Structure and behavior in the world trading system

A panoply of visions regarding the economic "new world order" have followed the end of the cold war. While some foresee an increasingly globalized and borderless world, others stress the increasing importance of geography in ordering trade relations, while still others argue that economic competitio n among major powers will simply replace strategic interests. Such argument s all assess a common issue: the structure of global economic relations. Ea ch argument posits a principle for the ordering of economic relations, whet her preferential trading arrangements, geography, or military alliances, an d provides implications for the structure. Despite the prevalence of such a rguments, empirical assessments of the overall structure of the global trad ing order are rare, and comparative testing of alternate structures is none xistent. It is the purpose of this study to fill this analytic gap. As such , this study has two primary goals: 1. To empirically examine the structure of the world economy, as evidenced by trading relations, and assess the re lative utility of four alternate "visions" for the global trading order. 2. To examine the implications of the trading structure with regards to patte rns of trade, conflict, and cooperation between countries. Results most str ongly support the structure espoused by world systems analysis.