Capitalism

About: Capitalism is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 27714 publications have been published within this topic receiving 858042 citations.

Sugar and the Expansion of the Early Modern World-Economy Commodity Frontiers, Ecological Transformation, and Industrialization*

Abstract: article attempts to restore and operationalize the concept of the frontier for the study of world capitalist expansion and its structural tendency towards environmental degradation. World-sys- tems analysts have paid considerable attention to the ways in which the world-economy expands. The bulk of this work has been given over to the study of long waves, the reorganization of production units, state-formation, and other important processes. The ecological dimension, though acknowledged from time to time, has been un- deremphasized. I will trace the development and expansion of sugar cane production and trade in order to illustrate the centrality of en- vironmental dynamics as a way of rethinking the early modern history of capitalist expansion. The history of sugar production and trade is well-known. Despite the existence of a vast literature, how- ever, the environmental history of sugar has not been given the attention it deserves, nor has the link between ecological transforma- tion and the expansionary logic of world capitalism. My goal is to suggest ways of rethinking early modern capitalist expansion as a

Migration and Underdevelopment

Abstract: The importance of migration to the question of development in the capitalist world system lies in two interrelated characteristics: first it is a source of labor one which often plays a fundamental role in capitalist economic expansion; second it is simultaneously the way exploited classes in the periphery attempt to cope with the constraints of their situation. As has been seen such constraints are often deliberately imposed so as to generate labor migration. As was also shown the advantages of migrant labor for capitalist expansion are not automatic and must frequently be produced through political manipulation. In general the structure of economic forces in core and periphery tends to be arranged so as to condition migrants to sell their labor in places where needed and at the cheapest possible price. Exceptions motivated by the occasional clash of interests between landowning and entrepreneurial classes or the temporary measures of a liberal regime do not substantially modify the general trend. Working classes in peripheral areas frequently attempt through multiple displacements to take advantage of a structure of economic opportunities distributed unequally in space. Since head-on competition within the formal system is impossible such initiatives occur in the interstices. The nature of peripheral capitalism marked by the imperfect penetration of state control and large-scale enterprises provides room for informal economic initiatives and hence the possibility of survival. The phenomenon of migration thus stands at the crossroads between national and regional inequalities and class exploitation. It is the way through which the exploited contribute to erect ever-expanding structures of economic domination and simultaneously the form in which they react to their power. It shows how economic concentration and inequality are perpetuated by the conduct of both dominant groups and their victims. While the case studies reviewed above are only illustrative they document the general point that transactions between relatively advanced and backward regions conducted by people across space constitute both a central problematic and a defining feature of world capitalism. (excerpt)

“Value Grabbing”: A Political Ecology of Rent

Abstract: This paper aims to redress the under-appreciated significance of rent for political ecological analysis. We introduce the notion of value grabbing, defined as the appropriation of (surplus) value through rent. A concept that is analytically distinct from accumulation, rent is both a social relation and a distributional process that is increasingly central to the reproduction of contemporary capitalism. Emphasis is placed on the “grabbing” of value in order to shed light on the processes at work by which surplus value is distributed unevenly between different classes and fractions of classes. A focus on rent within political ecology, we argue, can help us distinguish between two organically related but analytically distinct “moments”: (a) the creation of property rights that establish rent relations and (b) the struggle over the appropriation and distribution of surplus value generated by the rent relation itself. We explore some of the implications of this perspective for understanding new forms o...

A New Phase of European Integration: Organized Capitalisms in Post-Ricardian Europe

Abstract: In the past, economic integration in Europe was largely compatible with the preservation of different national varieties of capitalism. While product market integration intensified competition, member states could build on and foster their respective comparative advantage. Today, this no longer unequivocally holds true. This article contends that a new, ‘post-Ricardian’ phase of European integration has emerged in which the Commission's and the European Court of Justice's (ECJ's) attempts to promote economic integration systematically challenge the institutions of organised capitalism. It demonstrates this by discussing recent disputes over the Services Directive, the Takeover Directive, and company law. In the current phase of European integration, the Commission's and the ECJ's liberalisation attempts either transform the institutional foundations on which some of the member states' economic systems rely or they create political resistance to an extent that challenges the viability of the European project.