Strange starts this chapter with the suggestion that like Mark Twain reports of the demise of American hegemony are premature. She then presents a short history of U.S. economic policy towards the Third World and the global system as a whole. This allows her to emphasise the structural power approach that she would develop at some length in **States and Markets (1988)** and argue that while many on the left see America's influence as entirely malign, she sees good and bad in its domination of the international system. She concludes the main problem is uncertainty regarding U.S. policy, which while leading to rational responses (risk-avoiding devices, such as hedging) in the financial structure. However, these responses also bring with them a shadow (speculation, gambling and both political and economic recklessness) which produces further financial instability for the system and most particularly Third World countries.