Preface
When we began work on this project, we intended to write a book that could be used as a text in political economy courses, at least those with more than a passing concern for theoretical frameworks and the structure of arguments.
We planned to produce a text that surveyed those frameworks with a critical spirit. As we wrote the book, our task became more complicated. Even those approaches explicitly using the term “political economy” rarely presented fully explicit theories connecting politics to economics. Often an approach presented us with a picture of only economics or politics. We had to draw out the linkages ourselves. Because of this, the term “survey” may not be as accurate a description of the book we wrote as it was of the book we intended to write.Our task was complicated in a second way. As our work progressed, something of a shared concern with the direction of work in political economy emerged. Those reading the manuscript strongly encouraged us to make that concern an integrating theme, and we have tried to do so. Still, the book remains largely what it was intended to be: a critical survey and elaboration of approaches.
The term “survey” naturally raises questions about coverage. Because so many disparate activities fall under the heading of political economy, no survey can be both coherent and comprehensive. You have to cut somewhere. Our first cut was to exclude approaches without a substantial theoretical grounding. Our second cut was to rule out approaches we judged to be without broad significance. Finally, we included approaches we found interesting and important even if not immediately recognizable within current literature.
This book is the result of two authors working separately and together. Caporaso had primary responsibility for Chapter 6 and the Conclusion, Levine for Chapters 2, 3, 5, 9, and the Introduction. Chapters 1, 4, 7, and 8 contain substantial contributions from both.
We would like to thank several people for their contributions to the project. Robert O. Keohane, Stephen D. Krasner, Margaret Levi, and Theda Skocpol read particular chapters. Pamela Wolfe contributed suggestions to and provided assistance with several chapters. Emily Loose, editor for Cambridge University Press, encouraged and facilitated completion of the project. Our greatest thanks go to two anonymous referees who provided extensive and constructive comments on the entire manuscript.
James Caporaso would like to acknowledge the support of Harvard’s Center for International Affairs for the 1987-8 year, the Andrew W. Mellon Chair at the University of Denver from 1984 to 1987, and the Virginia and Prentice Bloedel Chair of the University of Washington from 1988 to the present. Finally, he would like to express appreciation to Daryll J. Caporaso for her support throughout.