The Illumination And Judgement Of Hegemonic Stability Theory In International Political Economy

Hegemonic Stability Theory is an important school with great influence in International Political Economy. International Political Economy (abbreviated by IPE) originated from 1970s with an honor of the great development in International Relations. IPE devotes to analyze a combination between the world political system and the world economic system which were solely and respectively studied in International Politics and International Economics. Thus, IPE pays quite attention to the nature and characteristic of International Regimes and International Institutions which dominate the international market and economy. Owing to the influence of regimes on the distribution of economic profits and the economic and political independence of nation-countries to a great degree, all nation-countries, especially the strong powers, try their best to affect the design and operation of international regimes and institutions, so that improve political and economic income. Thereby, IPE argues that nations, transnational corporations and other powerful actors all want to have an influence on the nature and characteristic of international regimes by the utilization of their capacity. The whole theoretical framework and main contents of Hegemonic Stability Theory embody the traits of IPE, so, it has gained a core position in IPE since its appearance. Because this theoretical paradigm extremely emphasizes that the powerful hegemon plays an important role in the process of building and maintaining the world political and economic order. Hence, western scholars often use Hegemonic Stability Theory to prove the legitimacy the Britain in 19th century and the United States America after the World Warâ…¡as hegemons in their respective ages. Besides, on account of the origination of this paradigm during the cold war, there is another opinion that Hegemonic Stability Theory serves the hegemonic policies of U.S.A. And the nature of this paradigm is hegemonism. The debate about this paradigm, whatever in the theory itself or in ideology, is never end.This dissertation includes four parts:Part one: the overview of Hegemonic Stability Theory. At first, the article gives the initial concepts and specific regulations in Hegemonic Stability Theory of hegemony and stability. Then, the logic connection between hegemony and stability in this theory is analyzed, and thereby, the most direct logic in this theory is that the existence of hegemony is the foundation of stability. There are elements and ideas of realism and liberalism about the relationship between order and anarchy are contained in this logic. From the origination of Hegemonic Stability Theory to its further enrichment and modification, this theory is accompanied by the function that realism and liberalism are influenced and reinforced each other.Part two: the analysis of the framework of Hegemonic Stability Theory. This part presents the elaborations about this theory of Charles P. Kindleberger, Robert Gilpin and Robert Keohane and points that this theory is a description of power configuration. Then, with a comparison between the classic version about Hegemonic Stability Theory of Gilpin and the modified version of Keohane, this parts presents the origination and enrichment of the paradigm in its framework. The logic connection between part two and part one is the relationship between realism and liberalism embodied in this theory which presented above.Part there: the analysis of the main contents of Hegemonic Stability Theory. There are two sub-categories, hegemony is the provider of public goods, hegemony and international regimes. The first sub-category presents the concepts of public goods and free-rider in the collective action theory of Mancur Olson. Hegemonic Stability Theory lends these concepts to construct its own contents: hegemon provides public goods to non-hegemons with a burden of costs. Non-hegemons choose to free rider for this achievement of public goods and escape of costs. As a condition, non-hegemons should receive the leadership and domination of hegemons. The public goods which hegemon provide are liberal trade, stable monetary system and guarantee of international security. In the second sub-category, this article pays attention to the modification by Keohane with regimes theory. The concept of regime is firstly presented, and then, lends the two category of transaction costs and market failure in neo-institutional economics to explain the function of international regimes in the Hegemonic Stability Theory.Part four: the judge of Hegemonic Stability Theory. The main theme of this dissertation is to judge the Hegemonic Stability Theory in the foundation of the theory itself, not ideology. According to the presentation and analyses in the three parts above, this article poses three queries of Hegemonic Stability Theory: Is hegemon the biggest winner or loser? Do non-hegemons receive the leadership of hegemons just for the welfare of being free-riders? Can hegemony bring about stability? This article sufficiently makes a use of the framework and contents of Hegemonic Stability Theory to find the flaws of the theory. Among these queries, the second refutes the so-called public goods in trade, monetary system and guarantee. In fact, the hegemon always asks for the help of non-hegemons by its power. The third directly questions the main theme of Hegemonic Stability Theory and points out that the hegemon is also the egoist with rationality and if it thinks the stability cannot give it more interests, the hegemon will take the lead in destroying the stability. In part four, the article lends the arguments of game theory. By the analyses of mixed-motives games and repeated games, this part discusses the relationship between hegemon and non-hegemons in detail.Conclusion: According to the analyses of the logic and contents of Hegemonic Stability Theory, the article makes such a conclusion that this theory designed a cunning trap which can dissolve any refute and query of the paradigm. The key to construct this trap is the explanation of so-called capacity and will of hegemons. This article created a formula which visualizes the viewpoints of Hegemonic Stability Theory to break this trap. Furthermore, this article points that the design of this paradigm gives an advantage to some powerful countries to extend their pursuit of hegemony. Indeed, there are obvious signals that Hegemonic Stability Theory can serve for hegemonism. This deserves great attention of us.