First published by Manchester University Press in 1998, the book called for an end to the volatility of international financial markets. Markets had grown, technology had advanced, and regulation had all but disappeared, resulting in financial crises in Asia and in the western world. The book identified that finance now called the tune internationally: governments had been stripped of control, morals had loosened, and income gaps were widening sharply. Susan Strange predicted that this would lead to a long, inevitable financial crisis if it continued unchecked. She was proved right within a decade of the book coming out.

This reissue includes a new introduction by Benjamin Cohen of the University of California that contextualises the book, and conveys the value of the work for a modern audience.

Reviews

'Susan Strange leaves an unrivaled legacy. No student of international affairs can afford to neglect her original insights into the political economy of postwar international institutions, in particular the international financial system.'
International Affairs

Introduction - Benjamin Cohen
1. Innovations
2. The US Japan axis
3. Disunited Europe
4. Wall Street and other casinos
5. The debtors
6. Finance and crime
7. Managing mad money national systems
8. Our international guardians
9. So what?
Bibliography
Index

Author

The late Susan Strange was a scholar of International Relations who was largely responsible for creating the field of international political economy (IPE). She held academic positions at the LSE, the European University Institute in Florence and latterly as Chair in International Relations and Professor of International Political economy at the University of Warwick.

Benjamin Cohen is Louis G. Lancaster Professor of International Political Economy at the University of California, Santa Barbara