Interdependence as a solution to conflict

23 May Interdependence as a solution to conflict

Adam Smith’s notion of market-supremacy was the basis for the post-World War II free-market approach that underpinned the Bretton Woods conference. The U.S. emerged from the war aware of its capacity to guide global restoration in ways compatible with its goals. Its main goal was to restructure the global economy in a cooperative and interdependent way so that American business could trade and profit without restrictions. They attributed the Great Depression and the tragedy of WWII that followed in its wake to economic nationalist barriers to trade. For U.S. post-war planners more economically open and interconnected countries would promote co-operation and pre-empt conflict.