International Relations and Institutional Choice (A Perspective of Transaction Costs)

Author: Tian Ye
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: This book is an attempt to analyze international relations issues using economic theories and methods. Using the popular academic phraseology of today, this book can also be considered a product of "economic imperialism." In the author's view, the "invasion" of economics into the field of international relations research 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 quite rigorous, quite concise, and, in a sense, even quite elegant. This methodology is not only uncontroversial within mainstream economics 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 approaches international relations from the perspective of transaction cost economics and analyzes its concepts, sources, and influencing variables, proposing an explanatory model. The book analyzes and evaluates various important international agreements, treaties, and alliances among major countries in the United States and Europe during different historical periods, and finally conducts a detailed case study of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and the World Trade Organization (WTO). It is a high-quality theoretical work on international relations.