256 The Triad and the Unholy Trinity: Problems of International Monetary Cooperation
it just that much more difficult for policy-makers to change their minds when
circumstances might seem to warrant it. Is the underlying relationship among the
states involved sufficiently close to make them willing to take such a risk? This is
not a question that can be answered a priori, as the exceptional case of the EC
demonstrates, it is certainly not a question of monetary relations alone. Ultimately
prospects for sustaining any cooperative effort in this crucial area of public policy
will depend on how much basic affinity governments feel in other areas as well—
in effect, on the extent to which they feel they share a common destiny across the
full spectrum of economic and political issues.