International Economic Relations since 1945 (The Making of the Contemporary World)

The international economy since 1945 has endured dramatic changes in its balance of power, from the early period of prosperity for industrialised nations, to the 2008/9 global crisis. In this volume Catherine Schenk outlines these huge changes, examines how the world’s economic leaders have tried to organise and influence the international economy and presents the key frameworks in which international economic relations have developed.

Focusing on the pattern of international trade, international investment and the changing organisation of the international monetary system, this volume takes a chronological approach of key time-frames, and shows how policy has impacted the balance of the international economy. Major events such as European integration in the 1960’s, the collapse of the international monetary system and oil crisis in the 1970’s the return of China to the international economy in the 1980’s and emerging market crises in the 1990s are discussed within the context of key themes including global economic and regulatory co-ordination, the role of American economic hegemony, the evolution of exchange rate policy and unequal development.

International Economic Relations since 1945 is the perfect guide for all students of economic history and international history, and for those seeking to understand recent economic trends in a longer term perspective.

Catherine R. Schenk is Professor of International Economic History at the University of Glasgow, UK. She is an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Her publications include Britain and the Sterling Area: From Devaluation to Convertibility in the 1950s (Routledge, 1994), Hong Kong as an International Financial Centre: Emergence and Development, 1945-1965 (Routledge, 2001), Hong Kong SAR's Monetary and Exchange Rate Challenges: Historical Perspectives (2008) and The Decline of Sterling: Managing the Retreat of an International Currency 1945-1992 (2010).