Fighting through Britain - The 'Gift Dimension' of Keynes's Quest for a New Global Order

Quaderni SEMeQ Working Papers No. 4/2008

66 Pages Posted: 8 Dec 2008

See all articles by Mario A. Cedrini

Mario A. Cedrini

University of Turin - Department of Economics S. Cognetti de Martiis

Date Written: May 1, 2008

Abstract

Dissatisfied with both Skidelsky's "Fighting for Britain" approach to Keynes's quest for a new global order and its specular competitor, the "Figthing despite Britain" view, we explore the possibility of a "Fighting through Britain" approach to the issue. We claim that though Keynes was fighting for the whole world rather than for Britain only, his (unsuccessful) fighting for Britain was a major component of his overall reform project and the true telltale sign of his defeat. As a consequence, the paper focuses in particular on the American Gift asked for by Keynes in 1945. The Gift is regarded as the last and a relevant episode of the economist's lifelong search for a global system efficiently coping with the dilemmas it necessarily gives life to. With the help of the anthropological and sociological literature on gift-giving, we move beyond the strategic dimension of Keynes's diplomacy to show that the request for an American Gift to revive multilateralism at the end of WWII embodies in full - and helps to understand - Keynes's attempt to construct a new system happily combining international discipline and national freedom to choose, the former being the instrument to promote the latter.

Keywords: Keynes, International Economic Relations, Gift-giving

JEL Classification: B31, F02, F5, Z13

Suggested Citation

Cedrini, Mario A., Fighting through Britain - The 'Gift Dimension' of Keynes's Quest for a New Global Order (May 1, 2008). Quaderni SEMeQ Working Papers No. 4/2008, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1313114

Mario A. Cedrini (Contact Author)

University of Turin - Department of Economics S. Cognetti de Martiis ( email )

Campus Luigi Einaudi - Lungo Dora Siena 100
Torino, 10153
Italy
+390116704975 (Phone)
+390116703895 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.unito.it/unitoWAR/page/dipartimenti4/D031/D031_personale_batch_BasicBook_Docenti_IT7?id=4

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