Steffek: Embedded Liberalism and its Critics

Steffek, J. Embedded liberalism and its critics. Palgrave Macmillan.

This text explores the relationship between international and domestic governance of global trade and financial architectures. It argues that the embedded liberalism that arose after WWII was an admission that governance should be both domestic and international. The author goes on to claim that many see this order as being normatively wrong, as it benefits the development of the north and disregards the development of the south. What is needed is a program that is both domestic and international that focuses on "redistributive multilateralism (2).

On embedded liberalism: "This blueprint for the construction of international institutions centers on the idea that international cooperation should be designed in such a way as to achieve a high degree of liberalization at the international level to facilitate the creation of a world market. At the same time it should allow states to maintain a national welfare system that can cushion the adverse effects of global liberalization. Upon closer inspection Ruggie's conception of embedded liberalism has two sides. On the one hand, it is a very general normative framework that defines appropriate goals and scope of international institutions. On the other hand, the term is also used to describe some specific institutional arrangements that were built according to this generative grammar. Embedded liberalism thus became almost a synonym for the original Bretton Woods order and the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)..." (4).

The author argues that, while the actual structure of this global system has changed, the normative foundations have not. The author argues that embedded liberalism has at least two distinct futures: that of being embedded within governance, ie., through a global Marshall plan, or being embedded in business, as promoted through Ruggie and his Corporate Connection idea.