International monetary and finance structure - Essay Example

Whereas IPE (international political economics) can be understood as a basic concept, it should not be seen as static. In other words, the interactions between states in the economic realm are continually evolving with a massive level of importance attached to the way in which international interaction, agreement, and discord takes place. Above all, it must be understood that international political economics is just that: international. As such, the fact of the matter is that the agreements, and economic levels of understanding that take place, are not self-contained; instead, they are inherently the work of two or more nations.

Naturally, as with any financial agreement or level of cooperation, the interests of the two parties factor heavily in the decisions that are ultimately agreed upon. Within such a level of understanding, the current state of international political economics deals heavily with preferential trade agreements, development of trade blocs, debt administration/creation/repayment, and issues pertaining to resources. As can easily be noted, the broad level of impact that IPE has upon the way in which international relations takes place, as well as the impacts that it has on trade itself, is profound and can be attributed to a litany of different decisions and choices that individual states make.

Yet, instead of IPE merely being concentric upon monetary or domestic economic interests, it must be understood that international political economics has a massive impact on the way in which certain states within the global system are coerced into participation and action that they would otherwise seek to avoid. Whereas the authors reference the fact that engagement with the global power structure is expected, this level of engagement is not always a positive for nations that choose to interact within the current paradigm of international political economics.

In short, the current level of coercion that exists allows for a great power to set a price and force a poorer nation to meet this demand, revealing a situation in which the wealthier and more powerful state is the ultimate price maker and the client state is the ultimate price taker. The authors further reference the fact that the mechanism of debt is oftentimes utilized as a means of forcing the will of a particular state or group of states onto a poorer nation. However, beyond trade interaction, the chapter focuses heavily upon the way in which the United States dollar has come to be definitive of the foreign exchange and reserve status.

As such, the impact that the dollar has on setting supply and demand ratios and equilibrium point is profound. However, even though this power is profound, the demand for the dollar is not something that is set in stone. Although the United States government necessarily has a great deal of latitude with regard to the amount of dollars that are in global circulation and “supply,” the demand for these dollars fluctuates based upon fear or confidence, restricting or expanding the global economy as a function of this faith or fear in the international currency of exchange.

The chapter moves on to discuss the ways in which currency speculation allows for the individual member of society to have a profound impact on the way in which monetary policy and levels of value are defined. Whereas the preceding analysis has been focused upon defining international pol