Volume 10, Number 4, 1979 Les nouveaux centres de pouvoir dans la dynamique des relations internationales

EN:

The problem of replacing the dollar as the principal instrument of international fund transfers, both official and private, is becoming increasingly acute. In attempting to assess to what extent the potential « successors » to American currency - the Deutsche Mark, S.T.R., crown - can, claim to be able at least to support it if not to replace it, it would be appropriate to identify the conditions in which the « internationalization » of first, the Pound sterling, and secondly, the dollar, was accomplished. Such an analysis makes it possible to consider the advantages and disadvantages inherent upon the use of a national currency as an international currency both for the country issuing that currency as well as for the international community. Experience shows, in fact, that « international monetary power » is a two-edged sword which can, undoubtedly be used to promote the « imperialist » aspirations of a state but which can also be shown to be a potential fact or for weakening its economy and bringing about the eventual undermining of the lutter.

This state of affairs explains the reservations of the Germon, Japanese and Swiss monetary authorities with respect to sharing with the United States the burden of the « international monetary power » that the latter had exercised for several decades. These reservations however will likely not be sufficient to prevent the progressive internationalization of a currency such as the Deutsche Mark ... unless extensive measures are taken quickly to ensure the international growth of exclusively international instruments such as S.T.R. and the crown.

EN:

Financial power alone is not sufficient if a state is to exercise an important influence. The former must be coterminous with other forms of power : military, ideological or religious, etc. ... in order for the country to claim a position of limited leadership. Financial power therefore would appear to be only one of the components of total power as a means and not as a final result.

Should a limited financial power appear not capable of changing the equilibrium of international markets and, via that, the equilibrium of political relations, it nevertheless is of such a nature, by the disturbances that it can provoke in their operation, to create instability in the latter and in relations among states.

The conjuncture of these different points demonstrates clearly that if the rise of the new financial petro-powers can, only lead to gradual change in the relations in this field, it remains sufficiently dangerous to provoke unexpected economic and political disturbances.

EN:

Contemporary developments are characterized at the same time by a series of economic changes and by a crisis in, international political leadership. The extent to which the density of economic relations has increased is such that a world economy is now a reality. The growing internationalization of the processes of trade and production and the internationalization of business strategies have resulted in a concentration and an oligopolization of the world economy. In the majority of the key development sectors, about ten firms at the most share the market, inducing by that very fact, an increase in specialization and, therefore, the search for a new international division, of work. The age of low-cost energy and raw materials that ensured a marked advantage to the industrialization nations seems at an end. The arrival on world markets of Third-world countries in the process of industrialization constitutes a new challenge. International competition is situated squarely in the economic field and the new international hierarchy is being established in accordance with the capacity of each participant to adapt to these new givens.

EN:

« From the Sino-Soviet strategic project to the Sino-American strategic project » is a purposely schematic interpretative essay on the evolution of Chinese foreign policy from 1949 to 1979 with emphasis on, the latter phase of that evolution, that of the 1969—1979 period, and more particularly on the last year of that decade, 1979.

The project, both defensive and offensive, of American and Chinese co-leadership of the planet that Mao had undertaken to carry out in 1971-1972 with the encouragement of Nixon had to be more or less put aside from 1973 to 1978 because of the seriousness of the domestic crises that were successively shaking both China and the United States during those years. In 1978—79, it was able to be reactivated by Deng Xiaoping who sought, with the benediction of the White House, to add an economic and a cultural dimension to Us diplomatic and strategic dimension.

It is unlikely however in the near future that the United States will consider China as other than an auxiliary aspect of the fundamental game of their relations with the most powerful of their adversary-partners, the U.S.S.R. As in the case of the Sino-Soviet strategic project that China promoted from 1949 to 1959, the Sino-American strategic project that China has sought to « sell » the United States since 1969 has not, therefore, much chance of success.

EN:

Despite Us increasing weight in the global System, the international repercussions of Saudi petro-power are very under-researched. This study starts with a critical evaluation of the literature on the underdeveloped study of underdeveloped countries. The author then elaborates his research framework, defines and operationalizes his main concepts, and explicits two main hypotheses concerning the international status and the political role of Saudi Arabia. The study proceeds then to empirical verification. Eight tables, data analysis of recent Saudi international initiatives, and some interviews with Saudi and U.S. policy makers support the author's thesis : Saudi political elite works actively to maintain the basic structures of the contemporary global System.