Economic Rivalry in the Current Era of Globalization.

Throughout history economic rivalry has frequently served as a precursor to strategic or militarized rivalry between country pairs. With the end of the cold war and the increasing integration of global commercial and financial markets, such a conflictual dissolution of relations is unlikely to follow a similar pattern. In general, post-World War II economic competitors solve disputes through means other than militarization. Nevertheless, this is not to assume benevolent economic relations. On the contrary, economic statecraft and warfare plausibly provide the means through which countries compete in the current era. This paper thus investigates the influence of globalization on tensions within economic rivalries. First, I evaluate the implementation of economic statecraft between the major powers in the world system, focusing on monetary policy and trade disputes between the United States and China. Next, I analyze those characteristics unique to the current system that mitigate potential militarized conflict from emerging from this economic rivalry. This is followed by analysis of those key variables that have been linked within the strategic rivalry literature to increased hostilities. In short, there is reason for cautious optimism with regard to the most influential economic rivalry in the modern international system. Unlike economic rivalries of past eras, globalization contains constraints that have thus far had a mitigating effect on the US-Chinese economic rivalry. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]