Super imperialism : the origin and fundamentals of U.S. world dominance / Michael Hudson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hudson, Michael, 1939-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Imperialism.

International finance.

United States--Foreign economic relations.

United States.

International economic relations.

United States--Foreign relations.

International relations.

Physical Description:

xviii, 425 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

London ; Sterling, Va. : Pluto Press, 2003.

Summary:

This new and completely revised edition of "Super Imperialism" describes the genesis of America's political and financial domination. Michael Hudson's in-depth and highly controversial study of U.S. financial diplomacy explores the faults built into the core of the World Bank and the IMF at their inception which -- he argues -- were intended to preserve the US's financial hegemony. Difficult to detect at the time, these problems have since become explicit as the failure of the international economic system has become apparent; the IMF and World Bank were set up to give aid to developing countries, but instead many of the world's poorest countries have been plunged into insurmountable debt crises. Hudson's critique of the destructive course of the international economic system provides important insights into the real motivations at the heart of these institutions - and the increasing tide of opposition that they face around the world.

Contents:

I. Birth of the American World Order: 1914-46

1. Origins of Intergovernmental Debt, 1917-21 39

2. Breakdown of World Balance, 1921-33 58

3. America Spurns World Leadership 80

4. Lend-Lease and Fracturing of the British Empire, 1941-45 119

5. Bretton Woods: The Triumph of U.S. government Finance Capital, 1944-45 137

6. Isolating the Communist Bloc, 1945-46 162

II. The Institutions of the American Empire

7. American Strategy within the World Bank 179

8. The Imperialism of U.S. Foreign Aid 217

9. GATT and the Double Standard 248

10. Dollar Domination through the International Monetary Fund, 1945-46 265

III. Monetary Imperialism and the U.S. Treasury Bill Standard

11. Financing America's Wars with Other Nations' Resources, 1964-68 291

12. Power through Bankruptcy, 1968-70 309

13. Perfecting Empire through Monetary Crisis, 1970-72 328

14. The Monetary Offensive of Spring 1973 348

15. Monetary Imperialism: The Twenty-first Century 377.

Notes:

Previous ed.: New York : Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0745319904

0745319890

OCLC:

49681233