From the viewpoint of international political economy this paper investigates the influences of the transformation of international banking in 1980s, especially (1) the U. S. financial services revolution, (2) the rapid increase of the twin deficits as well as becoming a net debtor country of the U. S., and (3) the globalization of the international financial system upon the interrelation of American international banks and the nation-state, among others, the external power of the U. S.
Through financial deregulations the American banks have been so damaged that their international status has been appreciably degraded. The globalization of the international financial system has made it easier for the U. S. to finance its twin deficits so that the U. S. has much larger deficits and has made it harder for the developing countries to gain money sufficient for their development.
Notwithstanding, the external power of the U. S. does not seem to have weakened so much, probably because, according to Susan Strange, the U. S. has been having enormous “structural powers”. The author also tries to explain this situation with his own notion of “the power of the market”. Under this notion, any country with opened, stabilized domestic markets of goods, money and services rich in demand may be able to make use of these markets as a strong diplomatic lever.
In other words, the countries having such markets have strong external power and the U. S. is unquestionably the strongest in this point. Moreover, American government has been working hard in using this power of the market in order to help international banks. The case of the international capital adequacy agreement for the international banks through the Bank for International Settlements (B. I. S.) is introduced as a good example for the U. S. to have practically forced with its “power of the market” the other industialized states to accept the agreement.
Although American banks once played a big role in defending and preserving the key currency status of the U. S. dollar in the Eurocurrency markets, etc., they more often restricted and constrained American foreign policies in 1980s after the above-mentioned transformation of international banking.
In conclusion, strong banks are necessary for the U. S. to preserve its strong structural power, while the strong structural power of the U. S. is essential for American international banks to remain competitive in the long term.
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