Foreword

FOREWORD At is now common knowledge that the liberal international trading regime created after the Second World War is in serious danger. The enormous and frightening American trade deficits ofrecent years, together with the loss ofjobs and profits in industries harmed by the flood ofimports, have focused the attention of the public and policymakers alike on the problems that the U.S. economy will continue to face as a consequence ofits more complete integration into the world economy. The bipartisan consensus that supported the liberalization of international commercial relations has vanished. Protectionist sentiment is respectable again; free traders are on the defensive. In this issue of the SAIS Review we present the challenge to free trade from five different points ofview. Ambassador Clayton Yeutter, representing the administration, cautions against caving in to protectionist impulses and reminds us that unfair trading practices by other nations are far from the sole cause of the United States' afflictions. SenatorJohn Heinz, taking a more aggressive stance, suggests that Americans stop pretending the world is something other than it is and adapt their policies accordingly. In the following essay, Susan Strange pokes holes in the economists' seamless web of theoretical conventions, revealing them to be less-than-sufficient explanations of what has been going on in the world of commerce since before Ricardo. For those who favor a more activist government involvement in meeting the competition, Lee Price's article on industrial policy explains why American 'idustry is poorly equipped to cope with well-organized and -directed foreign combines. Finally, Bart S. Fisher takes a look at the decline vi SAIS REVIEW of the gatt and posits six principles on which its resuscitation in the new trade round could be based. Subtle and not-so-subtle changes in the political complexion of southern Europe are the theme of a second group of articles. Michael M. Harrison reads the barometer in France and speculates on the likelihood of constitutional stalemate following the legislative elections there in March. The long-awaited accession of Spain and Portugal to the European Community, though greeted with scant interest in the rest of Europe, here gets an approving notice from Jonathan Story. Andreas Papandreou's mercurial Greece and its relations with the West (the United States in particular) and its neighbor Turkey are explored by Bruce R. Kuniholm. Lastly, Patrick F. R. Artisien tells the inside story on the recent change in leadership in that black hole in the European firmament, Albania. A full complement ofarticles on other topical subjects, ranging from the rout of the Palestinians in Lebanon to the political psychology of the Philippines, rounds out the magazine. We would also like to call our readers' attention to the book review section, featuring essays by a number ofSAIS students, which has been revised and expanded with this edition. J. Duncan Moore, Jr. editor ...