ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a number of approaches, such as, realism, regime theory, cartel theory, world-system theory, factor endowment theory, institutionalist theory, neopluralist theory, and transnational structuring. It illustrates each theory's agenda, which means some of the core principles of its description of the international system, and also the kind of business research program that it expressly or implicitly prescribes. The realist paradigm sees states competing for power in the same way that economic theory see individual agents competing for profits. Regime theory emerged in parallel with the "interdependence" theory of Joseph Nye and Robert Keohane. Cartel theory refers chiefly to turn-of-the-century works that focused on the role of cartelized business sectors and their influence on the state. World-system theory approach is the descendant of the cartelist theories of imperialism, but cartelization is not the primary mechanism behind imperialism. Ronald Rogowski's Commerce and Coalitions is a recent contribution to the political economy literature.
