Robert Gilpin Quotes

Liberal economists conceive of societies as black boxes connected by exchange rates; as long as exchange rates are correct, what goes on inside the black box is regarded as not very important.

How can the human race, whether for selfish or more cosmopolitan ends, understand and control the seemingly blind forces of history?

Every dominant state, and particularly an empire, promotes a religion or ideology that justifies its domination over other states in the system.

A market is not politically neutral; its existence creates economic power which one actor can use against another.

The parallel existence and mutual interaction of "state" and "market" in the modern world create "political economy"; without both state and market there could be no political economy.

Trade is the oldest and most important economic nexus among nations. Indeed, trade along with war ha been central to the evolution of international relations.

Structuralism argues that a liberal capitalist world economy tends to preserve or actually increase inequalities between developed and less developed economies.

The world economy diffuses rather than concentrates wealth.

When once asked what was missing from his classic textbook, Nobel laureate Paul Samuelson is reported to have responded, "the class struggle."

The core of the Marxist critique of capitalism is that although the individual capitalist is rational (as liberals assume), the capitalist system itself is irrational.

Through exploitation of its influence over global financial affairs, the United States has been able to cover the costs of its hegemonic position, preserve a false domestic prosperity, and mask the consequences of its relative political and economic decline.

The relative stability of the system is... largely determined by its capacity to adjust to the demands of the actors affected by changing political and environmental conditions.

Despite its increased dependence on the international economy, America continues to behave as if it were either a closed economy or the leader whom everyone else should automatically follow.

There is a pressing need to integrate the study of international economics with the study of international politics to deepen our comprehension of the forces at work in the world.

[In] the definition of international system... There is some "form of control" that regulates behavior and may range from informal rules of the system to formal institutions. ...A view prevalent among many scholars of political science is that the essence of international relations is precisely the absence of control... a condition of anarchy...