ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book outlines the essentials of a theory of international economic and most especially monetary organisation and deals with its evolution and subsequent disintegration. It also deals with the underlying dynamic which produces uneven development and shows how this must inevitably lead to crisis as a result of the inability of a system based upon individualistic competition and accumulation to control the balance between supply and demand. The book describes the theoretical assertions by examining the stages through which the system has evolved during the post-war period. It demonstrates the intimate connection between the costs of sustaining American imperialist dominance internationally, the relative decline in the superiority of American productive capacity, and the ability of capitalism to sustain itself as an expanding yet stable system of production and consumption.
