Economic ideas and international relations: beyond rational neglect
Woods N.
This article makes the case for investigating much more closely the substance of economic ideas in international relations. The attention in "rationalist' approaches to international political economy is on political processes, given a set of actors' preferences or perceptions of interests. Ignored are the reasons particular sets of economic ideas are invoked to define these preferences and interests. This article offers a critique of existing rationalist approaches to economic ideas and international relations and sets out a preliminary new research agenda. The new agenda draws on insights from psychological and social theory so as explicitly to address what types of economic ideas are most likely to influence foreign economic policy making. -from Author