ABSTRACT
Beginning in August 1982 and periodically throughout the next three years there were numerous instances in which the potential default of Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina threatened the stability of the international financial system. Despite the severe shock of the August 1982 Mexican announcement and the legitimate fears of default and financial chaos preceding each of the multiple reschedulings that followed, the Reagan administration did not adopt or even seriously consider any multilateral debt reduction measures. The distinction between perception and reality in world politics is always arbitrary. Here as elsewhere, perceptions are part of reality. The student of politics who looks only at patterns of behavior but leaves out the meanings that the actors give to their own and to each other's conduct turns into a specialist of shadows. To understand the Reagan administration's collective image of the proper role of the US in its conduct of international financial relations, it is essential to first articulate the underlying philosophical tradition.
