The Bretton Woods System is a
perfect example of the Hegemonic stability theory mentioned by Cohen is his
essay. This theory states that an international
system can be strongest when one nation is leading it. In the time following world war two, America embodied
this theory by fixing other nations to the U.S. dollar. Through the action of
the U.S. taking on this kind of monetary position at such a huge turning point
in the world, they were making a statement that they were the strongest nation. In discussion we came to the conclusion that
the main reason that the U.S. agreed to fix all other currencies to the
American dollar was simply because we were in a better position than most other
countries economically at the time and we wanted to lend a helping hand. I think that although the U.S. participated
for the most part with the interest of helping the world recover from the
disastrous effects of World War 2, they also wanted to make it known world wide
that they were a predominant force. I
also believe that although eventually in the early 1970s the practice of this
system stopped, it was a great example of the importance of hegemony when the
world is looking for leadership.
Although in general all countries work mostly to support themselves, the
Bretton Woods System shows that it is important for one country to step up and
support many nations to lead everyone into a better era.
The
strong position that the U.S. took in the Bretton woods system wasn’t the only economic
move they made around this time. They
also were responsible for the Marshall plan, which gave an enormous amount of
money to help rebuild Europe. Through
this action it is clear that the U.S. was the fixer of this time period. They emerged as not only a strong economic
power, but as a stable and responsible nation.
Many countries can be wealthy, but it is a completely thing to use that
wealth to support others especially in a very tough time. The Bretton Woods system is much more than
just an economic move, it showed all other nations that they could trust the U.S.
to be stable and to step in when help is needed.
If the US was a strong and a reliable world economy tender, what happened with the 2008 financial crisis? Was there anything the US could have done to prevent or ameliorate that? Is there anything that it SHOULD have done?
ReplyDeleteI agree that at the time the Bretton Woods system was put into effect it was an ideal system for the U.S. to assert its hegemony and actually quite effective. However I believe that even if this system had not stopped in the early 1970s it would not be possible today. This is mainly due to the economic status of China as we have pointe out in lecture, U.S. unipolarity is coming to an end. So while I do agree that the Bretton Woods system was effective during its time, I don't think it could really be applied to other time periods, specifically the present day.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your argument, the Bretton Woods system was effective and helped other countries along with the U.S. Additionally, as i stated on my post, I believe that the U.S. benefited from this system more than the other nations. Also, although the U.S. could have been trusted to be back then, the U.S. has gone through various economic disasters which contradicts with the statement that the U.S. is stable.
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