Institutional Choice in International Relations: A Perspective on Transaction Costs

Author: Tian Ye
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: This book represents an attempt to analyze international relations issues using economic theories and methods. Using the popular academic phrase of today, it can also be considered a product of "economic imperialism." In the author's view, the "invasion" of the field of international relations research by economics primarily stems from its methodological appeal. Among the mainstream disciplines of modern social sciences, economics is formally closest to natural sciences and has the highest degree of theorization or scientification. Mainstream economics has developed a research methodology that is not only uncontroversial within itself but also exerts a mysterious attraction on other social sciences. This book is one of the "Contemporary International Governance Series," studying institutional choices in international relations from an economic perspective. The author begins with transaction cost economics and international relations, analyzing its concepts, sources, influencing variables, and proposing an explanatory model. It analyzes and evaluates various important international agreements, treaties, and alliances among major countries in the United States and Europe across different historical periods, and finally uses the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and the World Trade Organization (WTO) as case studies for detailed analysis. It is a high-quality theoretical work on international relations.