ABSTRACT
Polanyi was convinced that at the end of World War II the global political system had reached a new turning point. At stake, he argued, was not so much the position of countries within the established power structure as the pattern of the international system itself. The simultaneous downfall of the three competing forms of universalist societies (liberal capitalism, world-revolutionary socialism and racial domination) had opened a window of opportunity for a fundamental transformation. But he also warned against those forces that were trying to restore the old system. During the war, he discussed the topic in several articles, and he returned to the subject on numerous occasions in the 1950s as well. This chapter discusses (a) how Polanyi assessed the post-World War II conditions, (b) what he understood by the changing pattern of the world’s political system, and (c) the role he assigned not only to the Soviet Union and the United States, but also to the United Kingdom and the European continental powers. The chapter shows that Polanyi’s considerations are once again of utmost relevance today.
