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Theme 2:
Question 1:
Power is often described as “relational”. Discuss Susan Strange’s critical assessment of this
view of power in the IPE.
The IPE can be described as comprising a network of bargains between and among states
(power being the bargaining commodity) and markets (dealing in wealth). These bargains
determine the production, exchange and distribution of wealth and power among and
between states and non-state actors (markets) and can take various forms, including formal
or informal agreements or conventions.
For Susan Strange, some bargains in the IPE reflect an actor’s relational power. This is the
ability of one player to persuade another player to do or not to do something.
State here refers to the political institutions of the modern nation-state, a geographic region
(including a regional organisation with a cross-border government such as the EU).
Market, on the other hand, refers to the economic institutions and actors of modern
capitalism such as multinational corporations. A market comprises a geographical location
as well as a force which determines trade and production for self-interest.
Tension, which is one of the dominant characteristics of the IPE, is created between states
and markets as a result of a difference in interests (and the means of satisfying their
respective interests), power, functions, objectives and values. One of the ways in which the
tension can be relieved is by creating a network of bargains (such as trade agreements and
foreign direct investment) between and among states and markets.
Such bargains are usually negotiated rather than enforced unilaterally between actors and
therefore involve the use of power, more specifically either-or relational or structural power.
For Susan Strange, power and the distribution and application thereof become one of the
major focuses of the IPE. She identifies a second type of power, called structural power, and
she distinguishes between relational and structural power of global actors.
Relational power, which exists mainly at individual and state level, can be defined as the
power of one actor to get another actor to do or not do something. Structural power refers to
the power to shape and determine the structure of the global political economy within which
states, their political institutions, their economic enterprises and their scientists and other
professional people have to operate (Balaam and Veseth). According to Strange, many
disputes arise when state try and “shape and determine” determine the structure of the
global political economy within which states, their political institutions, their economic
enterprises and their scientists and other professional people have to operate.
According to Strange, relational power and structural power can have reciprocal effects: the
relational power of one party in a relationship is greater or lesser if one of the parties also
determines the surrounding structure of the relationship, in other words, if one party has
structural power in the relationship.
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