80 International Organization TABLE 2.British overseas trade by geographic region,1854 (percentages) Continent Share of Imports Share of Exports Share of Re-exports Europe 39.7 39.4 76.9 Africa 5.5 4.5 2.7 Asia 15.2 14.0 3.2 N.America 24.4 7.0 35.6 S.America 12.3 2.7 Australasia 2.9 9.3 7.5 a.Figure is for 1854-1857.Export figures do not total 100%because of this variability in dates. Source:W.Schlote,British Overseas Trade from 1700 to the 1830s (Oxford:Basil Blackwell, 1952),pp.35,80.Data for"Britain"actually refer to Great Britain and Ireland.Values are actual'”rather than“official.” covariation (generally in a low-N setting),without any attempt to trace the process whereby changes in capabilities translate into different outcomes. 3.Empirical issues In the preceding section I argued that the crucial practical and theoretical issue in the construction of an open trade regime is how the hegemonic state manages to win the adherence of large,well-developed potential challengers to an open system.The significance of this for the case of Great Britain in the 19th century is illustrated by Table 2. The European countries absorbed a plurality of the value of British exports, and dominated Britain's re-export activity.Their sudden defection from the regime would have created an immense dislocation of British commerce. Since,with the exception of the United States,Britain's only plausible rivals were to be found in Europe,the political and economic significance of Eu- ropean adherence to an open trading system greatly outweighs that of the less developed world's.It is therefore reasonable to focus attention on the empirical issue of whether hegemonic stability theory offers an adequate explanation for most of the states of Europe having adopted an open trading system by the latter 1860s.If a hegemonic stability theory were correct,what ought we to find when we examine British interaction with the European states? First,we ought to find an "active"British policy on lowering tariffs.We would expect to find numerous British proposals for commercial treaties, British efforts to persuade others to adopt lower tariffs on their intrinsic80 International Organization TABLE 2. British overseas trade by geographic region, 1854 (percentages) Continent Share of Imports Share of Exports Share of Re-exports Europe 39.7 Africa 5.5 Asia 15.2 N. America 24.4 S. America 12.3 Australasia 2.9 a. Figure is for 1854-1857. Export figures do not total 100°/o because of this variability in dates. Source: W. Schlote, British Overseas Tradefrom 1700 to the 1830s (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1952), pp. 35, 80. Data for "Britain" actually refer to Great Britain and Ireland. Values are "actual" rather than "official." covariation (generally in a low-N setting), without any attempt to trace the process whereby changes in capabilities translate into different outcomes. 3. Empirical issues In the preceding section I argued that the crucial practical and theoretical issue in the construction of an open trade regime is how the hegemonic state manages to win the adherence of large, well-developed potential challengers to an open system. The significance of this for the case of Great Britain in the 19th century is illustrated by Table 2. The European countries absorbed a plurality of the value of British exports, and dominated Britain's re-export activity. Their sudden defection from the regime would have created an immense dislocation of British commerce. Since, with the exception of the United States, Britain's only plausible rivals were to be found in Europe, the political and economic significance of Eu￾ropean adherence to an open trading system greatly outweighs that of the less developed world's. It is therefore reasonable to focus attention on the empirical issue of whether hegemonic stability theory offers an adequate explanation for most of the states of Europe having adopted an open trading system by the latter 1860s. If a hegemonic stability theory were correct, what ought we to find when we examine British interaction with the European states? First, we ought to find an "active'' British policy on lowering tariffs. We would expect to find numerous British proposals for commercial treaties, British efforts to persuade others to adopt lower tariffs on their intrinsic