Location "Authority" in the Global Political Economy

This article addresses the problematic nature of "authority" in the global political economy. Focusing on the rules governing international commercial relations, which today form part of the juridical conditions of global capitalism, the location and structure of political authority are argued to be historically specific. They have changed with the emergence of different historic blocs and as a result of consequent alterations in state-society relations. The article emphasizes the significance of private corporate power in the construction of the global political economy and hegemonic authority relations. However, the significance of private authority is obscure and little understood by students of international relations. This gives rise to analytical and normative grounds for adopting a historical materialist approach to the analysis of global authority that incorporates national, subnational, and transnational influences. This article examines the changing nature of authority in the generation and enforcement of international commercial norms. It argues that these norms, known as the law merchant (lex mercatoria) or private international trade law, are essential to the historical constitution of the global political economy, although their role is obscure and little understood by students of international relations. This obscurity is argued to be significant for at least two reasons. First, the article posits that the law merchant is so foundational that it is both a constitutive element of global capitalism and an attribute of the capitalist order Indeed, the law merchant is a crucial mediator of domestic and global political/legal orders. It establishes the fundamental rules governing private property and contractual rights and obligations operative across the full range of international commercial activity, including international trade, investment, finance, transportation, and insurance. 1 It also functions distributionally in determining the allocation of risks of international commercial transactions, in regulating the terms of commercial competition and market access, and in enforcing bargains. It provides a common language and normative framework, enabling merchants from diverse