ABSTRACT
A crucial date in recent international political economy (IPE) was 15 August 1971, when the US administration decided to suspend the Bretton Woods monetary system. Not only did this unilateral decision change the way the international monetary system was run, but the USA was perceived to have officially declared its power position as challenged. After the 1973 crisis, observers began to link the erosion of US power with the recession and the increasing protectionism. US academics began for the first time to apply analyses of the decline of power to their own country. The oil shock and the accrued influence of economic weapons moved economic issues to the level of'high polities‘, i.e. to questions of diplomacy and war.
