| Abstract: | In February 1952 the British Cabinet met to consider implementinga series of proposals that would have transformed the postwarinternational political economy. The policies, code-named OperationRobot, centred on introducing sterling convertibility on a floatingexchange rate allied to the blocking of sterling balances andthe reopening of the London gold market on budget day, 11 March.To assess whether the defeat of Robot is of historical significancethis article analyses the likely impact of the plan on the internationalpolitical economy in the 1950s looking in particular at itseffect on the Sterling Area, Europe, and the United States.It concludes that the plan would have changed fundamentallythe existing international order leading most probably to theclosure of the European Payments Union and the InternationalMonetary Fund. Robot would also have undermined Franco-Germanco-operation and provided support for the British conceptionof European collaboration with sterling at the heart of an enlargedCommonwealth/European trading area. |
