The Economists--Always Fighting to Be Heard.

• Author: Rubin, Robert

With the denouement of the Cold War, the Clinton administration signaled a new strategic approach that would elevate economic concerns alongside geopolitical and national security concerns. Clinton Secretary of State Warren Christopher told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that "among the three pillars of the new administration's approach to foreign policy, economic growth ranked first." President Clinton created the National Economic Council as a counterpart to the National Security Council to facilitate this reordering of priorities, and Robert Rubin, the NEC's first chair, observed that "the big change" with Clinton's approach was that "the economic component of any problem gets on the table at the same time as other issues." Or, as Mickey Kantor, Clinton's chief...