The problem with this argument is that the world is not purely economical in its activities or its planning. The notion that state -- i.e. political -- entities have ceased to matter in global trade issues, though increasingly popular among certain scholars and pundits, is a perspective that is at best "profoundly misleading" (Krasner 1976, pp. 317). The fact is, states act according to perceived threats both to their security and to their sovereignty. These reactions are not always purely rational, at least not from an economic sense of the word, and therefore the pure rationality of economics cannot be used to predict state action -- which is still hugely important -- in the area of free trade (Krasner 1976). Despite the hegemonic decline of the United States that Milner notes, it is still a country with an enormous amount of international clout that can easily appear threatening in international...
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