Collective and Distributive Power of the United States - Assignment Example

Collective and distributive power of United s Social scientists have d two types of power - the Collective power and the Distributive power.The capacity of a group in understanding the common goals with the cooperation and the combination of organizations in the allowing the nation to prosper is the concern of the collective power. The distributive power on the other hand considers the domination of a particular group over the others emphasizing on competition and superiority. From power there arises leadership. (Domhoff, 2005: Kelly, 1995, p 30) According to Bill Clinton, the United States of America enjoys a power in the international system that is indispensible as the state wishes to take their leadership responsibilities as well as share the burdens of others. Thus the country of America enjoys both collective as well as distributive powers. (Simone, 2000, p 39) The United States of America play an important leadership role in the policies regarding the international trade. Thus the paper aims in evaluating the role of the country in international trade. Trade relations existed among economies from the period of Mercantilism in the world economy. The large economies of the world have always been dominating the small economies in their economical interaction in terms of trade. One main instance that reflects the dominance of the United States in the dealings of international Trade was the signing of the conditional MFN clause in the year 1778 between United States and France. The equality of the privileges enjoyed in the market was to be ensured by the treaty. However the clause held by US was the main factor responsible for destroying the equality in the market. (Trebilcock & Howse, 2005, p 50) In the period following the Second World War and the establishment of universal balance in the economies of the country, that is, after such a huge disturbance, there had been a significance increase in international trades. In order to conduct the liberalization of the world economies in systematic way, certain agreement was planned to be signed between the nations participating in international trade. This gave rise to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trades, which was followed by the establishment of a general governing body for monitoring the international trade, namely the World Trade organization. The main aim motive behind the formation of GATT was to avoid the difficulties of the policies of imports and exports of individual countries prevalent before the Second World War. An overall policy for all member countries participating in international trade was the main aim. The treaty designed promotion of free trade through proper reduction of barriers in trade. (Love, Lattimore, 2009, p78: Saghbini, 2011, pp3-5) The United States of America became an active member of the organization being one of the largest world economies. The world trade organization focuses on certain trade policies and policy objectives that are in need to be followed by the member nations. However the system of the World Trade organization in controlling or regulating the international trade was least perfect in the sense that the policies favored the large economies of the world namely the European nations and the United States o America at the expense of the weaker members of the organization those are economically small in comparison to them. The Most Favored Nation status provided by the international organization of the World Trade Organization has the general preference for the larger economies of United States and Europe. Moreover the developing countries engaged in trade relations with these financially powered nations face the problem related to dumping. They are often forced to sell their products in the markets of the developed nations like the United States at a price that is less than the actual production cost of the products and hence incurred losses through free trade. However the developed nation often sell their products in the markets of the developing nations at low costs only to capture the market of the developing countries and drive out the domestic producers from the competition which is also another form of dumping. Thus the ultimate gainers of the policies of international trade are the developed countries of the world with the prominence of the United States of America. (Saghbini, 2011pp 6, 14, 16) Thus the policies of the international organization are to a certain extent controlled by the economically powerful industrialized nation of the United States of America along with the European nations. (Perdikis & Read, 2005, p 3: Grimwade, 2000, p322: World Bank, 2008, p 74) Thus the leadership power enjoyed by the United States of America has in different ways affected the marginalized economies of the world. Majority of the policy makers of the country believe that the trade policies of the United States of America need to focus on the ultimate goal of international trade. The major trade policies undertaken by the country focus on the protection of the country’s environmental laws, workers’ law and maintenance of the international standards for the labor. In order to fulfill these priorities of the government the policy makers often suggest policies that may ultimately lead to slow down the growth rate of the international trade. However the trade promotion authority of the country focus on the policies of increasing the trade flow in the international market with less concern on the address of the country’s internal issues. The period of President Bush administration have focused on policies of facilitating import to the country as well as export from the country through the elimination or reduction of the barriers in international trade. Reducing the rate of tariff imposed on trade as well as removing the quantity restrictions of the quotas may achieve the reduction of the barriers. This reduction will help in promoting international trade that will facilitate the economies of other countries depending on their trade relation with the United States (International Trade, n.d: Saghbini, 2011, p3). Many of the economists and scholars across the world support the fact of United Sates playing leadership role in the promotion of international trade. Most of them support the policy of the United States in favoring the policy of enhancing efforts on the parts of the government of the country in reducing the trade barriers as proposed by the World Trade Organization in the meeting of the organization in Seattle. The country is playing the leadership role in enhancing and encouraging international trade. Moreover in the world of globalization increased international trade and communications through agreements of free trade with countries is expected to contribute to the increasing growth of international trade thus facilitating every participating nation. Thus the power enjoyed by the country in the determination of international trade is more of a collective one. Free trade relation of United States with other countries have been established with the signing of agreements like the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trades signed in the year 1948 as well as NAFTA or the North American free Trade Agreement However in certain instances the policymakers of the country have focused on the reciprocity of the country’s development with remove of the barriers of international trade. In the year 1998 the European nations were allowing less of the American imports to enter their country. Then it was the view of the policymakers that imposing restrictions or barriers on the European products would ultimately prove beneficial for the interest of the home nation. Reducing barriers only if the interacting nation chooses to do so was the focus of the policymakers of the country in that period. The country however opted for not raising the restrictions on the products of the European nations, thus maintaining the cooperative leadership attitude in the aspect of international trade. (International Trade, n.d: Saghbini, 2011, p3) Thus to conclude it can be said that the power and the leadership enjoyed by the United States of America is both collective as well as distributive and the nation is truly in the center of the state leadership as argued by economists. However with the emergence of the economy of China the position of the country in the international economy may likely to face a change in near future. References Domhoff, G. W. (2005), Basics of Studying Power, Who Rules America?, available at http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/methods/studying_power.html (accessed on 24th May 2011) Grimwade, N. (2000), International trade, New York: Routledge International Trade, (n.d), US Trade policy, available at http://www.americans-world.org/digest/global_issues/intertrade/tradepolicy.cfm#top (accessed on 24th May 2011) Kelly, R. M. (1995), Gender power, leadership and governance, Michigan: University of Michigan Press Love, P. & R.G. Lattimore, (2009), International trade, OECD Publishing Perdikis, N. & R .Read, (2005), the WTO and the regulation of International Trade, New York: Edward Elgar Publishing Saghbini, H. A. (2011), International Business World Trade Bodies and Institutions Simone, E. (2000), Foreign policy of the United States, Nova Publishers Trebilcock, M.J. & R. Howse, (2005), The Regulation of International trade, New York: Routledge World Bank, (2008), International trade and climate change, World Bank Publications Read More