Marx's Capital, Capitalism and Limits to the State: Theoretical Considerations (Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy)

Marx's Capital__, Capitalism and Limits to the State__ examines the capitalist state in the abstract, and as it exists in advanced capitalism and peripheral capitalism, illustrating the ideas with evidence from the North and the South. The volume unpacks the capitalist state's functions in relation to commodity relations, private property, and the crisis-ridden production of (surplus) value as a part of the capital circuit (M-C-M′). It also examines state's political and geographical forms. It argues that no matter how autonomous it is, the state cannot meet the pressing needs of the masses significantly and sustainably. This is not because of so-called capitalist constraints, but because the state is inherently capitalist. Each chapter begins with __Capital volume 1__. And each chapter ends with theoretical/practical implications of the ideas which taken together counter existing state theory's focus on state autonomy and reforms and point to the necessity for the masses to establish a new transitional democratic state. But the book goes 'beyond' Marx too, as it deploys the combined Marxism of 19th and 20th centuries. Marx's Capital__, Capitalism and Limits to the State__ will interest scholars researching state-society/economy relations. It is suitable for university students as well as established scholars in sociology, political science, heterodox economics, human geography, and international development. Marx•fs Capital, Capitalism and Limits to the State examines the capitalist state in the abstract, and as it exists in advanced capitalism and peripheral capitalism, illustrating the ideas with evidence from the North and the South. The volume unpacks the capitalist state•fs functions in relation to commodity relations, private property, and the crisis-ridden production of (surplus) value as a part of the capital circuit (M-C-M•Œ). It also examines state•fs political and geographical forms. It argues that no matter how autonomous it is, the state cannot meet the pressing needs of the masses significantly and sustainably. This is not because of so-called capitalist constraints but because the state is inherently capitalist. Each chapter begins with Capital volume 1. And each chapter ends with theoretical/practical implications of the ideas which taken together counter existing state theory•fs focus on state autonomy and reforms and point to the necessity for the masses to establish a new transitional democratic state. But the book goes •ebeyond•f Marx too, as it deploys the combined Marxism of 19th and 20th centuries. Marx•fs Capital, Capitalism and Limits will interest scholars researching state-society/economy relations. It is suitable for university students as well as established scholars in sociology, political science, heterodox economics, human geography, and international development. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series 3 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 List of figures 11 Acknowledgements 12 1 Introduction 14 1 Waning and waxing of intellectual interest in the state 14 2 Existing state theorizing 16 3 The state, Capital volume 1, and the Lenin legacy 19 4 What is to be done theoretically? A need for a dialectical approach 21 5 An overview of the argument 27 2 A critical review of Marxist state theory post Marx 35 1 The capitalist class agency perspective 35 2 The capitalist class structure perspective – the political moment 36 3 The capitalist class structure perspective – the economic moment 37 4 The state actors agency perspective 41 5 The working-class agency perspective 47 6 Structural-strategic approach 49 7 Existing state theory: a critique of its intellectual context and political implications 51 8 Conclusion 63 3 The state and class relations 70 1 The state and economic relations 71 2 From economic relations to class relations (and their gender and spatial nature) 74 3 The state and class struggle 78 4 The state and the dominant class as two arms of the class structure 82 5 Class society and state functions 84 6 Forms of class relation and forms of class-state: some historical examples 86 7 Multiple state forms within given class forms 91 8 Summary, and theoretical and political implications 93 4 The state’s internal relation with capitalism and capitalists 101 1 An internal relation between the state and the capitalist class 104 2 Limits on the state’s functioning 107 3 Summary, and theoretical and political implications 109 5 The state, capitalist commodity relations, and labour power 112 1 Use-value, exchange value, and the state 112 2 Value relations and the state 118 3 The state, the ‘peculiar commodity’, and the labour circuit 120 4 The state and commodity fetishism 123 5 The state and counter-tendencies to equality and freedom in commodity relations 124 6 Summary, and theoretical and political implications 129 6 The state and capitalist property relations 138 1 Forms of private property 138 2 State-mediated class differentiation as a basis for capitalist private property 139 3 State-assisted extra-economic ‘production’ of capitalist private property 141 4 Capitalism, theft, and anti-theft laws 145 5 Summary, and theoretical and political implications 146 7 The state, and capitalist production, exploitation, accumulation, and crisis 152 1 The state and the ‘M-C(MP+. . .’ phase of the capital circuit (the sphere of money and means of production) 154 2 The state and the ‘C ( . . . + LP)’ phase of capital circuit (the sphere of labour power) 157 3 The state and the ‘P’ phase of capital circuit (the sphere of commodity production) 158 4 The state and the ‘C′-M′’ phase of capital circuit (the sphere of realization) 164 5 The state and capitalist accumulation 166 6 The state and tendencies/counter-tendencies towards the crisis of accumulation 169 7 Summary, and theoretical and political implications 173 Appendix: Studying the state-crisis relation 180 8 The state and the agency of capitalists and state actors 186 1 Structure and agency 187 2 Capitalists’ agency 188 3 State actors’ agency 194 4 Limits to state function in support of capitalist interests 198 5 Summary, and theoretical and political implications 201 9 The state and the agency of the working class 208 1 State’s pro-worker interventions and the labour circuit (C-M-C′-R-C) 208 2 Driving forces behind state action in favour of workers (and small-scale producers) 211 3 Limits to state’s pro-worker interventions, and why? 216 4 Bringing it all together: broader theoretical reflections on the state and forms of working-class struggle 228 5 Summary, and theoretical and political implications 238 10 State forms: Geographic and bureaucratic 252 1 Geographical forms of the state and capitalist accumulation 253 2 Bureaucratic state form and political domination by the state 260 3 Summary, and theoretical and political implications 264 11 Capitalism, imperialism, and the state in the global periphery 269 1 Disarticulated development of productive forces in the periphery 270 2 Peripheral social formation dominated by ‘backward’ capitalism 272 3 Imperialism retarding development of productive forces in the periphery 276 4 Class basis of the peripheral state, and peripheral state functions and form 280 5 The state, exploited classes, and class struggle from below in the periphery 289 6 Coercive nature of the peripheral state’s democratic form 294 7 Class contradictions of development and threat to peripheral state’s legitimacy 299 8 Summary, and theoretical and political implications 303 Bibliography 313 Index 330 Marxist,political,economy;,capitalist,production;,uneven,development;,accumulation;,Global,South;,Das,Kapital;,Capital,Volume,1;,Karl,Marx Marxist political economy,capitalist production,uneven development,accumulation,Global South,Das Kapital,Capital Volume 1,Karl Marx