Political Economy and Global Capitalism: The 21st Century, Present and Future (Anthem Politics and IR)

This volume brings together original and timely writings by internationally renowned scholars that reflect on the current trajectories of global capitalism and, in the light of these, consider likely, possible or desirable futures. Essays focus to varying degrees on developing distinctive theoretical frameworks and using them to clarify both the history of the present political economy and how progressive political economic trends might be extended from the present into the future. A distinctive feature of the collection is its effort to develop new mediations between theory and history, a deeply problematic relationship in the social sciences. These contributions offer original perspectives both to theory construction and to the use of theory in historical analysis. In short, this volume provides theory-informed writing that contextualizes empirical research on current world-historic events and trends with an eye towards realizing a future of human, social and economic betterment. Front Matter 1 Half Title 1 Other titles of interest 2 Title 3 Copyright 4 Contents 5 List of Abbreviations 7 Notes on the Contributors 9 Main Body 13 Introduction: Political Economy and Global Capitalism, by Robert Albritton, Bob Jessop and Richard Westra 13 References 16 Part I: Political Economy of the Present 17 Introduction 19 Chapter 1. Theorizing the Contemporary Wolrd: Robert Brenner, Giovanni Arrighi, David Harbey, by Moishe Postone 23 Notes 39 References 39 Chapter 2. Technological Dynamism and the Normative Justification of Global Capitalism, by Tony Smith 41 Global Justice and New Growth Theory 42 A Marxian Assessment of New Growth Theory 45 A Closing Conjecture 51 Notes 55 References 57 Chapter 3. Eating the Future: Capitalism out of Joint, by Robert Albritton 59 Themes from Capital's Inner Logic 60 Historical Analysis, Eating the Future 67 Conclusions 76 Notes 79 References 80 Chapter 4. What Follows Neo-Liberalism? The Deepening Contradictions of US Domination and the Struggle for a New Global Order, by Bob Jessop 83 Questions of Periodization 83 What is Neo-Liberalism 86 Neo-Liberalism and Economic Detirmination 89 The Ecological Dominance of the Economy 90 The Ecological Dominance of Capitalism vis-a-vis World Society 96 The Ecological Dominance of Financial Capital over Other Fractions of Capital 100 Conclusions 101 Notes 102 References 103 Chapter 5. Monetary Policy in the Neo-Liberal Transition: A Political Economy Critique of Keynesianism, Monetarism and Inflation Targeting, by Alfredo Saad-Filho 105 Keynesianism 106 The Keynesian Compact 106 Limitations and Crisis of Keynesianism 109 Austerity by Consent 110 Austerity Imposed: The Monetarist Experience 114 The Political Economy of Neo-liberalism 116 Foundations of Neo-liberalism 116 Outcomes and Limitations of Neo-liberalism 119 Monetary Policy for Mature Neo-liberalism 121 CBI and IT 121 Performance of IT and CBI Regimes 123 Costs of the NMPC 125 Conclusion 128 Notes 130 References 132 Part II: Political Economy of a Progressive Global Future 137 Introduction 139 Chapter 6. Volatile, Uneven and Combined Capitalism, by Patrick Bond 143 Introduction 143 Stagnation, Volatility and Uneven Development 147 Accumulation by Dispossession and 'Combined' Development 151 Deconstruction through Financial Volatility 155 Resistance via Decommodification/Deglobalization 162 Notes 170 References 170 Chapter 7. The Erosion of Non-Capitalist Institutions and the Reproduction of Capitalism, by David M Kotz 175 Introduction 175 Non-capitalist Institutions and the Reproduction of Capitalism 176 The State 181 Families 185 Educational Institutions 186 Concluding Comments 189 Notes 189 References 192 Chapter 8. The Transformative Moment, by Julie Matthaei and Barbara Brandt 193 The Hierarchical Polarization Paradigm 194 Hierarchical Polarization Processes 196 Interdependence of the Various Hierarchical Polarization 199 Transformation of Hierarchical Polarization 200 The Seven Types of Transformative Processes 200 Notes 214 References 214 Chapter 9. Frontiers of Cadre Radicalization in Contemporary Capitalism, by Kees van der Pijl 217 Introduction 217 A New Era but No New Social Forces 218 The Cadre in Corporate Liberal Capitalism 220 Two Forms of Socialization of Labour, Two Types of Cadre 221 The Neo-liberal Property Regime versus the Global Flow Economy 224 The Collective Worker in the Global Setting - Dispersion and Division 226 The Collective Worker in Action? 228 References 232 Chapter 10. Green Marxism and the Institutional Structure of a Global Socialist Future, by Richard Westra 235 Introduction 235 Economic Viability and Eco-sustainability in the Theory of Capital 236 Economic Viability and Eco-sustainability in the Trajectory of Globalization 239 Economic Viability and Eco-sustainability of Varieties of Socialist and Green Society 243 New Socialisms for the Global Future 245 Conclusion 249 Notes 250 References 250 End Matter 253 Index 253