France after Hegemony: International Change and Financial Reform PDF
Preview France after Hegemony: International Change and Financial Reform
FRANCE AFTER HEGEMONY 1n ternational Change and Financial Reform Michael Loriaux FRANCE AFTER HEGEMONY International Change and Fi nan cial Reform Michael Loriaux "France after Hegemony is a careful blend of technical virtuosity and political acuity, a major theoretical contribution to the studies of international and comparative political economy and an important case study. Loriaux's analysis shows both the political reasons for economie choices and the impact of th ose choices on the French political economy." -Harvey Feigenbaum, George Washington University How does the decline of the hegemon, the dominant, rule-making power of the international system, affect middle-leve! nations? By examining monetary and credit policy in postwar France, Michael Loriaux illuminates this question, tracing the relationship of domestic economie reform to specifie changes in the international political economy which have resulted from U.S. hegemonie decline. Because the development and reform of France's overdraft economy was closely linked to the evolution of the international monetary system, Loriaux argues that the history of the French political economy closely parallels th at of the U .S. hegemonie order. By enabling the French to pursue credit policies designed to hasten industrial modernization, U.S. monetary leadership created a condition of moral hazard in the French political economy which diminished the capacity of officiais to define and implement monetary policy. Moral hazard rendered the French economy particularly vulnerable to the post-Bretton Woods world of floating currencies. In 1984 France' s Socialist government introduced liberaliz ing financial reforms that greatly curtailed the state's capacity to influence the alloca tion of credit to industry, one of the main- ( continued on back jlap) France after Hegemony A VOLUME IN THE SERIES Cornell Studies in Political Economy j. EDITED BY PETER KATZENSTEIN A full list of titles in the series appears at the end of the book. France after Hegemony INTERNATIONAL CHANGE AND FINANCIAL REFORM MICHAEL LORIAUX CoRNELL UNIVERSITY PREss Ithaca and London Copyright© 1991 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permis sion in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, 124 Roberts Place, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 1991 by Cornell University Press. International Standard Book Number o-8014-2483-6 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 90-55721 Printed in the United States of America Librarians: Library of Congress cataloging information appears on the last page of the book. 9 The paper in this book meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. parentibus meis Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. Dilemmas of the 1970s 18 2. The Overdraft Economy 55 3· U.S. Hegemony and Moral Hazard 76 4· The Birth of the Overdraft Economy 9 7 5· The Institutionalization of the Overdraft Economy under the Fourth Republic 136 6. Reform and Resistance of the Overdraft Economy under Charles de Gaulle 160 7· U.S. Hegemonic Decline and Crisis in France 183 8. Socialist Government and Capitalist Reform 214 g. France and the European Monetary System 241 Conclusion 2 66 Index 309 vii
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