government during the 1990s. The increased stability resulting from the end of the Cold War required the United States to reduce its military expenditures. Concerns about the possible negative impact on the technological and industrial development of the entire American economy of this retrenchment led the government to look for alternative ways to promote innovation. In particular, the Clinton administration was the one that proclaimed a “new approach” to the innovation policy. This chapter describes the main changes in US science and technology policy occurred during those years.
Mattia Tassinari
Chapter 6. Incubating the Crisis: Bush Junior Back to the Old Economy
Abstract
This chapter describes the economic conjuncture and the main changes in the American approach to industrial development during the Bush Junior administration. With the rise of China and other emerging economies, the WTO system, as a regulatory framework of the international trade, started to struggle to multilaterally impose its rules. Furthermore, at national level, the election of Bush Junior meant an economic growth driven by military public demand and by a growing public debt, with important spending cuts for some of the major technology programmes. This chapter analyses these changes as the main factors which led to the outbreak of the global financial crisis.
Mattia Tassinari
Chapter 7. The Great Recession and Recovery Under the Obama Administration
Abstract
This chapter presents the main actions taken by the Obama administration as a short-term attempt to tackle the problems raised by the crisis, but also as an effort to restore an effective American industrial strategy by addressing the more structural problems that were affecting the US global leadership. Towards this goal, this chapter describes the actions undertaken by the United States within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Furthermore, it analyses other important interventions at domestic and international level, promoted by the American government consistently with the neoliberal industrial strategy that had characterized the previous decades.
Mattia Tassinari
Chapter 8. Trumponomics Facing a New Global Governance: Is the American Neoliberal Strategy Still Viable?
Abstract
This chapter traces the essential elements of the American industrial strategy in the neoliberal era, as they emerged in the historical reality of the last 40 years. The main aim of the chapter is to locate the American neoliberal strategy in the recent post-crisis context and to assess the effective possibility for the United States to continue to implement it in the future. In particular, this chapter investigates whether the ongoing global transformations—namely the changes in the distribution of economic power at the international level and in the formal and informal institutional channels of the global order—are limiting the US capacity to adopt a neoliberal industrial strategy.
Mattia Tassinari
Chapter 9. Conclusion: The Illusion of the Economic Power
Abstract
This chapter concludes the book. In the context of the contemporary global transformations, this chapter poses the question on what the main and more realistic options for future global governance are. Fears, hopes and alternative paths for development and global governance are discussed and suggested. The uncertainty and ambiguity of the contemporary times seem propitious to promote a new international paradigm able to recognize the mutual interests at stake.
Mattia Tassinari
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Capitalising Economic Power in the US
Author
Dr. Mattia Tassinari
Copyright Year
2019
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-76648-5
Print ISBN
978-3-319-76647-8
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76648-5