ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the trends way from the extraordinary concentration of resources found in the United States after World War II: increases in interdependence, affecting states' capacities for effective independent action; the decline of American economic preponderance; and efforts by states to regain effectiveness by acting jointly through international institutions. It provides ion of major changes in contemporary world politics that emphasizes the difficulty of effective unilateral action by states. The chapter argues that Professor Alexander George's conception should be broadened: it is not only internal diversity and competition or internal disagreements from which American foreign policy could benefit, but an exposure of US policy deliberations to international deliberation. Interdependence among countries refers to a situation in which there are reciprocal costly effects of countries' policies for one another. Economic interdependence governed by norms of nondiscrimination within an orderly political framework can promote cooperation and reinforce conceptions of self-interest that emphasize production over war.
