Ihavearguedfor years that evenAmerica's mostdependableCold WarAlliesinthe Pacificwillfind thattheyhavemorein commonwithEuropeansin the age of the Washingtonconsensus.
The American liberal-trade regime of the 1950s and 1960s owed its political possibility to the coldwar and the consensus perception that peaceful containment of communism would be buttressed by liberal trade.
Although no effort was made to reach a consensus or to adopt specific recommendations, the general sentiment appeared to be that the post-Cold War era is increasingly characterized by portentous challenges and ominous instability.